" CATL has thrown its hat into the ring with the Naxtra sodium-ion battery, with 175 Wh/kg and 10,000 lifetime cycles along with operation from -40°C to 70°C. CATL is planning a start-stop battery for trucks using the technology. It has the potential to replace lead-acid batteries. CATL has announced battery pricing at the cell level in volume at $19/kWh. "

    • Dremor@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      If I recall well, it isn’t a good fit for cars as it energy density per weight isn’t as good. But for residential batteries, that’s huge (if true).

      • felbane@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        This isn’t true any more, and it’s mentioned in the article. Sodium is at least equivalent to - and on pace to surpass - the energy density of Lithium. It’s already being used in passenger cars in the Far East.

    • Mihies@programming.dev
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      13 hours ago

      It’s unlikely you will see a car powered by those in near future if ever as they have relatively low density. But you’ll definitely see those as home battery and such where size/density doesn’t matter that much. And I bet it’s less inflammable as well.

      Edit: ha, I stand corrected, there are cars powered by these but don’t expect huge range.

      • thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        honestly, I’m fine with a lower range. when i go into the office , it’s 15 km away from my house. i can charge up at home, drive to work, come back and charge it up for the next day, so as a daily driver it might be fine. The problem comes when I want to go on a road trip, which is my preferred method of going medium to long distance. I avoid flying like the plague, and trains are really expensive for some reason.

      • Overspark@piefed.social
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        12 hours ago

        In China NMC isn’t really used any more as a battery chemistry, almost all cars have LFP batteries. Sodium-ion has a slightly higher energy density than LFP. So basically almost all cars except the really expensive ones with a ridiculous range should switch over to sodium-ion pretty soon.

      • Frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        11 hours ago

        Per the edit, range will probably be fine. Na batts are already reaching the energy density of Li batts in EVs right now. It just takes a while for a new battery on an assembly line to get into actual car models. We’re not really waiting on any breakthroughs anymore.