Recent progress with Sodium-Ion batteries makes them suitable for electric vehicles, with decisive advantages over existing technology. Production of EVs with these new batteries has started in China. This podcast episode explores this extremely important development for mobility.

Here is the Substack article's last section, offering concluding remarks:

Sodium-Ion batteries may be, or actually are, the EV revolution in the making.

All the EV manufacturers should now aggressively work to introduce this technology into their vehicles line-up, similarly to what Tesla recently did with LFP technology.

Talking about Tesla, the company can certainly phase in efficient Sodium-Ion batteries within a reasonable time frame of one or two years, and implement it for all its base-models, including its CyberTruck.

BYD is leading the way with the Seagull and the Dolphin but will likely pursue the Sodium-Ion route with additional models.Likewise, other producers such as Ford, VW, Stellantis, GMC, should adopt this technology, and further improve it.

While the energy capacity gap with Lithium based batteries has already been reduced, there is still scope for improvement of the technology.

It must be noted that existing battery factories can be retro-fitted to produce Sodium-Ion batteries. No big capital expenditures would be needed.

Sodium-Ion batteries is a major technological change in the world of EVs, and should have huge, positive, impacts for all EV manufacturers.

Of course, adopting these batteries will have considerable implications in terms of the supply chain for the required minerals and for future investments.

For example, the multi-billion $ investments recently decided upon in Canada for battery manufacturing will need to be thoroughly revised or reconsidered, in light of this new technology.

Without any reliance on minerals such as Lithium and Cobalt, which have well documented negative environmental and social impacts, like child labor in Africa in the case of Cobalt and watertable depletion in South America in the case of Lithium, EVs will become much more acceptable to the public.

Of immediate concern to EV users are the fire risks, the slow charging time, the range loss in the cold, among other issues, which are making EVs less and less desirable, as there is growing awareness of these issues in the population.

The Sodium-Ion technology has the considerable advantage of simultaneously addressing several of those issues, while at the same time reducing the vehicles’ prices.

From a public policy perspective, Sodium-Ion batteries can be expected to make EVs much more appealing to growing numbers of drivers. Free and informed choice would rule consumer decisions rather than the mandates, subsidies and other market distortions presently implemented by governments.

The very reputation of EVs is actually at stake, as there are just too many issues with them and their current batteries. Anyone can easily understand they are not the “clean” or “green” vehicles that governments and other EV promoters pretend.

If adopted, the Sodium-Ion battery technology may well be the decisive factor that will make the EV experiment succeed.

See the full article at: https://covexit.substack.com/p/now-is-the-time-for-sodium-ion-batteries