Sodium ion vs lithium ion batteries thomas

Characteristic

Sodium-ion

Lithium-ion

Raw Material Abundance and Processing

Sixth most abundant material in the Earth's crust and is a more sustainable option. There is about 1000 times more sodium in the crust than lithium, and sodium is around 60000 times more abundant in the oceans. This abundance will reduce the dependence on certain nations and will make sodium batteries cheaper once scaled up, with some expectations of USD$40/kwh in the future

Lithium-ion has well-established mining and extraction processes, but they are only located in a few places. Processing is heavily centred around China, with around 2/3rd of all lithium processing being performed in China. There is a lower abundance of lithium than sodium, which will continue to get more expensive as supplies run out. Lithium mining is also very destructive

Wider Supply Chain

Lacks a robust supply chain and will need a new one to be set up for the scalability to be comparable with lithium. However, individual companies are trying to help with this, such as BYD setting up a 30GWh gigafactory in China and CATL, which is looking to expand more into European markets. Most sodiumion battery precursors are based on soda ash (sodium carbonate), which can be made synthetically from limestone and salt, so there is an almost unlimited abundance that will be less likely to suffer from the same price volatility and geopolitical challenges as

 There is a robust global supply chain, but it is concentrated around certain countries. Finite resources and geopolitical tensions play a big part in the costs of lithium. Costs are very volatile, jumping up 700% in one year from 2021 to 2022, and increasing by 57% in 5 months in 2025. Continued rising costs of lithium, cobalt, and nickel will raise EV costs. Lithium carbonate precursor costs have ranged from USD$6000-83000 per ton between 2020-2024, whereas sodium carbonate costs in the same period ranged from USD$100-500 per ton. In early 2026, lithium carbonate prices hit highs of USD$23,700 per ton.

Safety

Very safe because sodium is not flammable, and sodium batteries do not explode, and are very unlikely to short-circuit. They also have a much lower risk of. thermal runaway and can be used in a wider range of environmental conditions. Sodium-ion batteries can be stored and transported at OV, reducing fire risks, and can be started again without issue.

Relatively safe for the most part, but there has been an increasing number of smartphone and EV fires in recent years as technology applications have become more powerful and more demanding. Thermal runaway is a big safety issue in lithium-ion batteries, especially as they need to be stored with a minimum charge, which increases fire risks.

Temperature Range

Much wider operating temperature range of-40-70°C, Optimal operating temperature range on 0-50 °C. making them more suitable for cold conditions and less likely to undergo thermal runaway when they get hot. They also retain around 90% of their initial capacity at -20°C.

Lose more capacity at lower temperatures than sodium ion (often down to 80%).

Performance and EV

The highest-performing sodium-ion batteries (from CATL) have energy densities of175Wh/kg,Comparable to lower-end lithium-ion batteries and surpassing those of lead-acid and nickel-based batteries.

Top-end lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries now Achieve around 205Wh/kg.while lithium nickel cobalt

Manganese oxide(NMC) batteries achieve around 255Wh/kg.

Other Electrochemical

properties

Lower supplied voltage than lithium of 2.3-2.5V. Average,gravimetric energy density of 90-160Wh/kg,And avolumetric energy density of 250-375kWh/m3.

This translates to an average driving range of350km For an SUV.

Higher supplied voltage of 3.2-3.7V.Average Gravimetric energy density of 150-300wh/kg,and a

Volumetric energy density of 200-700kWh/m3. Commercial LFP batteries average around 180-200

Wh/kg,whereas ternary lithium batteries average 250-300Wh/kg.

This translates to an average driving range of400-600Km for an SUV.

Cycle Life

Can be charged faster than lithium-ion battery with and average 3C charging rate.Average cycle life range of

500-8000cycles,but recent batteries from CATL have reached10,000cycles.

Slower charging rates with an average 2C charging rate.Average cycle life range of 1000-12000cycles.