Sodium-ion batteries enter an era of \"full commercialization\"

Thread Content

Since the beginning of this year, the sodium-ion battery industry has seen a series of positive developments, attracting widespread attention. At the “Research, Exchange and Communication Event on the Technologies and Applications of Sodium-Ion Battery Energy Storage,” recently hosted by the News and Publicity Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, participants agreed that as the material, manufacturing, system, and application sectors all mature in tandem, sodium-ion battery energy storage is rapidly transitioning from the demonstration phase to large-scale application. There have been continuous breakthroughs in the core technologies related to materials. It is understood that sodium-ion batteries offer advantages such as abundant resource availability, low costs, good safety performance, and excellent low-temperature performance. However, in the process of commercialization, they have faced challenges related to industrialization costs, the maturity of the industrial chain, and energy density. Currently, as upstream and downstream enterprises work together to tackle challenges, these bottlenecks are gradually being overcome. On the material side, regarding the cathode, Wang Zunzhi, general manager of Rongbai Technology’s sodium-ion battery business unit, said that sodium-ion batteries are following in the footsteps of lithium iron phosphate batteries in 2020: their capacity is increasing rapidly, the compression density of the electrode sheets has risen to 2.5 grams per cubic centimeter, and the cycle life of composite sodium lithium iron phosphate (NFPP) exceeds 15,000 cycles; moreover, the stability of these batteries during mass production continues to be verified. The company is advancing the industrialization of sodium-ion batteries using a polyanion-based approach centered on sodium iron phosphate composite (NFPP). By developing proprietary processes and equipment tailored for sodium-ion batteries, it has reduced the processing costs of polyanion-based sodium-ion battery materials by 30% to 50%, further accelerating the large-scale production of such batteries. In terms of production capacity, the company has established a facility in Xiantao, Hubei, with an annual production capacity of 6,000 tons of polyanionic cathode materials. By 2026, this capacity is set to increase to 28,000 tons, and by 2027, a new production line dedicated to sodium-ion batteries with an annual capacity of 300,000 tons will be built in accordance with market demands. On the anode side, hard carbon anodes for sodium-ion batteries have entered the stage of industrial and large-scale production. Wei Dong, General Manager of the Marketing Center at Wanhua Chemical’s Battery Industry Division, explained that Wanhua Chemical has developed two engineered hard carbon production routes—one based on coal and the other on resin. These developments have addressed the supply constraints and performance fluctuations associated with the earlier reliance on natural biomass raw materials, thereby ensuring a stable supply of raw materials. Among them, the coal-based route has a distinct cost advantage, while the resin-based route performs better in terms of product consistency and overall performance. The two approaches operate in parallel, offering differentiated solutions for the sodium-ion battery market that can meet the requirements of various application scenarios. It is predicted that the cost of hard carbon anodes will decrease from 60,000–70,000 yuan per ton in 2024 to 35,000–40,000 yuan per ton in 2026, with a long-term target of below 25,000 yuan per ton. Costs are expected to level off within the year due to breakthroughs in lithium iron phosphate technology and increases in production capacity, laying a solid foundation for further development of the industry; some leading companies have already achieved large-scale production of sodium batteries. “Sodium-ion batteries have entered an era of full commercialization. ”Lin Jiubiao, CTO of CATL’s domestic energy storage solutions, said that in September this year, CATL will deliver the first batch of sodium-ion energy storage systems to its customers, with shipments reaching the gigawatt-hour level throughout the year. This indicates that sodium-ion batteries now have the capability for mass production, and are no longer just a future technology in the laboratory stage. According to him, CATL has restructured the electrochemical models based on the characteristics of sodium-ion batteries, overcoming production-related challenges such as moisture control in hard carbon electrodes and gas generation; its products feature a wide operating temperature range as well as an extremely long cycle life of 15,000 cycles ； At the system level, the product adopts a \"one chassis, two cores\" platform-based design; it maintains the same size as lithium battery systems and allows for easy switching. A complete energy storage unit consisting of a 3-megawatt-hour DC module and a 3-megawatt step-up converter is available, with a system lifespan of 20 years. Currently, CATL is focusing on efforts to reduce the costs of sodium-ion batteries. First, improve the battery energy density through product design, and reduce the cost of battery components by leveraging innovation and simplification in system integration ； Second, work together with the industrial chain to reduce costs at the material level ； Third, the manufacturing cost of production lines for lithium battery modifications is high; reducing these costs can be achieved by building entirely new dedicated lines for sodium-ion batteries. “By the end of 2026, the cost of CATL’s sodium-ion battery cells is expected to be on par with that of lithium iron phosphate cells ； By 2027, the cost of a complete sodium-based energy storage system will be on par with that of lithium iron phosphate systems. ”Lin Jiubiao said. Experts specializing in accelerating the implementation of end-user requirements point out that as coordination across the entire industry chain speeds up, the sodium-ion battery energy storage sector is likely to see accelerated adoption on a larger scale. This will further enrich the range of new energy storage technologies and enhance the resilience of the industry chain and supply chain, thereby injecting new momentum into the high-quality development of new energy sources. HiBosChuang will promote the large-scale use of sodium-ion battery energy storage, and establish demonstration projects for lithium-sodium hybrid energy storage stations; the first such projects will be put into operation by 2026. Wang Lei, general manager of the HiBosight Experimental Testing Center, explained that sodium-ion batteries have distinct advantages and application potential in areas such as large-scale independent energy storage stations, new types of high-energy-consuming applications involving the integration of computing power and energy storage, long-duration energy storage solutions requiring 4–6 hours or more of storage capacity, energy storage systems with high cycling frequencies, and projects with a long operational lifespan of over 15 years. Currently, CATL and HyperDrive have signed a sodium-ion battery energy storage order with a duration of 3 years and a capacity of 60 gigawatt-hours. Regarding the future development of this industry, Liu Yafang, an adjunct professor at Zhejiang University, a guest chief expert at the China Energy Research Society, and former deputy director of the Department of Energy Conservation and Scientific and Technical Equipment under the National Energy Administration, noted that looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the sodium-ion battery storage industry should take advantage of favorable policies to accelerate research and development as well as industrialization. It is important to focus on the quality of demonstration projects, continuously improve the technical and economic performance of these batteries, actively explore application scenarios such as large-scale production facilities and integrated computing and energy systems, and strengthen coordination within the industry chain in order to enhance international competitiveness. Zhou Bo, General Manager of the Research Center under the Power Battery Application Branch of the China Industrial Association of Power Sources and Physical Electronics, suggested swiftly establishing standards and certification systems covering the entire life cycle, so as to accelerate the industrialization of sodium-ion battery energy storage.