U.S. and European startups are racing to develop new batteries using two abundant, cheap materials — sodium and sulfur — that could reduce China's battery dominance, ease looming supply bottlenecks and lead to mass-market electric vehicles .
Newer battery chemistries have problems to be overcome. Sodium ion batteries don't yet store enough energy, while sulfur cells tend to corrode quickly and don't last long. Most EV batteries today use one of two types of cathodes: Nickel cobalt manganese or lithium iron phosphate . NCM cathodes are capable of storing more energy, but use costly materials . LFP cathodes typically don't hold as much energy, but they are safer and tend to be less expensive because they use materials that are more abundant.
Jeff Pratt, managing director of the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre - a state-funded 130 million pound factory that rents out its production lines to startups to test battery chemistries - said he is trying to fit a sodium ion startup's cells into a packed production schedule because it is"strategically important" to Britain's hopes of being at the forefront of developing new, better batteries.
At Tesla's 2020 Battery Day, CEO Elon Musk said a"three-tiered approach" to lithium ion batteries using different materials would be needed to build"truly affordable" EVs — mainly with iron-based LFP battery cells — as well as larger, more powerful and expensive EVs using nickel-based NCM or NCA cells with cobalt or aluminum cathode material.
Aside from a cost advantage, Chen says Amandarry's batteries can charge really fast — 80 per cent in 15 minutes.