Comment on US grid adds batteries at 10x the rate of natural gas in first half of 2024
ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 3 weeks agoSodium batteries require very little rare earths in comparison to lithium batteries.
Comment on US grid adds batteries at 10x the rate of natural gas in first half of 2024
ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 3 weeks agoSodium batteries require very little rare earths in comparison to lithium batteries.
Arkouda@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
It really is too bad about the weak life cycle, poor charge/discharge rate, and incredibly low voltage that begin the story of “Why don’t we just use sodium ion batteries?” and place it directly in the “tragedy” section of the book store.
ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
The information I’ve seen regarding deep discharge life-cycle for sodium ion is that the latest tech is actually extremely good, at least according to this. I don’t see how the lower voltage is a problem, since for grid situations you’ll have transformers anyway, and the batteries can just be hooked up in series to increase the voltage.
They use abundant materials, will be much cheaper than lithium ion, don’t need to be actively cooled, and massively lessen the risk of rupture and fires.
The low density per unit of weight isn’t relevant for grid storage, so they seem pretty ideal.