Sodium batteries, with their unique resource advantages and rapid technological breakthroughs, complement lithium batteries to form a new ecology of "lithium-sodium complementarity", jointly building a new pattern of diversified energy supply and providing a new path for the sustainable development of the new energy industry.

In a new energy storage power station in the northwest region, lithium batteries and sodium batteries work together: lithium batteries respond quickly and can efficiently complete the frequency regulation task of the power grid, like a sprinter; sodium batteries take on the long-term peak regulation work, and can still stably output electricity in the low-temperature environment at night, just like an endurance long-distance runner. This combination not only reduces the cost of the power station, but also greatly improves the operation efficiency.

Lithium batteries, with their millisecond-level response speed, high charging and discharging efficiency, and compact volume, are still the "all-round top-tier" with the most mature technology and widely used in the energy storage field; while sodium batteries, with their low raw material cost, high safety, excellent adaptability to extreme environments, and long-term energy storage adaptability, have become the "upcoming star" in the energy storage field that has attracted much attention.

In the wave of global energy transition, lithium batteries have greatly promoted the process of the electric revolution. However, as resource constraints intensify and cost volatility risks increase, the energy structure that relies solely on lithium batteries gradually shows its shortcomings. Today, sodium batteries, with their unique resource advantages and rapid technological breakthroughs, complement lithium batteries to form a new ecology of "lithium-sodium complementarity", jointly building a new pattern of diversified energy supply and providing a new path for the sustainable development of the new energy industry.

Breakthrough and innovation

Sodium batteries move towards industrialization

Na batteries are secondary batteries that rely on sodium ions moving between the positive and negative electrodes to complete charging and discharging, similar to lithium batteries. Compared with lithium salts used in lithium batteries, the electrode materials used in sodium batteries are mainly sodium salts, which are not only more abundant in storage but also cheaper. With the acceleration of energy transition, sodium batteries are rapidly moving from the laboratory to industrialization.

In September 2025, the National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, and the General Administration of Market Regulation jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Energy Equipment," which clearly stated the need to "develop key equipment for long-life, wide-temperature range, and low-decay lithium batteries, sodium batteries, and solid-state batteries."

2025 is set to be a pivotal year for the mass production of sodium batteries. In April, Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. announced the mass production of its second-generation sodium-ion battery, "Na New", which is also the world's first sodium battery to achieve large-scale production. Among them, the "Na New" passenger vehicle power battery is scheduled to be mass-produced and shipped in December this year. In September, this battery passed the certification of "Safety Requirements for Power Batteries for Electric Vehicles", becoming the world's first sodium battery to pass the new national standard certification.

As the industrial chain becomes more mature, hundreds of companies are now involved in sodium battery-related businesses, and mainstream lithium battery companies have made relevant arrangements. The industry had experienced a period of decline in the past, and sodium batteries could not yet be delivered in bulk when lithium prices were high. Now, with the iteration of sodium battery technology, the return of lithium prices to a reasonable range, the improvement of the industrial chain, and the continuous support of policies, sodium batteries are expected to achieve a breakthrough in the subdivided market.

Beijing Zhongke Hainan Technology Co., Ltd., focused on the sodium battery sector (hereinafter referred to as "Zhongke Hainan"), announced at the end of October that its four sodium battery products have entered the mass production and sales stage. Zhongke Hainan expects that by 2028, the subdivided market will drive the sodium battery industry to achieve a scale of hundreds of gigawatt-hours, promoting the industry to achieve a second leap.

Tang Kun, founder of Zhongke Hainan, told reporters: "The sodium batteries of the 'product era' have met the conditions for implementation, and their high and low temperature performance, cycle performance, and safety performance have been certified, but the 'commodity era' needs to face the competition with mature lithium batteries directly. The key lies in the resource logic and cost performance. As a technology solution without resource constraints, the development trend of sodium batteries is extremely strong. In the past 3 to 5 years, the industry has accumulated a large amount of production capacity and iterated many generations of products. Although it is still difficult to compete with lithium batteries in terms of cost at present, with policy support and technological progress, sodium batteries have already achieved commodity-level application in some scenarios, and its value will be further highlighted in the future."

Traditional energy giants are also accelerating cross-border layout. On November 4, Sinopec Group and LG Chem reached a strategic cooperation to enter the core material track of sodium batteries, jointly develop positive and negative electrode materials, and target the energy storage and low-speed electric vehicle market.

"Representing the next generation of battery technology, the market prospects for sodium batteries are promising," said Yu Qingjiao, secretary general of the Zhongguancun New Battery Technology Innovation Alliance, to reporters.

Advantages of sodium batteries become apparent

Listed companies strengthen layout

As early as the beginning of 2024, Zhongke Haona had achieved the installation of sodium batteries as power batteries. However, Tang Kun believes that its significance is more demonstration-oriented. In terms of cost, the advantage of sodium batteries at that time was not strong. However, the theoretical cost of the extreme manufacturing of sodium batteries is 30% lower than that of lithium batteries, so once the sodium battery achieves the same production technology as lithium batteries, it is expected to replace lithium batteries in some scenarios.

The industry widely expects that the storage market is welcoming a new round of growth cycles as AI development drives the construction of smart grids and the development of renewable energy. Sodium batteries have applicability in both power batteries and energy storage batteries, and are expected to benefit from the future market expansion.

Ningbo Rongbai New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., a related person in charge, believes that at present, the sodium battery solution has the conditions for commercialization in small and medium-sized backup power scenarios such as 5G base stations and data centers. The wide temperature range of sodium batteries helps to reduce the cost of the temperature control system, high safety can reduce the cost of safety investment, high rate performance can meet the needs of rapid response, and the full life cycle cost has an advantage over some lithium battery solutions.

The relevant person in charge of Zhongwei New Material Co., Ltd. stated on the investor interaction platform that the company has obtained a thousand-ton order for sodium batteries (materials) and completed the shipment. Sodium batteries, with their abundant resources, low cost, high safety, and strong low-temperature performance, have become an ideal choice for many energy storage scenarios.

On the material side, Super League Power Group Co., Ltd. announced on November 3 that its 30,000 tons/year sodium-ion battery hard carbon anode material project has officially started production. In addition, companies such as Guangzhou Tianci High-tech Materials Co., Ltd. and Multi Fluoride New Material Co., Ltd. have all completed the technical reserve of sodium battery electrolytes and core materials (such as sodium hexafluorophosphate) and achieved delivery at the hundred-ton level.

Cai Zilin, the chief analyst of the high-end equipment industry at Wanlian Securities, told reporters that sodium batteries have broad application potential in new energy vehicles and energy storage fields, which is conducive to further expanding the application scenarios of new energy and helping enterprises open up new growth space. In the future, the industrial standard can be improved, the industrial chain can be coordinated, and the demonstration projects can be implemented to accelerate the industrialization, cost reduction and technological breakthrough of sodium batteries.

"Lithium-sodium complementarity"

Can it promote the expansion of application scenarios?

The industrialization and acceleration of new energy storage can not be separated from the continuous support of policies. In February 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and other eight departments jointly issued the "Action Plan for the High-Quality Development of the New Energy Storage Manufacturing Industry", which clearly states "Promoting the large-scale sodium battery energy storage system integration and application technology research and development, serving the construction of the new power system".

Academician Chen Liqun of the Chinese Academy of Engineering believes that as the application space continues to be broadened, sodium battery energy storage will accelerate the realization of complementary functions and technological substitution for lithium battery energy storage.

Lithium resources, as the core raw materials for lithium batteries, are highlighting the contradiction between supply and demand. On the one hand, the demand for lithium batteries in fields such as electric vehicles and energy storage stations has increased explosively, driving the price of lithium resources to fluctuate violently and posing challenges to the stability of the industrial chain. On the other hand, the distribution of lithium resources is uneven, and China's dependence on foreign countries is high, posing potential risks to energy security. In this context, the "lithium-sodium complementarity" model has become a key path to build a new pattern of diversified energy supply.

From the perspective of resource dimensions, "lithium-sodium complementarity" is expected to crack the resource constraint problem for the development of the new energy industry.

From a technical synergy perspective, complementary technology allows lithium batteries and sodium batteries to showcase their strengths in different application scenarios. Tang Kun believes that the future market will form a refined division of labor: lithium batteries will focus on high-end scenarios (such as drones, mobile phones, and humanoid robots), while sodium batteries will focus on large-scale energy storage and medium-range power scenarios that have strict requirements for cost and low-temperature performance. Sodium battery technology still has a lot of room for improvement.

Tang Kun said that sodium batteries and lithium batteries are not in a pure competitive relationship, and can achieve complementary and coordinated development. The two have compatible technology routes, production equipment and processes.

Cai Zilin added that current sodium batteries are transitioning from the initial stage of industrialization to a scaled phase, at a critical period where demonstration projects and technological breakthroughs are occurring simultaneously, and are expected to reach a key node for commercialization in the next 1 to 2 years. As production capacity is released, sodium batteries will achieve large-scale substitution in the fields of energy storage and commercial vehicles, forming a differentiated pattern with lithium batteries that has "high energy density + low cost", and together promote the expansion of new energy application scenarios.

"Li-Na complementarity" can not only effectively address resource constraints and cost pressures, but also enhance the resilience and security of the entire energy system by diversifying the technology route, providing new impetus for the global energy transition.

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