Field note

Sodium batteries: which sodium are we talking about?

A quick reminder that "sodium battery" is not one thing — sodium-ion, sodium-sulfur, and sodium-nickel-chloride are different chemistries at very different maturity levels.

When everyone talks about Sodium batteries, which sodium are we talking about? 😂

More technical things here: https://lnkd.in/g74uDfjF

The three are not interchangeable:

  • Sodium-ion (Na-ion) — the lithium-ion look-alike: same cell formats and manufacturing logic, lower energy density, better cold-temperature behaviour; early commercial deployments now shipping.
  • Sodium-sulfur (NaS) — a high-temperature (~300 °C) molten chemistry, commercially operating in utility storage for decades, but a different beast operationally.
  • Sodium-nickel-chloride (ZEBRA) — another high-temperature chemistry, used in niche transport and stationary roles.

So when a headline says “sodium battery”, the first question is: which one?

Originally posted on LinkedIn.

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