Northvolt claims sodium-ion battery density of 160Wh/kg

Validated at the company’s Northvolt Labs R&D campus in Västerås, Sweden, the new battery chemistry promises to be cheaper, safer and more sustainable than lithium-ion technology. The sodium-ion cell is based on a hard carbon anode and a Prussian White-based cathode. Prussian White is the fully reduced and sodiated form of the pigment known as Prussian Blue and is formed primarily of sodium, iron, carbon and nitrogen.

According to Northvolt, the new battery chemistry is free from lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite. As well as the obvious sustainability benefits, this should also enable regional supply chains independent from existing global materials streams, reducing volatility and the emissions associated with battery production dependent on rare elements from around the globe.

“The world has put high hopes on sodium-ion, and I’m very pleased to say that we’ve developed a technology that will enable its widespread deployment to accelerate the energy transition,” Peter Carlsson, co-founder and CEO of Northvolt said in a statement.