Western companies lag China in sodium battery race

{"text":[[{"start":9.82,"text":"The west has fallen behind China in developing the latest scientific breakthrough in batteries, using sodium salts dissolved in water to rival lithium-ion batteries, experts have said."}],[{"start":21.7,"text":"Scientists discovered that keeping the saltwater inside a key battery mix, using it to travel between positive and negative electrodes, dramatically boosts performance and could help break the grip of China on the metals needed for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and for backup energy."}],[{"start":38.92,"text":"China already dominates the production of sodium-ion battery cells. Chinese carmaker Changan is developing the world’s first mass-produced electric vehicle powered by sodium-ion batteries made by leading manufacturer CATL."}],[{"start":52.94,"text":"The country’s capacity has far outstripped demand, as it seeks to retain its position as the global powerhouse for battery manufacturing and design."}],[{"start":60.66,"text":"“The West has missed the boat” on being first to sodium-ion, said Max Reid, head of battery costs at the consultancy CRU Group. Scaling up the supply chain would require “$100mn worth of investment per plant plus, and we’re just seeing nothing of that outside China,” he said."}],[{"start":78.54,"text":"European and US battery start-ups had been pinning their ambitions on the chance to leapfrog their Chinese rivals using sodium-ion batteries, since they can be made from abundant materials including seawater. Lithium-based batteries rely on metals such as graphite and cobalt, whose production is dominated by China."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":96.82,"text":"Sodium-ion batteries have the potential to be safer and longer-lasting than some rival technologies, with some analysts forecasting they will become as cheap or cheaper than lithium batteries."}],[{"start":107.26,"text":"But Chinese companies, including CATL and auto group BYD, have been supported by tax breaks while several battery start-ups in Europe and the US have folded."}],[{"start":116.74,"text":"Natron Energy, based in California and which counted commodity trader Mercuria among its key backers, collapsed last year soon after announcing plans to build a gigafactory. That followed the closure of Stanford University spinout Bedrock Materials, co-founded by a former Tesla engineer."}],[{"start":133.32,"text":"Companies including GM and Tiamat Energy in France have invested in sodium-ion batteries and Moll Batterien is building a German factory which it said would mark the first industrial production of sodium-ion cells and batteries in Europe, scheduled to begin next year."}],[{"start":148.3,"text":"But they are dwarfed by the scale of production in China. The capacity of operating and planned sodium-ion gigafactories in China has risen to more than 400 gigawatt hours, compared with just 11 in the rest of the world, according to CRU data."}],[{"start":163.26,"text":"China also “dominated” sodium-ion patent activity in 2025 with CATL the most active applicant, according to the Volta Foundation’s latest report. China’s Shunwei Capital and Cowin Capital have been among the most active venture capital groups backing sodium-ion start-ups over the past decade, according to PitchBook data."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":182.46,"text":"Major economies needed to decide whether they were happy to be reliant on “batteries coming from a potential adversary”, said Christer Bergquist, chief executive of Altris, the Swedish maker of sodium-ion battery materials."}],[{"start":194.9,"text":"“For Europe, it’s about do we want to remain consumers of a product over time and keep buying from China? Or do we take a stance now and build up a value chain?” he said."}],[{"start":205.86,"text":"Sodium-ion batteries are less energy-dense than some rival EV batteries — meaning cars will go less far before needing to recharge — but perform better and are safer in extreme temperatures, so could be a good fit for smaller vehicles, such as three-wheelers, in either hot countries or very cold conditions."}],[{"start":222.3,"text":"Changan is one of the few carmakers pushing ahead with a passenger car using sodium-ion batteries. In early testing, it said CATL’s batteries charged 6 per cent faster than conventional lithium batteries at temperatures of minus 20C and 21 per cent faster at minus 10C."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":240.98,"text":"The advantages of greater safety and more rapid charging mean stronger demand is coming from the energy storage industry and data centres that need quick bursts of backup power for computing."}],[{"start":251.86,"text":"UBS forecasts that cost parity with lithium-ion was likely to be reached by 2027 and the price of the sodium-ion battery cells could fall by up to 30 per cent by 2030, driving its rapid growth estimates for 2035."}],[{"start":265.26,"text":"CRU said the saltwater batteries were likely to be complementary to lithium batteries. “It’s not replacing lithium-ion, it’s new demand,” Reid also notes."}],[{"start":275.22,"text":"Carmaker GM has partnered with California-based Peak Energy to develop next-generation sodium-ion batteries for energy storage and plans to mass-produce them from 2028."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":287.3,"text":"Peak plans to use imported Asian, including Chinese, sodium-ion cells in its energy storage systems, as do some other western hopefuls. But Kurt Kelty, head of GM’s battery business, said the materials would in future all be sourced in North America once volumes increased."}],[{"start":303.66,"text":"“We have so much sodium available here in the US,” Kelty said. “What we want to do is to make sure that ultimately it is domestically or North America sourced. It won’t be there on day one, but ultimately it will be.”"}],[{"start":316.22,"text":"US-based Alsym Energy is also expanding its sodium-ion production and said it had secured 19GWh in commercial commitments in recent months. Alsym has produced some of its cells in the US with additional cells produced in the UK."}],[{"start":330.54,"text":"As electricity demand surges on growing EV sales and the AI boom, governments worldwide are pushing to develop homegrown sources of battery materials — a need that has intensified as China has weaponised its dominance of critical mineral supply chains in the global trade war."}],[{"start":346.9,"text":"Sodium-ion developers have looked to materials including hard carbon — readily available from trees, coconut shells and byproducts of the oil and gas industry — as an anode material for their batteries."}],[{"start":358.3,"text":"Finnish materials group Stora Enso is testing its hard carbon anode made from lignin, found in wood and plants, with partners in the US and Asia as well as Sweden’s Altris."}],[{"start":368.62,"text":"Using locally sourced and sustainable material was “everything the EU [was] asking for,” said Hanna Schweitz, Stora Enso’s head of sustainable battery materials."}],[{"start":378.38,"text":"Some industry executives question the premise of attempting to rival Chinese technology. Tie-ups are already emerging as a result, with CATL and Dutch energy group Alfen announcing in July that they would partner to deploy 5GWh of sodium-ion battery energy-storage systems across Europe from 2027."}],[{"start":396.74,"text":"“If China has spent 10 years getting [lithium batteries] right — learn from them, buy the tech and learn how to use it,” said one executive at a global minerals-focused investment house. “Should we be pumping billions of research dollars into beating the Chinese into battery . . . Or take the best tech and put that money into actual jobs and facilities?”"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":421.1,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1789975035_6792.mp3"}