Recently there have been lot of talks around this topic, especially due to China’s significant control over lithium supply/ processing.
For the starters, Sodium-ion based battery technology is actually older than Lithium-ion based; 1980s vs 1990s.
However, the latter got more prominence and quicker adaptation due to inherent disadvantages of Sodium; lower density, lesser durability, and more weight.
Everyone then quickly jumped onto the more efficient lithium batteries. And as the usage was limited, no one really focused on the material supply dynamics; Sodium in the Earth’s crust is ~500x that of lithium.
However, now the world is seeing increasing adaptation of EVs. Demand of limited supply Lithium is therefore expected to increase multifold. It’s further concerning that China controls that significantly.
World is therefore trying to develop alternatives – Sodium and Hydrogen.
We found the below two articles to provide a good current understanding around Sodium and its future potential.
Check them out –
For Hydrogen, you can check out here.