[HN Gopher] Sodium batteries are finally catching up
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       Sodium batteries are finally catching up
        
       Author : tromp
       Score  : 17 points
       Date   : 2025-10-18 20:49 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.sciencedaily.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.sciencedaily.com)
        
       | hn_throwaway_99 wrote:
       | > 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 wrote:
       | 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.
        
         | hyghjiyhu wrote:
         | What are your thoughts on sodium batteries vs water
         | electrolysis for grid scale?
        
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       (page generated 2025-10-18 23:01 UTC)