By Trent Griger
Most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about batteries. But when we stop to notice how prevalent they are everywhere in our lives, maybe we should. They’re such a crucial resource that, without them, our modern-day world simply wouldn’t function. But the most common type of battery today, the lithium-ion, has its production dominated entirely by one country: China.
China produces anywhere between 60% and 90% of all refined battery materials. With that, they produce roughly 80% of the world’s lithium-ion batteries. An unbelievable majority in the market of such a crucial element of our modern economy. And notably, a critical supply chain risk for the whole of the Western world. China has shown before that it’s not scared to manipulate the world’s access to batteries to achieve diplomatic or strategic goals. So what can the West do to escape the Chinese stranglehold on the battery economy?
Much of China’s battery domination comes from its control of the raw materials that go into batteries in the first place. China’s national reserves of lithium, the key material in lithium-ion batteries, are respectable but not much greater than the US’s reserves. The real advantage comes from China’s involvement in mining operations across the Global South, namely in South America. Most of the lithium in the world is located in South America, and China has been snatching up shares of mining companies and exclusive access rights to mines in the area for decades now. Estimates say that roughly 25% of the world’s lithium mining capacity is owned by China. By dominating the key resource that goes into batteries, China can flex a pseudo-monopoly even without mentioning every other advantage they hold over the West.
Beyond just the raw resources, China has decades of research into how to make the very best batteries, and billions poured into the infrastructure to do just that. From 2009 to 2023, China invested an estimated $230 billion into its battery and EV industries. Megafactories and research labs built decades ago have had time to establish themselves and perfect their processes, all encouraged by their government’s policies. China’s place at the top of the battery market was not a happy coincidence, but the result of careful planning over years to secure mineral access and master the manufacturing.
How can the West be expected to compete? It’s a tough question to answer right now. The easy choice is to say “it can’t” and call it a day. Look at China’s timeline advantage, mineral access dominance, and the sheer cost of trying to replicate it anywhere else, and say it simply cannot be done. But there is another way. A way to circumvent China’s materials dominance, avoiding one of the critical bottlenecks in the whole process. And that way is sodium.
Sodium-ion batteries are not a new technology. As far back as the 1970s, they were being researched with as much passion as the now-standard lithium-ion battery. But as lithium proved to be more commercially viable, sodium took a backseat. The advantages of lithium are apparent; there’s certainly a reason batteries using it came to dominate. Lithium is highly reactive, has a long lifespan, requires relatively little maintenance, has a high energy density, and is extremely light. These advantages mean lithium batteries are small, light, hold a lot of energy, and last a long time before needing any kind of replacement. It’s no wonder why lithium-ion batteries are the first choice for electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers; lithium is absolutely ideal. There’s just one key drawback. Lithium is relatively rare. With an abundance of about 20 parts per million (ppm), it is by no means the rarest material on Earth, but it’s not exactly comfortably available either. And when you factor in that most of the world’s lithium is found only in a few key countries, questions over accessibility begin to rise. Sodium has no such worries. With an abundance of 23,600 ppm, it is over 1,000 times more abundant than lithium, and it’s absolutely everywhere.
Sodium is abundant, great. But does it make good batteries? Well, it depends. Sodium sits only one period away from lithium on the periodic table, so the differences aren’t as vast as one might think. While not as directly well-suited for battery production, sodium is not far off lithium’s benchmarks. One type of sodium-based battery material, Prussian blue analogues (PBAs), has had an immense amount of research put into it. PBA’s are cost-effective, easy to work with, and nearly manage to match the utility of lithium-ion batteries. In fact, one of the largest battery companies in China, CATL, uses PBAs in its own sodium-ion batteries. A Chinese company investing in PBAs and sodium technology is a great sign for the potential commercial application of these batteries.
Where sodium’s most notable drawback falls is its weight. Sodium-ion batteries don’t have an energy density as high as lithium-ion; they hold less energy per unit of weight. This means any sodium-ion battery will be much larger and heavier than a lithium-ion battery that stores the same amount of energy. And for a lot of the most common use cases nowadays, that is a problem. Take EVs, for example. A marked increase in battery weight makes the car heavier, which puts further restrictions on its maximum range. Sodium-ion likely won’t replace traditional lithium-ion in applications where mobility is prized. But not every battery has to move.
The global energy grid has been met with surging demand as electrification becomes more widespread and energy-intensive industries like AI are on the rise. To grow the grid, more energy storage is necessary, doubly so if we want new energy to come from renewable sources that are not always active. Sodium-ion batteries perfectly fit this niche. Sodium is cheap and abundant, so we can make all of the necessary batteries without worry. Its weight also poses no issue, since grid storage systems can be on-site and stationary. While China may have the lithium to ignore this and fill their grid with the more rare material, the West can capitalise on the lithium it does have by using alternatives where it can. The question in the West may be less of a “sodium vs lithium”, and instead more of a “how can sodium complement lithium”.
So how does the West escape Chinese domination of the battery market? By being smart about what it uses and where. Sodium isn’t perfect, but if the West is committed to securing its energy independence, expanding its grid, and electrifying the future, sodium will be the best (and cheapest) option on the table.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and may not reflect the opinions of The St Andrews Economist.
Image Credit: Hanwha Data Centers