that's page for the moment coming up next after the break dw business looks into how sold may be helping china pull ahead in the race to develop electric cause i'm going to spend a june. but and thanks so much for watching and see you in about 45 minutes from now to by the questions. got any issues or thoughts say what the amount was being in the username. i mean, obviously i know, i know i might just do it and i'm hoping dw newport costs. thank strength amounts, but it's actually about move join us as we travel around your,

facing the history of every day of that. and that's something right around the world. and i need to talk to you back, just as subscriber id, listen to pop, gosh, that will take you along for the ride. the discovery. change your mind. just click away, find out best document trees on you to see the world, the subscribe. now to dw talking entry, the chinese electric cars are making headlines again because some of them are running on batteries made of salt. well, that's what's being reported, at least until now, lithium had it's been

a key ingredient and e car batteries. but it's difficult and expensive to obtain, but solves a case sodium isn't. i really can see these headlines in front of me. our sodium ion battery is the list whom killer just china is head start? mean the rule, the market again, or do companies in europe stand a chance of competing welcome to this episode of transforming business. the lithium is an ultra light element that's become an integral part of battery technology, but it's relatively difficult and expensive to procure. extraction methods vary depending on where it comes from. the 3 biggest producers are australia, sheila and china. until now china is by far the largest battery producer. we're going to need more battery capacity in the next few decades. not as far as smartphones, laptops and electric cars, but to store wind and solar energy,

to market with probably not going to drop it on to 2 of those. and so it'll be, it's probably times 5 more like this. martino shots, as a professor for the chemistry of energy materials at the university of united germany, relying on lithium alone, won't cut it. the world will need every option available. and that's where sodium ion batteries come into the picture. so let's take a look at that element beneath the earth's crust and sodium is abundant, making up around 2.3 percent. it might not sound like much, but that's over $1000.00 times more. the amount of lithium found under the earth's crust. not only is it more readily available, but it's also cheaper. in early 2024 sodium carbonate was valued at approximately $290.00 per metric ton. battery gray, lithium carbonate, was more than $13000.00 per met 1st ton and lithium batteries. the precious

materials like cobalt and nickel, to work with sodium doesn't. it's found everywhere. it's simply salt and not limited to a specific region. the. the world's largest battery manufacturer, chinese c a t l already went big on sodium ion technology in 2021. just 2 years later, it was supplying chinese car maker sherry with salt batteries. and recently this e card type from j a c groups, the way was in the spotlight report say that some of the cars from this model are powered by a sodium battery. this probably means that in some chinese cities, tiny salt power d cars are already in use that we weren't able to find any further information or figures on how many of them at the moment that i think china i was

needing to raise one should never give up, but we have just technology small, little with as well. so i think, but now it's in china and we have to close to. well, what does that mean for the big lithium producers, sheila, bolivia and argentina. they constitute what's known as a lithium triangle, because together they own about 53 percent of lithium reserves world wide. does the invention of sodium batteries threaten their turn to be tended to compare list to my and then so do you mind technology as competitors? and i really can see these headlines in front of me are sold in mind batteries, the list whom killer. this is alexander google. he's a battery cell development manager at old trust p and william worked for a sweeter sodium ion battery. started up, located about an hour's drive from stockholm in a city called up sell a key tells us that is entry into the sodium ion by battery sector started by

accident during his post stock. we were producing so much blue powder that there was blue all over the walls and all ever the same herds in the university was that i'd upset at us. here's how sodium ion batteries are made. first, this bright blue powder is made into a slurry. and then coated onto aluminum foil. it's dried in a big machine like this one. and then compressed on the machine like this. the excess is trimmed away with a laser cutter. all these black squares are stacked together before going into a hermetically sealed glove box. here and we're electrolytes are added under controlled environment. then it's just a matter of testing the battery. one of the arguments for sodium on batteries is that they can cycle more, which means that can be used and recharged and use again. more than lithium ion battery is talking about the lifetime here we have to of course also talk about in

water applications. are they being used? for example, portable electronics, a person this very happy if you can charge and discharge your mobile phone for more than a 1000 times without using a lot of capacity. and what about cars? remember the headline that chinese e cars are powered by sodium ion batteries. can't the technology be scaled up with, with the mind batteries? we have a great product market fit for us, but she electric vehicles. and this is also where we see that the so the mind betters will have a hard time, mainly because there isn't an inherently lower energy density to the technology. this isn't that as haas from the swedish firms north fault, a big lithium ion battery producer in europe. it works with all trees and sodium ion battery development and production, and wants to reach full scale production by the end of the decade. hardest part about the freight you need, the battery technology is actually not making one good battery. no, the laboratory,

it's to produce a 1000000 of those, including the supply chain of it, including the, the, the giga factors that you need to build. but why is china so far ahead? experts say that while europe has been researching sodium on batteries for longer, china actually commercialized them earlier and got a head start of at least 3 or 4 years. one of the main hurdles they face is weight . they tend to be heavier than lithium ion batteries. the physical dimensions uh will be a little bit larger. and so these are the main drawbacks of the, of site in the service listing and it's the way just the volume. the energy density is that for a little bit low compared to to lithium, william estimates that they're about half as powerful as are lithium counterparts in terms of generating power. this isn't a problem for small cars like those now using china put for bigger, avery's meant to drive longer distances. larger and heavier batteries are needed with a certain mind batteries. we think that 1st in the energy storage system market where

we have, you know, 20 foot containers that are basically just being placed next to renewable energy assets and substation. we're talking about stationary energy storage. battery driven industrial equipment such as warehouse machinery, forklifts, and so on. and while the production of sodium on batteries is slowly getting under way, the market for lithium ion batteries is booming. one estimate. what's the market value of sodium ion batteries at $920000000.00 us dollars by 2030. by comparison, lithium ion battery is, is market value is expected to grow to over $270000000000.00 us dollars. we would probably, at least in the next 20 years and not have to situation that so many such i batteries are made that victim. i bet a reproduction is decreasing, maybe they are closing to get but the decline lifted. i'm, but the reproduction at the moment is not on the boys in the loop. in the 2

technologies are similar. in many ways, something battery makers have realized. many lithium battery producers have started investing in sodium. i believe, rather than viewing listed in mine and sodium ion s competitors, that would be more accurate to see them as a part of a larger landscape and energy storage solutions. so what does the china headstart mean for other companies trying to enter the market? can they compete? the fact is that china is a 4 runner in the production of electric vehicles and car batteries. and it's already begun commercializing sodium ion batteries. sodium is cheaper and available in larger quantities than lithium, but sodium on batteries are bigger and heavier. european companies are working on a viable product. but experts say that china is at least 3 to 4 years ahead. we will probably known

a few decades how successful they work and whether sodium ion batteries will dominate the market or be used along side lithium ones. what do you think? let us know when the comments the

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