China’s battery giants expand to sodium-ion but no threat to lithium

Major battery and electric vehicle (EV) producer, China-based Build Your Dream (BYD), on June 8 announced to form a joint venture with small-sized car producer Huaihai and build sodium battery production hub in Xuzhou city, Jiangsu province. Both partners are aiming to building the operation to be the world’s largest sodium electric system supplier for mini vehicles.

The world’s largest power battery producer CATL, also based in China, announced in April the installation its hybrid of sodium-ion and lithium-ion battery on Chery’s mini car.

Other battery makers, including Zhongke Haina, a firm founded by researchers from China’s academy of science, are also producing sodium-ion battery and sodium-ion materials.

Chinese OEMs are ambitious on developing and producing sodium-ion battery, driven by the lower production costs and abundant reserve of sodium carbonate – the raw material to make sodium battery cathodes.

“We’re forecasting that sodium-ion will make up 9% of global EV sales by 2033. China will have the highest sodium ion battery demand, reaching over 41GWh,” said Fastmarkets’ analyst for battery raw materials Phoebe O’Hara.

Lower energy density is constraining the application of sodium-ion battery, particularly outside of China where range anxiety is still a key factor in EV consumption.
“…as this investment with Huaihai showcases, the best applications for sodium ion will be in low range, smaller EVs, due to sodium-ion’s lower energy density compared with NCM and LFP cells,” O’Hara added.

Energy density for CATL’s sodium ion battery is 160Wh/kg and Zhongke HiNa’s is 145Wh/kg, so BYD’s should be somewhere in that region, O’Hara said. This is compared with energy density of 255Wh/kg and 160Wh/kg for CATL’s latest NCM and LFP batteries.

Although the advantage of sodium-ion lies on its costs, sharp decline in lithium chemical prices since late 2022, amid a slowdown in EV growth, might dampen the momentum for sodium-ion production and adoption.

Fastmarkets’ assessment of lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot price range exw domestic China reached 310,000-325,000 yuan per tonne ($43.50-45.60 per tonne) on Thursday June 15, nearly halved from a record high of 590,000-605,000 yuan per tonne on November 17, 2022.

“There was a lot of interests in developing sodium battery last year when lithium price shot up. But now that lithium price fell a lot, it may not be worth switching to sodium. The move (by major battery makers) is more strategic than economical,” said a China-base lithium salt producer source.

Fastmarkets’ monthly assessment of soda ash, another name of sodium carbonate but for industrial use, was 280-300 yuan per tonne on May 25, down from 400-420 yuan per tonne in the previous pricing session.

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