In an announcement spotted by Notebook Check, Elecom has just unveiled a unique external battery: according to the manufacturer, it is the very first sodium-ion, or Na-ion, battery intended for the general public.
This is still a relatively nascent technology. It has only been a few years since the industry was able to produce sodium batteries with a capacity equivalent to that of the Li-ion batteries that power the majority of modern electronic devices, because their energy density is significantly lower than that of the latter. Sodium-based cells also tend to be significantly heavier, which is less than ideal when it comes to integrating them into portable devices or electric vehicles.
A technology with great potential
But the reason so many are actively refining this concept is because sodium batteries also offer more than substantial advantages.
The first is access to raw materials. High-quality lithium is concentrated in a handful of deposits spread across a few countries; Sodium, on the other hand, is abundantly available in seawater as well as in many very common ores. A point that is anything but trivial in terms of the supply chain.
Furthermore, the extraction and processing of sodium are far less problematic than those of lithium from an ecological perspective. To produce industrial-grade lithium, it must either be pumped from underground by injecting astronomical quantities of water (around 500,000 liters of water per ton of lithium), or extracted directly from the rock through extremely energy-intensive processes that involve numerous toxic products.
Beyond resources, sodium batteries also have the advantage of being much more efficient at low temperatures and safer than Li-ion batteries. The latter are generally made up of several layers of anodes and cathodes separated by an insulating material. When damaged, this separation can be broken, allowing the anodes and cathodes to come into direct contact. This creates a short circuit that generates a lot of heat and can start a fire that tends to self-sustain. It is for these reasons, among others, that firefighters are so concerned about electric car fires. Sodium batteries, on the other hand, are generally built around water-based electrolytes, which greatly reduces the risk of combustion.
A niche product… and perhaps a precursor?
All these points are integral to Elecom's arguments. The company claims that its new battery, called Na Plus, is capable of operating smoothly in a temperature range of -1° to 50°C. It also presents it as a safer and more environmentally friendly alternative to conventional lithium batteries.
Furthermore, it appears to be exceptionally durable. According to the company, this external battery can withstand approximately 5,000 charge cycles, which is 5 to 15 times more than a standard lithium external battery. A significant argument for consumers keen to avoid short-lived products. In terms of raw performance, it still suffers in comparison to its lithium cousins.
Because of the lower energy density of sodium cells, it weighs around 350 grams for a capacity of 9000 mAh — almost twice as heavy as the market average at equivalent capacity.
It's also significantly more expensive than its competitors. Today, it's easy to find external batteries around 10,000 mAh for just under twenty euros. The Na Plus, on the other hand, sells for 9,980 yen in Japan, or just over €60! This probably explains why the company doesn't seem to have any plans to market it in other markets at the moment.
But it's also important to keep in mind that this is only a first iteration. This technology will mature over time, and there's little doubt that more efficient sodium batteries will eventually appear.
The question is whether they will one day represent a real alternative to current Li-ion batteries or whether they will instead be adopted outside the consumer space, for example, for renewable energy storage. See you in a few years for the first answers.
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