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If price was the only factor that matters, we could be using nickel-metal-hydride batteries. They also last longer. A more important aspect where Sodium would
by wimagguc 9y ago
If price was the only factor that matters, we could be using nickel-metal-hydride batteries. They also last longer.
A more important aspect where Sodium would be better than Lithium for batteries is that it doesn't catch fire that easily. Lithium batteries are prone to thermal runaway, where if you increase their temperature that makes them release more energy and increase their temperature even more until they combust violently.
A graphic example to this is where Grand Tour's Richard Hammond recently crashed an electric car, which then continued to spontaneously catch fire five days after the crash (https://www.total-croatia-news.com/made-in-croatia/23852-the-grand-tour-season-two-episode-one-is-out-and-rimac-concept-one-is-on-flames https://www.total-croatia-news.com/made-in-croatia/23852-the...)
- hliyan 9y agoWill sodium based batteries be also more environmentally friendly to dispose?
- wimagguc 9y agoWhen it comes to batteries, disposing them is the smaller problem as it’s quite straight forward to recycle. Mining resources is what accounts for the majority of pollution & environment damage.
- digi_owl 9y agoWhile sodium may be more stable than lithium, its not something to joke around with... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IT2I3LtlNE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IT2I3LtlNE
- gigatexal 9y ago+1 to the top gear reference. So glad that guy didn’t die.
- tonmoy 9y agoI don’t think he was part of Top Gear at the time of the crash
- mikeash 9y agoSpontaneously catching fire five days after a crash seems really good! Somewhere between five seconds and five minutes is when it would be problematic.
- rpedela 9y agoYes, but the reason for fire is the liquid electrolyte. Lithium batteries don't have to catch fire. A short clip from PBS Nova: https://youtu.be/m9-cNNYb1Ik https://youtu.be/m9-cNNYb1Ik
- karlkatzke 9y agoSodium Carbon batteries have the same issue with flammable liquid organic solvent electrolytes. There is research being done into using a solid electrolyte and a metal anode though.