> The current research advances sodium as a viable alternative for batteries, a vital step to combat the rarity and environmental damage of lithium. It's one of many steps ahead.
Curious what some of the many steps ahead are. Seems like these articles about battery breakthroughs WRT non-lithium chemistries come out frequently, but nothing ever seems to come to fruition, and lithium still dominates. Just want to know why all these breakthroughs never make it to industrial scale.
cultofmetatron•48m ago
Even if sodium ion batteries have a quarter the energy density of lithium, they are still a massive win for grid scale storage. Honestly don't know why there's such a push for them in EVs when lithium works fine there. The cost benefit of sodium ion really makes a lot more sense when you can just drop a bunch of them on a lot of land and have it essentially be a reserve of power for a municipality.
hn_throwaway_99•59m ago
Curious what some of the many steps ahead are. Seems like these articles about battery breakthroughs WRT non-lithium chemistries come out frequently, but nothing ever seems to come to fruition, and lithium still dominates. Just want to know why all these breakthroughs never make it to industrial scale.