GM Backs Sodium Ion Batteries for U.S. Grid Storage
General Motors has partnered with startup Peak Energy to develop and manufacture sodium-ion batteries for grid-scale energy storage. This move aims to provide a cost-effective alternative to lithium-based batteries as the industry seeks to stabilize energy grids.
Why it matters
Diversifying battery chemistry is critical for the transition to renewable energy and reducing reliance on lithium supply chains.
Despite setbacks in sodium-ion battery development in the U.S., the startup Peak Energy says it can be the one to finally achieve the ambitious application of using the tech to store energy for the grid.
When U.S. start-ups Natron Energy and Bedrock Materials shut down sodium-ion battery operations last year, they joined an ignominious list of more than dozen failed Western battery companies.
CATL, based in China and the world’s largest battery company , then dropped a bombshell in April, announcing it would supply 60 gigawatt-hours of sodium-ion cells to the grid storage provider HyperStrong. The largest sodium-ion battery order in history suggested China was on its way, as with lithium-iron phosphate in previous years , to dominating yet another promising chemistry.
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