Dive Brief:
- Sweden-based battery maker Northvolt said it developed an advanced sodium-ion battery that has been validated with an energy density of 160 watt-hours per kilogram.
- Northvolt’s sodium-ion battery is based on a hard carbon anode and a Prussian White-based cathode, which does not contain any lithium, nickel, cobalt or graphite.
- Although the sodium-ion batteries produced by Northvolt will initially be used in energy storage systems, future applications for sodium-ion batteries are expected to include electric vehicles.
Dive Insight:
Sweden-based Northvolt aims to be the first to industrialize Prussian White-based batteries and bring them to commercial markets.
“The potential of sodium-ion in this market alone will make a tremendous impact in the drive towards global electrification,” Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson said in a press release.
The sodium-ion technology, which has been developed together with Northvolt’s research partner Altris, is intended to become the foundation of the company’s next-generation energy storage solutions.
Sodium-ion batteries do not use any rare earth metals and are a safer alternative to the lithium-ion batteries that power many electric vehicles on the road today. Instead, these batteries use abundant and inexpensive sodium and iron versus the current nickel, manganese and cobalt or iron phosphate battery chemistries.
Northvolt’s latest innovation advances the company's aim to become a major supplier of battery cells and related systems. The company was co-founded in 2016 by Carlsson and Paolo Cerutti, both of whom were former Tesla executives. Carlsson was formerly Tesla’s chief procurement officer, while Cerutti previously served as Tesla’s vice president of global supply chain and operations planning.
In addition to sodium-ion batteries, Northvolt produces lithium-ion battery cells for automotive customers. The company is also developing energy-dense lithium-metal battery technology for aviation and high-performance vehicles at Cuberg, a battery cell manufacturer based in San Leandro, California, that’s owned by Northvolt.
This summer, Northvolt announced it raised $1.2 billion that will fund its expansion plans in Europe and North America. Northvolt says it secured over $9 billion in total equity and debt to help fulfill over $55 billion in battery orders from BMW, Volvo Cars, Volkswagen Group, Fluence and Scania.
