Sodium-ion batteries: Relationships
Every element and industry that Sodium-ion batteries is linked to, and how. Each pair has its own card explaining the relationships between the two.
- Soda ash: Sodium-ion batteries take their sodium mainly from sodium carbonate, the chemical sold as soda ash, which is cheap and plentiful, so they appeal as a lithium hedge. Their demand is tiny beside a 71 Mt soda ash market (2025), so the link matters for battery costs, not for soda ash prices. (researched)
- Lithium: Sodium-ion cells do the same job as lithium-ion cells with sodium, which is about 1,000 times more abundant, so they cap how far lithium prices can rise before buyers switch. Their progress follows the lithium price: investment slowed when lithium fell in 2023, and lithium prices in early 2026 at more than twice their level a year earlier have strengthened their case. (researched)
- Lithium iron phosphate batteries: Sodium-ion cells aim at the same low-cost uses as LFP, storage and small EVs, without needing lithium. Whether they win depends on the lithium price: at the low prices of 2024 and 2025 LFP was very hard to undercut, and the sharp rise in lithium prices in 2026 has improved sodium's case. (researched)
- Transformers and power electronics: Energy flows from sodium-ion batteries to transformers and power electronics; energy flows from transformers and power electronics to sodium-ion batteries.
- Aluminium: Their prices have moved together.
- Electric and hybrid vehicles: Energy flows from sodium-ion batteries to electric and hybrid vehicles.
- Salt: Sodium-ion batteries needs salt.