from Hacker News

Sodium batteries are finally catching up

by tromp on 10/18/25, 8:49 PM with 12 comments

• by cultofmetatron on 10/18/25, 10:03 PM

  Even if sodium ion batteries have a quarter the energy density of lithium, they are still a massive win for grid scale storage. Honestly don't know why there's such a push for them in EVs when lithium works fine there. The cost benefit of sodium ion really makes a lot more sense when you can just drop a bunch of them on a lot of land and have it essentially be a reserve of power for a municipality.

• by theragra on 10/19/25, 3:04 AM

  I've recently wondered, can you buy consumer sodium cells. Apparently, the only way is to order from china directly.

  These seem to look more trustworthy (did not order yet) https://hakadibattery.com/collections/sodium-ion-battery-cel...

• by jerf on 10/19/25, 12:16 AM

  The tech is hitting the market now: https://www.bluettipower.com/products/sodium-ion-battery-pio...

  YouTube has some reviews if you're interested. They're out in the wild now. Not being in the industry, I was a bit surprised when YouTube randomly popped up some recommendation about that. I didn't realize it was that far along.

• by hn_throwaway_99 on 10/18/25, 9:53 PM

  > The current research advances sodium as a viable alternative for batteries, a vital step to combat the rarity and environmental damage of lithium. It's one of many steps ahead.

  Curious what some of the many steps ahead are. Seems like these articles about battery breakthroughs WRT non-lithium chemistries come out frequently, but nothing ever seems to come to fruition, and lithium still dominates. Just want to know why all these breakthroughs never make it to industrial scale.

• by Havoc on 10/19/25, 12:54 AM

  Keen to use them for hobby purposes. The idea of DIY soldering and lithium has never appealed from a safety pov