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Expect sodium-ion to overwhelm the electric scooter and ebike markets. They're the trifecta of cheap, safe, and reliable. Size will come down as they mature mas

by 1970-01-01 2y ago

Expect sodium-ion to overwhelm the electric scooter and ebike markets. They're the trifecta of cheap, safe, and reliable. Size will come down as they mature mass production.

HPsquared 2y ago
They're a step beyond LFP on those dimensions. Is LFP common in e-bikes yet?
- davidjade 2y ago
  I recently searched for LFP bikes and found basically none. Would love to have one though as keeping one on a boat I would only feel safe with a high quality LFP at the capacity needed.
- aredox 2y ago
  Their weight make them uncommon for bikes, and more common for boats and camper vans (places with high temperature fluctuations, intermittent power recharge through solar panels, need for reliability, and where you don't want the slightest chance to be burned to death in your sleep). Boat stability and seaworthiness is often improved by well-placed ballast - those batteries' weight is not a drawback in that use case. With camper vans, they can be placed in a low central position too.
  - HPsquared 2y ago
    E-bike batteries are a major cause of domestic fires. It's the largest lithium battery that gets charged inside the home, and also likely to be physically damaged (accidents, kerbs, even things like water ingress or corrosion) and likely to be poor quality or without proper type testing (lots of random manufacturers), and even likely be modified etc (people like to tinker with their bikes). Weight is less of a problem on an e-bike than on a regular bike (even on regular bikes, weight is really overemphasised). I'd be much happier if they were all LFP.
    - aredox 2y ago
      LiFePo are really heavy though, too heavy for practicality for bikes. Let's hope that sodium-ion can fill that niche.
horsawlarway 2y ago
I still think home energy storage systems make the most sense to start. Vehicles are hard because energy density matters a lot there. Home storage also benefits a ton from cheap, safe and reliable storage (it's why LFP is so popular for a lot of systems at the moment) and they are incredibly flexible on energy density - the difference between a big box sitting outside against a wall and a slightly bigger/heavier big box sitting outside against a wall is mostly negligible. --- LFP is the first system I would actually install from a maintenance/safety/cost standpoint. But while they're good, they can still fail and catch fire. I'd happily have a bigger box against my wall if it means a cheaper & safer battery.

Expect sodium-ion to overwhelm the electric scooter and ebike markets. They're the trifecta of cheap, safe, and reliable. Size will come down as they mature mass production.

HPsquared 2y ago

They're a step beyond LFP on those dimensions. Is LFP common in e-bikes yet?

davidjade 2y ago
I recently searched for LFP bikes and found basically none. Would love to have one though as keeping one on a boat I would only feel safe with a high quality LFP at the capacity needed.
aredox 2y ago
Their weight make them uncommon for bikes, and more common for boats and camper vans (places with high temperature fluctuations, intermittent power recharge through solar panels, need for reliability, and where you don't want the slightest chance to be burned to death in your sleep). Boat stability and seaworthiness is often improved by well-placed ballast - those batteries' weight is not a drawback in that use case. With camper vans, they can be placed in a low central position too.
- HPsquared 2y ago
  E-bike batteries are a major cause of domestic fires. It's the largest lithium battery that gets charged inside the home, and also likely to be physically damaged (accidents, kerbs, even things like water ingress or corrosion) and likely to be poor quality or without proper type testing (lots of random manufacturers), and even likely be modified etc (people like to tinker with their bikes). Weight is less of a problem on an e-bike than on a regular bike (even on regular bikes, weight is really overemphasised). I'd be much happier if they were all LFP.
  - aredox 2y ago
    LiFePo are really heavy though, too heavy for practicality for bikes. Let's hope that sodium-ion can fill that niche.

horsawlarway 2y ago

I still think home energy storage systems make the most sense to start. Vehicles are hard because energy density matters a lot there. Home storage also benefits a ton from cheap, safe and reliable storage (it's why LFP is so popular for a lot of systems at the moment) and they are incredibly flexible on energy density - the difference between a big box sitting outside against a wall and a slightly bigger/heavier big box sitting outside against a wall is mostly negligible. --- LFP is the first system I would actually install from a maintenance/safety/cost standpoint. But while they're good, they can still fail and catch fire. I'd happily have a bigger box against my wall if it means a cheaper & safer battery.