Rising lithium prices could create an opening for sodium batteries.
Lithium batteries drive much of the modern economy: EVs, personal devices, and grid energy storage all use them. But lithium is scarce and expensive. Sodium batteries are a potential alternative; they are less energy-dense, limiting their capacity, but sodium is much more abundant and so could drive down prices, especially in situations — such as utility-scale batteries — where size and weight are less important, MIT Technology Review noted.
A shift to sodium will not, however, reduce reliance on China, which dominates the industry, notably through battery giants BYD and CATL.
