China’s battery giants expand to sodium-ion but no threat to lithium

Major Chinese battery makers are expanding their battery portfolio to sodium batteries from dominant LFP and NCM batteries. This is unlikely to impose much threat for the usage of lithium

Energy density for CATL’s sodium ion battery is 160Wh/kg and Zhongke HiNa’s is 145Wh/kg, so BYD’s should be somewhere in that region, O’Hara said. This is compared with energy density of 255Wh/kg and 160Wh/kg for CATL’s latest NCM and LFP batteries.

Although the advantage of sodium-ion lies on its costs, sharp decline in lithium chemical prices since late 2022, amid a slowdown in EV growth, might dampen the momentum for sodium-ion production and adoption.

“There was a lot of interests in developing sodium battery last year when lithium price shot up. But now that lithium price fell a lot, it may not be worth switching to sodium. The move (by major battery makers) is more strategic than economical,” said a China-base lithium salt producer source.