Natron plans first US sodium-ion gigafactory

At a time when many lithium-ion battery makers are slowing down , Natron Energy has announced that it will build the first large-scale sodium-ion battery factory in the US. Natron’s $1.4 billion factory in North Carolina is expected to produce 24 GW h of sodium-ion batteries per year. The new plant would be 40 times larger than the facility Natron inaugurated in Michigan just a few months ago . Natron uses Prussian blue cathode and anode material. Prussian blue stores less energy than lithium-based cathode materials and the layered oxide materials favored by sodium-ion battery companies in China. But batteries made with Prussian blue can go through far more charging cycles than those competing chemistries and can discharge electricity very quickly. The raw materials for sodium-ion batteries are also cheaper and easier to obtain than lithium. While sodium-ion batteries’ low energy density makes them less appealing to carmakers, the low