• GreenBeard@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    Right now the Sodium-ion tech is still in its infancy. It’s higher priced than it will be as the market scales. I expect it will find more use in stationary storage capacity than mobile devices as it’s power density is a bit lower, but the material cost is much lower and therefore potentially useful for utility grade or home power banks. It’s theoretically able to benefit from a lot of the same technology that Lithium cell batteries use, so cross-chemistry innovation potential is high.

      • GreenBeard@lemmy.ca
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        6 hours ago

        Yes. Could be exciting in the near future. As the article points out, it’s a bit less power dense than lithium, and has a slightly worse power to weight ratio, but that doesn’t necessarily make it bad, it’s just better suited for different market niches than lithium. I could see urban cab companies and other short range fleet uses preferring sodium-ion, as they’ll have a higher rate of cycling and wear, and the cheaper cost of a battery will represent a significant net benefit. I think consumer grade vehicles are going to prefer Lithium for the foreseeable future though.

        • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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          5 hours ago

          Yeah. Probably buses too. What’s really exciting for me is the significant potential for lowering total vehicle cost.