Na-Ion can be a lot less expensive. But it’s a lot heavier. (Not a problem for grid-storage.)
As a flashlight enthusiast, I’d be very interested to see if sodium batteries are any better.
Well I’m all about developing new technology and allowing the very best to sell the most.
Maybe someday in the future there will be an alternative to lithium batteries that really is better. But as you said, Sodium batteries aren’t as good.
They are actually better than Lithium in several ways. Sodium batteries have most of the capacity of Lithium batteries by weight, around 80% if I recall. But what they have to offer is being completely non-flammable, tolerant to wider temperature ranges, and they are made of materials that are cheap and abundant almost everywhere. It’s much better than having to source Lithium and Cobalt.
We could put Sodium batteries everywhere to power the grid since they are super safe, should be fine outdoors even.
Can we eat them?
BYD is supposedly bringing them to production.
https://cleantechnica.com/2023/04/22/the-sodium-ion-battery-is-coming-to-production-cars-this-year/
So the answer to the question about what to do with the excess salt from desalination plants, is make batteries?
Have they eliminated the need for sodium to be molten in sodium batteries? If so, that’s great news!
IIRC sodium is the -cathode- in the battery. No molten (RU thinking of reactors?)
I’m not thinking of reactors, though I am aware that molten sodium is used as a coolant fluid. It seems that I was remembering an off-hand comment in a MinutePhysics video from a few years ago. Molten sodium batteries do exist, but regular sodium batteries also exist.
