When people hear the word sodium, they may think of table salt. But sodium-ion batteries use sodium ions in a very different way. Similar to lithium-ion batteries, these ions move between two electrodes to store and release energy.
It’s very much like a lithium-ion battery. The ions flow toward the anode when you charge the battery, and then they flow back toward the cathode when you use the battery.
Several reasons explain why sodium-ion is getting so much attention. Manufacturers could potentially reuse pieces of their existing lithium-ion systems. They wouldn’t have to build an entirely new industry.
The main reason that sodium-ion is so interesting? Sodium is abundant, and you can get it from lots of common minerals. But lithium tends to be much more concentrated in certain areas, and we’ve seen big price swings for lithium as electric vehicle sales have grown.
Sodium could help diversify battery supply chains. It might also potentially save money if sodium-ion production reaches a large enough scale.
The point is, this isn’t just some lab experiment anymore. Last February, CATL and CHANGAN showed off a mass-production passenger car with CATL’s Naxtra sodium-ion battery. CATL says they can get to an energy density of 175 watt-hours per kilogram with the battery.
This is a major improvement, but it also highlights one of sodium-ion’s biggest drawbacks.
The International Energy Agency says top sodium-ion cells are in the range of 175 watt-hours per kilogram. The best lithium iron phosphate batteries can get to about 205. Nickel-based lithium batteries can get to about 255.
Energy density measures how much energy a battery can store per unit of weight. If your energy density is low, you’ll need a bigger, heavier battery to travel the same distance.
The IEA estimates that the average sport utility vehicle powered by sodium-ion cells could get about 350 kilometers in typical conditions. Comparable lithium-ion vehicles can travel about 400–600 kilometers.
As a result, it is less appealing to drivers who want the longest possible range. And it’s a big negative for aviation when a battery becomes too heavy.
But sodium-ion becomes much more competitive when weight is less important. For example, a grid battery sitting next to a solar farm doesn’t need to move around.
Cost and longevity could be more important than how much energy you can pack into the smallest space.
Those stationary batteries are becoming more important as renewable power generation doesn’t always match when we need it. Solar panels can produce more electricity than needed in the afternoon, while demand often increases after dark.
You could store energy in batteries and pump it back into the grid later.
In some cases, maybe urban cars that are a little smaller could be a good fit. If a car is mainly used for short commutes, it may not need an extremely long range, especially if you can charge regularly.
Cold weather is another factor to consider. Lithium iron phosphate batteries are often less effective in cold weather. But recent sodium-ion batteries can still hold on to about 90% of their capacity at minus 40 degrees Celsius, according to the IEA.
That could come in handy in areas where your range on electric vehicles plummets in the winter.
But just because a battery’s “made from sodium” doesn’t necessarily make it inexpensive. Lithium iron phosphate batteries have mature factories and very developed supply chains. Plus, the price of lithium is way down from its high-water mark in 2022.
As things stand right now, sodium-ion batteries can’t always beat lithium iron phosphate batteries in terms of cost, according to the IEA. In most situations, lithium-based batteries still have an advantage.
The difference in production is huge. Total global production of sodium-ion batteries in 2025 was less than 1% of lithium-ion production. Even the announced projects looking ahead to 2030 are pretty small compared with lithium-ion plans.
However, not all sodium-ion batteries are completely free of critical minerals. Some cathodes still use nickel or manganese. The hard carbon anodes use a supply chain that is much less developed than the graphite supply chains for lithium-ion batteries.
Also, there’s a geographical problem. The IEA estimates that China has nearly all the existing capacity for manufacturing sodium-ion batteries, and more than 95% of the currently announced capacity in 2030.
Sodium is widely available in nature, but expertise in battery manufacturing is not.
Scientists are still working to refine the chemistry. Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory have been studying the cracks that develop in the particles of sodium-ion battery cathodes.
By adjusting the way the cathode material was heated during the manufacturing process, they were able to minimize some of this damage and make it more stable.
This kind of development could slowly start to reduce the performance differences. But sodium doesn’t have to outperform lithium in everything.
Maybe we’ll still have lithium batteries for high-energy applications and long-range vehicles. But we might be able to use sodium-ion batteries for grid storage or shorter daily trips.
Some future batteries may actually be a hybrid of both, so each can do what it does best.
We might not need the next energy revolution to find the one perfect battery. Maybe we just need more than one practical option.
