: 40% Cheaper, Fast Charging: Can Sodium-Ion Replace Li-Ion Batteries in EVs? #IndiaNEWS #Electric Vehicles Can sodium-ion batteries replace their lithium-ion counterparts in Indias quest for greater

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40% Cheaper, Fast Charging: Can Sodium-Ion Replace Li-Ion Batteries in EVs? #IndiaNEWS #Electric Vehicles
Can sodium-ion batteries replace their lithium-ion counterparts in Indias quest for greater adoption of electric mobility?
Latest developments in the electric vehicle (EV) sector seem to suggest that this is possible. Conglomerates like Reliance Industries and startups like the Pune-based Sentient Labs, Roorkee-based Indi Energy and Sodion Energy in Coimbatore are making real strides in this direction, given that sodium-ion technology is less expensive than the current lithium-ion EV battery technology. (Representational image above courtesy Shutterstock/KAIN KAUSHIK)
Some manufacturers have spoken of how Li-ion batteries make up for the most expensive component of an EV, accounting for 40-50% of its cost. If sodium-ion cells are manufactured on a mass scale, many in the sector believe it will make EVs more affordable.
Bala Pachayappa, former chief technology officer of Ampere Electric, who is now the CEO of Sodion Energy, a battery startup, argues that this transition would make EVs “cheaper than IC-engine vehicles even without subsidies�.
“In terms of cost, sodium-ion cells will be slightly more expensive than lead-acid, but cheaper than lithium-ion cells by about 30-40% as per our estimation,� he tells The Better India.
Besides costs, however, sodium-ion technology has a series of other advantages over their lithium-ion counterparts, from availability and battery capacity to impact on the environment.
Making That Transition
It was sometime in 2018 when Bala Pachayappa began looking at alternate battery chemistries to lithium-ion. “We knew that it would take another decade for solid-state batteries to become affordable. Hydrogen is something we looked at as well, but it had some way to go before commercialisation. It was after stumbling into some research work in Singapore that we witnessed how unbelievably well it performed in the laboratory,� he recalls.
He saw that one could discharge the entire sodium-ion battery up to zero volts without affecting the life of the cells. “That is one of the best parts of sodium-ion cells. It also gives 80-90% benefits of lithium titanate oxide (LTO), one of the best lithium cell chemistries that is safe, has a long life and possesses the quality of fast charging. In the laboratory, sodium-ion batteries were getting fully charged in 10 minutes. However, this is all under laboratory conditions. When you commercialise lab technology, you may lose 40-45% of the results or performance seen in the lab. Even then, a sodium ion is better than the LFP (Lithium ferro phosphate) battery in terms of performance. LFP is like second best to Lithium Titanate Oxide in terms of cell chemistry in the Lithium family of cells,� adds Bala.

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