Gigafactory company Northvolt and sodium-ion battery technology firm Altris have together revealed a battery with an energy density of 160Wh/kg, designed for energy storage systems.
Sodium-ion battery technology firm Peak Energy has emerged from stealth, with US$10 million in funding and a management team comprising ex-Northvolt, Tesla, Enovix and SunPower executives.
Fastmarkets analysts Muthu Krishna and Phoebe O’Hara look at the potential of solid-state and sodium-ion batteries to scale up and ease the pressure on lithium-ion NMC and LFP battery chemistries, which currently dominate the EV and ESS markets.
Utility Xcel Energy has received a US$20 million grant commitment from VC firm Breakthrough Energy for projects using Form Energy’s iron-air battery, while a sodium ion battery firm has secured bridge financing.
US Senator Joe Manchin and fellow bipartisan colleagues have urged the Biden Administration to invest more in non-lithium energy storage technologies, while DOE Loan Programs Office head Jigar Shah expects companies developing the latter to broadly secure 1GWh orders this year.
ASX-listed Altech Chemicals and research institute Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have progressed plans for a 100MWh plant in Germany to produce the latter’s energy storage-focused sodium solid state battery technology.
Manufacturing firm Arxada has started producing Prussian blue materials for Natron sodium-ion battery production while US-based Mitra Chem has hired EPC firm Bechtel to design its LFP cathode facility.
