Hardware Podcasts

The promise and perils of sodium-ion batteries

Catalyst · 20 Feb 2025 · 44m

What this episode covers

Adrian Yao, founder of Stanford’s STEER program and former CTO of EnPower, explains why sodium-ion batteries face significant cost challenges despite their supply chain benefits. He details how lower energy density increases material intensity, making current sodium-ion cells more expensive than lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Yao argues that achieving competitiveness requires major R&D breakthroughs in materials and cell architecture, such as anode-free designs, rather than just scaling production. The discussion highlights the strategic role of Chinese manufacturers like CATL and BYD in keeping lithium prices low by maintaining sodium-ion as a viable alternative.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Natron, Peak Energy, Bedrock Materials, Acculon Energy, CATL, BYD, EnPower, Energy Impact Partners, EnergyHub, Antenna Group
Also
STEER, Stanford

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