Next Gen Battery is 1000x Easier to Source and 99% Cheaper!

this video is brought to you by Guardio. iIf we  plan to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy we'll need batteries as in a lot of batteries  and in the world of battery storage lithium ion   batteries rain Supreme however there is one big  problem we may not have enough lithium in other   raw materials to make all the batteries we'd  need but what if I told you that we might have   already found a possible solution in the form of  a new battery that isn't constrained by a limited   supply of a couple of scarce materials enter the  sodium ion battery and quick hint it's sort of a   big deal I'm Ricky and this is Two Bit da Vinci  our efforts to replace fossil fuels with clean   and renewable energy has been seriously paying off  in the past decade as of the making of this video   There are 16 and a half million electric cars on  the streets with 2 million sold during this year's   first quarter alone that's a growth of 75 percent  compared to the same period last year in the U.S a   little over 600 000 EVS were sold in 2021 but that  number is expected to hit over 4.7 Million by 2030   and could go up into the billions around the world  by 2040. that means the demand for batteries for   transportation will continue to grow exponentially  for the coming years considering that Lithium-ion   batteries make up between 95 and 99 of the EV  battery Market that means that the demand for   lithium and other scarce metals like nickel and  Cobalt for the electric car is only going to rise   but it's not just vehicles to replace fossil fuels  with intermittent Renewables like solar and wind   we'll need to store the equivalent of at least  five percent of our renewable energy production   to balance out that intermittency pumped Hydro  is a reliable long-term energy storage solution   still even though 94 of the current energy  storage available comes from pumped Hydro we   can't really build those where we need them near  PV power plants and wind farms forcing us to use   batteries instead right now more than 90 of the  batteries used for grid storage are also lithium   ion typically lithium iron phosphate with wind and  solar energy increasing by five and six percent   annually in the coming decade and EV is growing  faster than ever before we have to come to terms   with a vital truth lithium and other components  for lithium ion battery are hardly inexhaustible   resources while we're not exactly running out  of lithium just yet there are some red flags   so much demand for this Alkali metal has sent its  prices through the roof increasing more than seven   fold in the past couple of years but of course  lithium isn't the only problem these batteries   require other rare elements like manganese and  Cobalt which are a much lower Supply and only   available in a few countries some of which like  the Democratic Republic of the Congo are weighed   down by environmental and humanitarian concerns  now many companies are trying to move away from   Cobalt in their batteries but there's still  some other concerns to address now when there   aren't enough resources to go around suppliers  are forced to decide where to allocate their   products affecting lithium battery production with  lithium batteries being so ubiquitous this has the   potential to affect all of us can you imagine  what would happen if suppliers all of a sudden   decided to prioritize EVs and grid storage  and we ran out of batteries for things like   iPhones and laptops however unlikely it's a scary  thought we need to consider a scary thought that's   largely out of our control but online privacy  and security while scary is in our control and   where our sponsor this week comes in guardio is  the browser extension for Chrome and Edge that   you have to check out if you want to be on top of  your security and privacy online as a resident it   guy in my neighborhood a neighbor recently asked  me to check out his computer and I was shocked by   the amount of malware he had installed I took  online security very seriously which is why   I use guardio guardio acts as the first line of  defense as opposed closed captioning not available is at least as energy and power dense and  lithium ion so we can use it for things   like EVs and laptops but that is also made of  an abundant material that is environmentally   friendly and easy to extract this is where  the sodium ion battery comes in for chemists   an obvious solution to the lithium problem would  be to replace it with its closest cousin sodium   like lithium sodium is an Alkali metal and shares  many of the same chemical properties but with some   key differences as the sixth most abundant element  on the planet sodium is more than a hundred times   more abundant than lithium in the Earth's crust  we can find it virtually everywhere starting with   salt water where it's found as sodium chloride  this makes sodium much cheaper than lithium and   an almost inexhaustible resource for a quick  comparison mining lithium can cost anywhere   between fifteen thousand and thirty two thousand  dollars per metric ton depending on the source   and as I mentioned before prices have ballooned  ridiculously in the past two or three years with   lithium hydroxide increasing roughly 250 percent  and lithium carbonate increasing approximately   413 percent since the beginning of 2021. according  to s p Global on the other hand sodium is not only   100 times more abundant but also 100 times cheaper  than lithium as mining sodium ranges between 150   and 380 dollars per metric ton this makes sodium  an ideal alternative for battery manufacturing if   we can get it to work like lithium that is and  that's a big if so to see if we can let's start   with how these batteries actually work as you may  imagine sodium batteries work very similarly to   lithium ion batteries just like other chemical  batteries they have a cathode and anode and an   electrolyte the cathode contains a sodium salt or  oxide that provides the sodium ions similarly to   how in the lithium battery the cathode contains  different types of lithium compounds that provide   lithium ions when we charge the battery  electrons are pushed by electrical potential   difference toward the anode where the accumulating  negative charge attracts the sodium ions these has   moved from the cathode to the anode through the  electrolyte in the anode they fit nicely in the   little interstitial spaces between the layers of  the anode material typically graphite or something   like that to draw power out of the battery we let  electrons flow back to the cathode from the anode   through an external circuit or load are phones for  example at the same time the sodium ions push back   to the cathode through the electrolyte now this  is pretty much where the similarities between   sodium and Lithium-ion batteries end as it turns  out you can't simply swap one element for another   and expect everything to work the same way for  instance instead of a graphite anode sodium ion   batteries use hard carbon materials but more  on that in just a little bit for the cathodes   active material lithium ion batteries use one of  several oxides but transition metals like Cobalt   manganese and nickel to help increase battery life  and improve energy density in the case of sodium   ion batteries there are three distinct variations  in the cathode material leading to three types   of batteries name poly anion batteries Prussian  Blue analogs or pbas and layered oxide batteries   poly anion batteries use metal oxide clusters with  discrete molecular structures and negative charges   the robust 30 framework significantly decreases  the structural stress when sodium ions go in and   out of the structure this helps improve cycle  stability and safety but also lowers electric   conductivity and capacity which restricts their  application the second type is known as Prussian   Blue analogs Prussian Blue is a dark blue pigment  produced by the oxidation of salts containing iron   and cyanide it's known for being relatively low  cost with a highly stable open three-dimensional   crystal structure which makes it ideal for  Batteries since it lets ions in and out easily   the benefit of these two battery chemistries is  that they largely eliminate the need for many of   the transition metals like nickel and Cobalt that  are prevalent in lithium ion this doesn't just   make them cheaper but it also means there's less  chance of a supply chain bottom neck when we scale   to Global Production something we absolutely need  to do if we want to get rid of fossil fuels but   there's a trade-off because these materials have  low Atomic packing densities so they have fewer   sodium ions per unit volume meaning you guessed it  lower energy density finally there are the layered   oxide batteries these are much more similar in  structure to standard Lithium-ion batteries and   are the most studied type of sodium ion battery  the key difference though is that instead of   nickel Cobalt and manganese oxides which are in  a shorter Supply than even lithium these sodium   batteries use iron and magnesium oxide which  are far more abundant as a consequence the   sodium cathode which makes up about 44 percent of  the total battery cost is much cheaper to produce   and is much more widely available than the lithium  cathode for Radeon the company that seemingly gave   birth to the sodium ion battery claims their  current in development layered oxide battery   will be 25 to 30 percent cheaper than lithium iron  phosphate batteries at scale but if they're cheap   and work like lithium ion why don't we see  lithium ion batteries everywhere what's the   hold up there's plenty to unpack here you see  costs and Supply chains aren't the only things   we need to look at the first thing to consider is  performance this is where sodium batteries start   losing ground to lithium the biggest problem is  that capacity depends on how many sodium ions   you can pack in the cathodes and anodes Crystal  structures but sodium ions are much bulkier than   lithium ions and so they take up more space this  implies that in most Crystal structures there   will be fewer sodium ions per unit volume than  in similar lithium compounds therefore sodium   batteries tend to have lower energy densities or  energy per unit volume furthermore sodium ions   are over three times heavier than lithium ions so  sodium batteries also tend to have lower specific   energy densities than lithium ion batteries  do for example at the time of this video for   Radeon claims to have developed a layered oxide  sodium ion battery cell that can achieve energy   densities of around 160 to 170 Watt hours per  kilogram while this Falls in lithium ions range   of 100 to 265 Watt hours per kilogram it's still  on the lower end of the spectrum on the other hand   the company also says that it's in the process of  developing a battery that can reach up to 200 watt   hours per kilogram to reach those higher numbers  though the battery chemistry would need to be   at least 50 percent nickel this reintroduces one  of those materials prone to supply bottlenecking   so it sort of undermines the whole point of the  sodium ion battery in the first place then there   is the issue of scaling sodium ion hasn't been  around for as long as lithium ion and as a result   has received far less attention investment and r d  however for Radeon was recently bought by a major   Indian Solar Company called Reliance Industries  which has said they plan to scale up sodium   on battery production over the next two years  hopefully producing between 10 and 20 gigawatt   hours by 2024. this is a major win for for Radeon  and its Battery tech but the biggest promise for   sodium is that the largest battery manufacturer  in the world Chinese Behemoth contemporary amperex   technology limited or catl got in on the game in  2021 when they announced the launch of a 160 watt   hour per kilogram sodium ion battery they also  claimed to have a second generation battery in   the works that can reach upwards of 200 watt hours  per kilogram contrary to variety on solution which   is a layered oxide battery CHL is building a PBA  battery with Prussian white an inexpensive easy   to produce material that can maintain 95 capacity  after 10 000 Cycles this is an order of magnitude   Improvement in battery life over lithium the best  part is that this battery will only rely on Earth   abundant materials meaning it could scale for  decades without ever hitting a bottleneck now   if you remember earlier in the video I mentioned  how sodium ion batteries use hard carbon anodes   hard carbon are forms of carbon that can't  be turned into graphite they can be made from   dozens of materials but currently there isn't  a robust supply chain for manufacturing hard   carbon anodes fortunately catl is a big company  and it developed its own material which enables   abundant storage given the battery's performance  and life cycles similar to graphite because of   these features catl says that their battery will  be 40 to 50 percent cheaper than lithium ion   aiming at a long-term cost of around 40 dollars  per kilowatt hour less even than lithium-ion   phosphate batteries that are currently around  80 to 100 dollars per kilowatt hour as far as   scaling catl says they will use the same equipment  already used to build their Lithium-ion batteries   still the company doesn't expect to have their  supply chain in place until at least 2023 meaning   it could still be another five years before  they reach large-scale commercial operation   so to summarize sodium ion batteries are cheaper  to produce and use fewer hard to find materials   depending on the particular chemistry but their  energy densities are on the lower end of lithium   ion but not that different plus it will take at  least five to seven years for the industry to   begin catching up to lithium ion so it's safe to  say that we won't see them storing solar energy or   powering your EV anytime soon at least for a few  years but even if their performance can't compete   with the best Lithium-ion batteries that doesn't  mean they're not valuable considering the amount   of energy storage needed to replace fossil fuels  we'll need every energy storage technology we can   get our hands on not just sodium ion batteries  perhaps in the future lithium ion batteries will   be reserved for those applications where only the  highest possible energy densities can be used I'm   not even talking about electric cars I'm talking  about electric planes and helicopters on the other   hand sodium ion will likely benefit applications  where energy density and small size aren't as   important like grid storage which is exactly  where I think sodium ion batteries will first   revolutionize the game we need to start developing  competitive Battery Technology now to begin taking   some of the strain off of our current battery  material how great would it be to not have to   just have one Battery Technology eating at 90  of the market but a robust competitive battery   marketplace with dozens of Technologies filling  up the landscape sounds like a win-win to me so   I think the future of sodium on batteries  is vitally important and yes they are still   decades away from where lithium ion is today but  with just how much of a game changer they are and   how affordable they're going to be I think you're  going to see tons and tons of investment over the   next 10 years in sodium ion battery research but  what do you think do the sodium ion batteries cost   in material benefits outweigh their lower energy  density would you be willing to buy the same Tesla   for 20 less money in exchange for a slightly  lower range but longer battery life sound off   in the comments below all right that is a look at  sodium ion batteries I think they're going to be a   really big game changer I'm gonna try to reach  out some companies that are doing the research   like for addion or even catl maybe do an on-site  episode in the future so stay tuned for that but   in the future check out this video next I'm Ray  YouTuber Da Vinci we'll catch you guys next week

Channel: Two Bit da Vinci

Views: 349,443

Keywords: two bit da vinci, lithium ion battery, new battery technology, catl, faradion, catl sodium, catl sodium battery, catl sodium ion, faradion sodium ion battery, faradion battery, faradion reliance, sodium ion battery, sodium ion, sodium battery, non lithium batteries, sodium vs lithium battery, the sodium ion battery, sodium ion batteries, sodium batteries, sodium-ion battery, sodium-ion batteries, sodium-battery, Next Gen Battery is 1000x Easier to Source and 99% Cheaper!

Id: pvVdl2Ny1yM

Length: 15min 43sec (943 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 27 2022