​The average annual compound growth rate of sodium batteries is rocketing

1. Development of sodium battery
2. Advantages of sodium battery
3. Industry space of sodium batteries
4. Sodium battery industry chain

Sodium battery is a new type of secondary battery, its composition, working principle and production process are similar to lithium battery, mainly used in large-scale energy storage systems, mobile charging piles and low-speed electric vehicles and other new energy fields.

Compared with lithium batteries, sodium batteries have higher safety, excellent low temperature performance and significant cost advantages. In the context of limited lithium resources, sodium batteries have attracted market attention due to their advantages.

Development of sodium battery

Research work on sodium-ion batteries and lithium-ion batteries sprouted at the same time. The structure and principle of sodium-ion batteries are similar to lithium batteries. Na-ion batteries are mainly composed of two different sodium intercalation materials (positive electrode material, negative electrode material), electrolyte, separator and other key components.

During charging, sodium ions are extracted from the positive electrode material, pass through the electrolyte, battery separator, and finally intercalate into the negative electrode material. At the same time, electrons flow from the negative electrode to the positive electrode through the external circuit, and the discharge process is the opposite of the charging process.

It is only because of the weak sodium intercalation ability of the negative electrode material and the low energy density of the sodium battery that the sodium battery has not been paid much attention. However, the tight supply and demand drove the price of lithium soaring, which made the sodium-ion battery with cost advantage begin to exert force.

According to data, the penetration rate of pure electric vehicles in the world has rapidly increased from 0.87% in 2016 to 8.7% in 2021. In the past five years, the penetration rate of pure electric vehicles in the world has increased by 9 times. This has led to a rapid increase in the demand for lithium salts in upstream batteries, the expansion cycle of lithium resources is significantly longer than that of downstream expansion, and the price of lithium salts has risen significantly.

In the periodic table of RMB elements, sodium and lithium are metal RMB elements in the same main group and have similar physical and chemical properties. The reserves of sodium resources on the earth are very rich, and the content of sodium resources in the crust accounts for 2.75% (lithium resources only account for 0.0065%).

The abundance is ranked 6th, and it is distributed all over the world, which can be completely unrestricted by resources and regions. Therefore, in terms of resources, sodium-ion batteries have greater advantages than lithium-ion batteries.

According to the data, the price of sodium carbonate is only 2791.67 RMB/ton, which is far from the price of lithium carbonate of 525,000 RMB/ton. According to professional calculations in the industry, the cost of sodium-ion batteries can be reduced to 0.5-0.6RMB/kWh after mass production, which will be about 40% lower than the cost of lithium iron phosphate.

Advantages of sodium battery

Compared with lithium iron phosphate batteries, sodium-ion batteries have the advantages of fast charging performance, high and low temperature performance, and safety. However, lithium iron phosphate battery is still a popular choice for many manufacturers. You can click on our article of top 10 lithium iron phosphate power battery manufacturers to get further understanding.

In terms of fast charging performance, the stokes diameter of sodium ions is smaller, the electrolyte of the same concentration has higher ionic conductivity than the lithium salt electrolyte, or the electrolyte of lower concentration can achieve the same ionic conductivity, and the fast charging performance is good. 

For example, CATL’s first-generation sodium-ion battery can reach 80% of the power in 15 minutes at room temperature, and the charging speed is about twice that of lithium-ion batteries.

In terms of low temperature performance, sodium-ion batteries can work normally in the temperature range of -40°C to 80°C, and the capacity retention rate is close to 90% at -20°C, while that of lithium-ion batteries (lithium iron phosphate/graphite system) is less than 70%, so the high and low temperature performance of sodium batteries is better than other secondary batteries. 

In terms of safety, the internal resistance of sodium-ion batteries is higher than that of lithium-ion batteries. In the case of short circuit, the instantaneous heat generation is less, the temperature rise is lower, and the thermal runaway temperature is higher than that of lithium batteries, which has higher safety. Therefore, for tests such as overcharge and overdischarge, short circuit, acupuncture, extrusion, etc., the sodium battery can achieve no fire and no explosion.

Industry space of sodium batteries

In stationary scenarios such as energy storage and base stations that are not sensitive to energy density, sodium ions have huge market potential.

First of all, in the rapidly developing field of energy storage, sodium batteries are expected to become one of the important technical routes. Among the electrochemical energy storage technologies, the installed capacity of lithium-ion battery energy storage technology is 1830.9MW, and the power scale accounts for 99.3%.

The installed capacity of lead battery energy storage technology is 2.2MW, the installed capacity of flow battery energy storage technology is 10.0MW, and other electrochemical The installed capacity of energy storage technology is 1.52MW.

It is estimated that by 2025, the cumulative installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage may reach 40GW, and the carbon peak target will be achieved by 2030. The annual installed capacity of new energy power generation will maintain an average annual increase of 100GW, and the annual installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage will increase. Remaining at 12GW to 15GW, the installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage is expected to reach about 110GW by 2030.

The installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage will also be faster than this. It is expected that the installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage will reach 52GW in 2025, and the cumulative installed capacity will reach 297GW in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 58%.

Among them, the penetration rate of sodium batteries is expected to increase in 2023, reaching 10% and 30% in 2025 and 2030, respectively, and the demand will also increase from 0.1GWh in 2023 to 2.7GWh and 17.8GWh in 2025 and 2030.

Although in the field of power batteries, due to energy density and service life, sodium-ion batteries cannot completely replace lithium-ion batteries, but there is also a huge demand. At present, electric two-wheelers and A00 grades are affected by the high price of lithium batteries, and the growth has slowed down.

With the advantage of cost, sodium batteries can replace lithium batteries on the one hand, and on the other hand, they can help electric two-wheelers through low cost. Sales of wheeled vehicles and A00-class cars.

In addition, sodium-ion batteries are expected to replace the current stock of lead-acid batteries. It is estimated that the total demand for sodium-ion batteries in China will be 61GWh in 2025, and the total demand will reach 292GWh by 2030, with a compound growth rate of up to 2022-2030. 82.5%.

Sodium battery industry chain

At present, the sodium ion industry chain has been gradually improved, and the technology is basically finalized.

First of all, as a cathode material that affects key components such as battery energy density and cycle life, the main cathode materials of sodium-ion batteries are transition metal oxides, Prussian blue, polyanions, etc. Among them, transition metal oxides have high energy density and are the mainstream cathodes of current sodium-ion batteries. Prussian blue has good stability, but the cycle life is poor, and the production process is not environmentally friendly. Polyanion cathodes are more stable, but have higher costs.

As one of the core components of sodium-ion batteries, the negative electrode material affects the characteristics of the battery such as the first coulombic efficiency, rate performance and cycle durability. At present, the most commonly used negative electrodes for sodium-ion batteries are hard carbon and soft carbon. Hard carbon is currently the most suitable anode for sodium-ion batteries.

At the same time, the soft carbon material has the characteristics of liquid phase pyrolysis, and the specific surface area of soft carbon is lower than that of hard carbon. Therefore, the soft carbon material can be used as the coating layer of the hard carbon material, reducing the side reaction between the electrode material and the electrolyte, and increasing the first Coulomb efficiency.

The electrolyte that communicates the positive and negative bridges inside the battery is the main factor affecting the safety of the battery, and also plays an important role in the energy density, cycle life and rate performance of the battery.

The most commonly used electrolytes can be divided into ether electrolytes and ester electrolytes. For more information, here is a lithium ion battery electrolyte article for you. Among them, ester electrolytes have high safety and good conductivity, and are the most commonly used electrolyte solvents for sodium ions.

In terms of current collectors, compared with lithium-ion batteries, only copper can be selected as current collectors. Since aluminum and sodium do not undergo alloying reactions at low potentials, sodium-ion batteries can choose cheaper aluminum as current collectors.

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