“Lithium-ion Batteries Have Ruled for Decades. Now They Have a Challenger.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/11/03/sodium-ion-batteries-sustainable-alternative/

There are readily identifiable runways supporting wide-scale adoption of sodium-ion battery technology.

56% of the global population is urban. That percentage is growing, not declining. The typical American commuter drives an average of just 41 miles per day round-trip. This suggests that a statistically relevant number of vehicle owners do not need now, nor will they ever need, automotive batteries capable of 500-1000 km of range. 200-300 km of range from a battery, driven daily, with the ability to recharge quickly, suits much of the planet just fine.

AI datacenters will draw incredible electric power from national grids. They will require uninterrupted power and there will be a pressing need for battery backup to prevent the loss of data. The hoped for resolution to a critical, infrastructure power gap is for the mega-cap AI data companies to partner in the build-out of nuclear facilities. Dream on; NIMBY types will resolutely work to block such development.

No, a more practical solution are massive solar and wind arrays that feed sodium-ion battery stacks and power AI data centers, supplemented by conventional electricity grid tie-in. Battery storage can purchase conventional grid power off-peak when necessary in order to supplement in-house production.

In situ storage batteries can also be stacked vertically (racked). This reduces the acreage footprint of real estate required.

Sodium ion batteries are less prone to overheating and catching fire than lithium ion.

Can you imagine the possible damage that would ensue to a datacenter should a single, racked, lithium ion battery explode and reach the 500 degrees C temperature, then proceed to a thermal runaway up to 2,000 C temperature, leading to a meltdown of adjacent lithium housings? What would the annual insurance expense be for a massive Lithium ion battery array, located adjacent to $100 billion of servers, already at risk of overheating and requiring sophisticated/expensive cooling? Could insurance even be obtained? What about AI terrorists, Luddites? Igniting a lithium battery compound, in order to eliminate data, would be about as easy as blowing up a munitions dump or a fireworks factory.

Sodium ion batteries operate far better than lithium ion in lower temperatures, leading to an elegant solution for data centers; locate them in colder temperature settings.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/researchers-design-game-changing-additive-to-make-batteries-more-powerful-than-ever-and-it-could-change-the-future-of-energy-storage/ar-AA1sV6Iy?ocid=BingNewsSerp

https://www.jaist.ac.jp/english/whatsnew/press/2024/05/30-1.html

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2095495623006393

For most commuters, the ability to charge a battery quickly is far more important than range. For most data-centers, the ability of a sodium ion battery to be charged tens of thousands of times per life, rather than several thousand times, at a fraction of the upfront, ongoing and replacement cost by the alternative, is critical to improving a return on investment in AI data mining and storage.