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Yadea released first electric scooters with sodium-ion batteries, starting at 3,299 yuan (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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https://carnewschina.com/2025/01/08/yadea-released-first-electric-scooters-with-sodium-ion-battery-pack-in-china/

Seems like sodium ions batteries have left the lab and are already in production.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sodium Ion battery cells (From the article):

Energy Density: 145Wh/kg (How much Weight)
Energy Desnity: ??? (How much Volume)
Life cycle: 1,500 charges (Normal temperatures)
92% capacity at -20°C

Lithium Polymer (From Harding Energy - https://www.hardingenergy.com/lithium-2/ - assuming this is representative)

Energy Density: 100 - 158Wh/kg (How much Weight)
Energy Density: 185 - 220Wh/l (How much Volume/Size)
Life Cycle: ~500 (No temperature comments)
Operable Temperature: -20°C - 50°C

That feels to me like the reported characteristics are on-par or better. Whether the real-world characteristics are the same, and if they really last as long is an open question.

I'd love to find out the Wh/l - i.e. how much physical size is needed to store the same weight of battery. It's not such an issue with the likes of an e-bike, or even so much a car, as there's spaces to shove it, but in something like a phone (Especially when people are so fixated on 'super slim devices' to the detriment of all else), if it's 2 or 3 times larger physically, I can see it not catching on in those areas.

Searching on the Wh/l for Sodium batteries, I found nothing that seemed authoritative.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

While reading that, I started thinking about how that energy density compares with other chemistries. I found another article, which clearly illustrates how much variation there can be. You can find a very good LFP battery and a bad NMC battery, and their energy density could be identical.

When I think of energy densities, I usually expect LFP to have about 100 Wh/kg, and NMC should be around 200 Wh/kg. If these SIBs can deliver about 145 Wh/kg, they would be somewhere in between the two.

The way I see it, SIBs might not be a popular option for cars, unless the NMC prices go through the roof. Battery anxiety is a very real thing, and even with NMC/NCA, you are painfully aware of it all the time.

I don't think that SIBs are going to solve that problem just yet, but they might solve a bunch of other problems. For example bikes, scooters, power tools, flashlights or even grid energy storage could be suitable applications. Before we get there, these companies would need to ramp up production, but it's looking surprisingly good so far.