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Natron Energy opens new sodium-ion battery facility in West Michigan

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fromport

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wwmt.com

Natron Energy opens new sodium-ion battery facility in West Michigan

Natron Energy’s new plant in Holland, MI represents an epochal milestone for the battery industry. For the first time, an all-new sodium-ion chemistry has been
wwmt.com wwmt.com

"Compared to the lithium-ion battery, the sodium-ion charges faster and lasts longer"

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www.energy-storage.news

Natron Energy starts manufacturing '50,000+ cycle-life' sodium-ion batteries at Michigan factory

Natron Energy has started commercial-scale operations at its sodium-ion battery manufacturing plant in Michigan, US.
www.energy-storage.news www.energy-storage.news

At full capacity the facility will produce 600MW of Natron’s ‘Prussian Blue’ electrode batteries primarily for the stationary energy storage system (ESS) market annually. At first it will mainly ship products to data centres starting in June, before expanding to industrial mobility, EV fast charging and telecommunications, among others.

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I saw this in the news last week also. The product offerings are really interesting.

They have an individual pack that's available in 48v as well as tray and whole cabinet options. I'm really interested in the power capability. Would be nice to get a whole 48v setup that works w/ the EG4 inverters.
 
The sodium cells for the seplos kits are CY 215/220ah prismatic cells (CY keeps de-rating them). the datasheet for the 220ah and 240ah versions are in the resources.
 
I sure hope for some competition in sodium battery space as at the moment they seem more expensive than lifepo4. Who in their right mind would choose sodium over lifepo4 unless sodium is substantially cheaper? There is the feature of better taking charging at low temps, but it is not a game changer (it's "only" down to - 10C and you still get the same temp range so you can't run them that hot).

I have a suspicion the ideal plan for the manufacturers is not to make sodium cheaper, but to make lifepo4 a lot more expensive so we swallow the high sodium cost.
 
zcskywire2 said:
The sodium cells for the seplos kits are CY 215/220ah prismatic cells (CY keeps de-rating them). the datasheet for the 220ah and 240ah versions are in the resources.
Click to expand...
Still, it’s all about the pricing. Dollars per installed kilowatt hour, dollars per kilowatt hour, stored and released, those are the things that we care about.
 
wpns said:
Still, it’s all about the pricing. Dollars per installed kilowatt hour, dollars per kilowatt hour, stored and released, those are the things that we care about.
Click to expand...
Also, and this will affect the price a lot. I wonder how much lithium/cobalt they are adding to current generation of these sodium cells.

If they are truly majority sodium (let's say 80%+ or even better 99%+ capacity comes from sodium) we should see this tech copied a lot (access to lithium/cobalt no more a barrier).

So then, what are the next most expensive parts that make a current lifepo4 battery cell. Copper foil (I saw a YouTube video claiming sodium cells use aluminum for both electrodes, IDK if its true), the milling and mixing of ingredients (it has to be done very carefully so the particle size is exactly as expected, no water - including from air - can be introduced etc). Finally putting it on the rolls and assembly - this last thing is not expensive at all at scale.

Then, the question becomes. If all the components, except lithium/cobalt in the process are quite cheap, where is the profit coming from? Who wants to invest in a business that is in a race to the bottom of prices with its competitors? Almost no one. So either basic sodium cells get subsidies with all the problems associated with "central planning" or manufacturers will focus on other differentiating factors than price for their products. The charge C rating, the temperature range etc. We'll have sodium batteries, but not necessarily the cheap and abundant kind we want to see (at least initially). I don't expect to be buying anything other than lifepo4 in next 2~3 years.
 
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