Sodium-ion batteries offer several advantages over the lithium-ion varieties that dominate the energy storage market. Because sodium is abundant, they could potentially help Europe reduce its dependence on Chinese lithium refining. China\u2019s major battery manufacturers also recognise their importance and are developing products fast, analysts tell Dialogue Earth. For Europe to become cost-competitive with China\u2019s production may be a bridge too far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Worth their salt?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The first strength of sodium-ion batteries is in the abundance of their principal material, sodium \u2013 the chemical element found in table salt. Unlike other battery chemical ingredients such as lithium, nickel and phosphate, sodium is broadly distributed<\/a> around the world in seawater and land-based deposits and is easy to produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lithium, the core chemistry for almost all<\/a> storage and electric vehicle batteries today, is produced at scale in only a handful of countries \u2013 the largest being Australia, China, Chile and Zimbabwe. Some of these producer countries are seeking to limit export, and some have experienced community pushback<\/a> over polluting and disruptive mines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, prices are extremely volatile, with lithium carbonate\u2019s price more than doubling<\/a> over the last year. In late 2022, its price per tonne reached CNY 597,500 (about USD 88,900) before collapsing<\/a> to CNY 172,500 (USD 25,700) by March 2023 and falling further to just CNY 60,000 (about USD 8,900) in June last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Processing of lithium is also highly concentrated. China accounts for an astounding 74%<\/a> of global lithium refining. This is seen as a key vulnerability by European and G7 governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sodium is highly unlikely to ever see massive price fluctuations, says Richard Schmuch, an expert on battery materials at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production, in M\u00fcnster, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CATL is evidently aware of this strength. \u201cCATL is committed to promoting energy independence for all countries and regions, so we have the mission to introduce a new battery material with abundant resources across all continents,\u201d William Wu, director of CATL’s Energy Storage Technology Center, said at the TENER battery system launch event in Munich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are performance advantages too. At the launch event, CATL\u2019s Amanda Xu, president of energy storage systems, Europe, claimed that their TENER batteries can operate at extreme temperatures, as low as minus 20C and as high as 45C. Certain sodium-ion battery chemistries also offer more charging cycles compared to lithium-ion chemistries, which could bring down lifetime running costs and reduce waste, says Philipp Voss, also from the Fraunhofer institute. The sodium-ion battery has 15,000 charge cycles, Xu added, while their lithium-ion storage batteries offer a maximum of 12,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lithium-ion batteries almost always contain graphite, the production of which is extremely carbon intensive, says Voss. Sodium-ion batteries use hard carbon, which can be produced from a variety of abundant materials, including trees and coconuts shells. Hard carbon can also be made at lower temperatures and over a shorter period \u2013 just a few hours at around 1,200C, compared to up to two weeks at 3,000C \u2013 Voss tells Dialogue Earth. This can significantly reduce the embedded carbon emissions of batteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Voss cautions that these theoretical efficiencies don’t always translate into practice. Sodium batteries do have a lower carbon footprint than lithium ones when compared cell for cell, but sodium cells store less energy for their size, so a fairer comparison is by kilowatt-hour of storage capacity. On that basis, sodium’s advantage narrows and the two chemistries end up with a similar carbon footprint, or with sodium\u2019s a bit larger, he explains. This is because of the enormous scale and efficiencies of existing lithium battery production in China, compared to sodium-ion\u2019s relatively young supply chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For similar reasons, the production of sodium-ion batteries has not yet reached price parity with lithium-ion, says Henry Sanderson, a fellow at RUSI and the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, two British think-tanks. According to Chinese media reports<\/a>, CATL believes sodium-ion batteries will reach price parity with lithium by the end of this year, due to innovation in chemistries, optimisation of production and falling cost of inputs such as anodes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Europe\u2019s dependence on imported fossil fuels was starkly revealed by Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which sparked a gas crisis. It has been further highlighted by the ongoing Gulf crisis, with its prolonged impacts on oil and gas prices. To increase resilience, the EU recently launched the Electrification Action Plan<\/a> calling for \u201ca radical shift towards efficient electrification of demand\u201d to \u201csecure Europe\u2019s resilience and security while supporting [the] EU\u2019s competitiveness\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Energy storage is closely tied to electrification. The plan sets targets of 200 gigawatts (GW) of storage by 2030 and 500 GW by 2040. Such storage is exactly the use case of CATL\u2019s TENER system targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGrid storage is currently the \u2026 biggest market for sodium-ion,\u201d says Philipp Voss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Sanderson, sodium-ion batteries could also offer a \u201csafety valve\u201d to support energy transitions in Europe and elsewhere. \u201cYou can bring out more sodium, relieve the demand pressure and therefore bring lithium-ion \u2026 costs back down. And that’s really critical,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat you don’t want to see is a rapid increase in the cost of lithium-ion batteries because that is detrimental to the energy transition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n CATL also sees sodium-ion as a complementary battery technology, rather than something that will replace or surpass lithium. At the launch in June, Wu described the technologies as the \u201ctwo foundations of future energy storage systems.\u201d According to a CATL press release<\/a>, the company will deliver its first sodium-ion battery storage systems to Chinese customers in September, and to international customers from June next year. They expect orders to reach 1 gigawatt-hours (GWh) by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sodium-ion batteries could offer Europe the chance to release its electrification and storage ambitions from the grip of China\u2019s industrial ecosystem \u2013 and the risk of export controls that come with it. China currently accounts for 80%<\/a> of global battery production and data from the Bruegel Clean Tech Tracker records that 84%<\/a> of Europe\u2019s battery imports came from China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe dream of the west \u2026 is to establish a supply chain or ecosystem for sodium-ion technology since the lithium space is so dependent on China,\u201d says Schmuch, the battery materials expert. \u201c[The] technology provides an opportunity for Europe to achieve technology sovereignty in order to make their own batteries, in case China restricts the export of battery technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sodium-ion batteries are a \u201cstrategic technology\u201d for Europe, stated an opinion<\/a> published this year by the EU\u2019s European Economic and Social Committee: \u201cSodium batteries offer strategic advantages for the energy transition and supply chain resilience \u2026 sodium itself is abundant, inexpensive and widely available \u2013 including in Europe.\u201d The opinion called for \u201cdecisive and coordinated EU action to establish a competitive sodium battery manufacturing industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus far, support has been fragmented. In 2025, the German government launched a EUR 14 million<\/a> programme to support sodium-ion battery production. In the same year, the Swedish Energy Agency provided a similar EUR 6.8 million<\/a> grant. With support from commercial investors such as Stellantis, French company Tiamat aims to open Europe\u2019s first sodium-ion gigafactory<\/a> in Amiens. Production is slated to begin in mid-2027 and reach full capacity of 5 GWh by 2030. This is relatively small compared to lithium battery gigafactories, but quite substantial in the sodium-ion space, says Schmuch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Abundant sodium could reduce critical-mineral vulnerabilities and support Europe\u2019s electrification, but Chinese manufacturers hold a commanding lead in the market <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2501,"featured_media":60150458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[757],"tags":[50042207,20000325,566,50042426],"hashtags":[],"country":[20000110,50041559,50040726],"class_list":["post-60150444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-energy-storage","tag-industry","tag-mining","tag-sodium","country-china","country-european-union","country-germany"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"pink](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Salin-de-Aigues-Mortes-saltworks_Alamy_3FEK92D-scaled.jpg\")
<\/div>A gamechanger for Europe?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
European industrial goals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n