High-performance Na-ion Battery Material Development — Part 4

For the following days, I would like to write series of pieces to cover the sodium-ion Battery development and its potential for our electrified future. Appreciate your patience in reading through the series.

Part 1 link

Part 2 link

Part 3 link

Here is part 4 and the final piece

Downstream of the value chain: applications

In the current secondary battery market, lithium-ion batteries are the absolute dominant force. Despite the fact that lithium-ion batteries are relatively unrestricted in terms of performance, the availability of raw materials such as lithium carbonate and lithium cobalt oxide is becoming more and more challenging as new energy vehicles continue to grow in popularity. Lithium supplies became increasingly scarce after 2010 as the size and number of battery packs increased. Researchers have reintroduced research on sodium ions in order to improve their ability to match lithium-ion batteries’ performance.

Even though the original intention of sodium-ion battery research and development is to complement and replace the usage of lithium-ion batteries in the field of power batteries, due to the lower energy density of sodium-ion batteries than that of lithium-ion batteries, the dominance of lithium-ion batteries in the field of high-performance electric vehicles is currently irreplaceable. In terms of fixed energy storage, sodium-ion batteries have broad prospects due to their low volume and quality requirements.

Due to the fact that sodium-ion batteries are still in their infancy, the analysis of the downstream of the industry chain is mainly focused on forecasts and outlooks.

Fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries account for the majority of the power batteries of commercial EVs. Sodium-ion batteries are still in the experimental stage of being used in electric vehicles. In view of the low energy density of sodium-ion batteries, they are only appropriate for low-speed electric vehicles, as well as some low-endurance passenger vehicles. Zhongke Haina has produced a sodium-ion battery backup battery pack for low-speed electric vehicles, the model is DZ72V60Ah-6P24S.

Electric bicycle

Sodium-ion batteries represent a superior alternative to lead-acid batteries used in the field of electric bicycles and are expected to replace lithium-ion batteries in this field in the near future. There are two types of sodium-ion battery packs for electric bicycles produced by Zhongke Haina, namely DZ48V12Ah-4P16S and DZ48V12Ah-2P16S.

Stationary energy storage

The field of stationary energy storage will benefit greatly from Na-ion batteries in the future. In Japan, sodium-sulfur batteries, which are high-temperature sodium-ion batteries, have been used for energy storage. Zhongke Hai Na has developed a room temperature sodium-ion battery for energy storage, the model is DZ48V36Ah-6P16S.

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