Lithium-ion batteries have settled in as market leaders, although invariably another chemistry will replace them sometime. This is always the case, even though knocking down a champion takes courage, and often a dose of good luck. We already see sodium batteries encircling lithium, and capitalizing on the newcomer’s greater safety, and lower manufacturing cost.
Sodium Batteries Encircling Lithium-Ion, and Courting Renewables
The big battery money, and capacity for growth, is balanced between electric vehicles and battery energy storage. Electric vehicle drivers demand highest-rated battery power, and they show few signs of ever being fully satisfied.
Battery energy storage operators, on the other hand, require as-near-as-possible fail-proof reliability. They cannot afford troublesome batteries that cause runaway fires. This sounds to us like a fruitful market, where sodium batteries encircling lithium-ion could steal a march.
We popped by The Conversation for a second opinion. They confirmed that solar and wind energy “are now the cheapest form of electricity”. However, renewables face challenges, especially when wind and solar energy fade in the evening.
We could survive without ultra-fast electric cars. But we cannot do without affordable electricity, especially after dark. We need a reliable form of backup power to tide us over. We could be looking into darkness otherwise, if we start closing down our aging coal power stations.
Two-Horse Race Between Lithium and Sodium
There are three ways to resolve this challenge to ongoing electricity supplies. The first one would be to backtrack on renewables, and continue using coal, oil, and gas.
Our scientists have warned us of the climate consequences, and so this first option seems improbable. We are also hesitant about nuclear, on account of lessons learned at Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Fukushima Daiichi power stations.
Renewables coupled to storage batteries thus seem to be the only viable option, if we are to have reliable, abundant electricity going forward. Lithium batteries have proved their mettle, but their instability has lead to some dramatic fires. And moreover, our supply of the metal is uncertain going forward.
Sodium, on the other hand, is as abundant as the water in the oceans flowing around our planet. Scientists increasingly predict sodium batteries encircling lithium ones, and becoming the energy storage medium of the future. What do you think? Do write and share your thoughts.
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Geopolitical Tensions Map Way For Sodium
