Sodium-battery charges in seconds: Combination of power cell and supercapacitor makes it possible

[Redaktion]

All problems would be eliminated in one fell swoop: A newly developed battery technology uses the cheap and widely available sodium, has a practicable energy density and charges with almost no waiting time.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Sodium-battery-charges-in-seconds-Combination-of-power-cell-and-supercapacitor-makes-it-possible.830219.0.html

[charging.joe]

For laptop battery (say 50Wh) to get charged in 100s, you need something like 1,8kW source to charge it (without losses), that's not bad. I mean, sure, the charger we use now like 5-120W would turn into an appliance of microwave/electric kettle class, but still, would be feasible in normal houses. Too bad that even if they make it work, we will not see this in real life sooner than in decade(s)..

[Hunter2020]

It not gonna happen buddy.  If laptops used sodium batteries they'd probably weigh more than what most people are used to today! 

[Ednumero]

they'd probably weigh more

The article mentions roughly-equivalent energy density to today's lithium batteries. Wouldn't that mean the weight would be roughly the same?

Actually, now that you mention it, it would be useful to confirm that this line indeed refers to gravimetric and not volumetric energy density.

[Mr Majestyk]

they'd probably weigh more

The article mentions roughly-equivalent energy density to today's lithium batteries. Wouldn't that mean the weight would be roughly the same?

Actually, now that you mention it, it would be useful to confirm that this line indeed refers to gravimetric and not volumetric energy density.

Sodium is a far heavier ion than Lithium. For the same energy cell, sodium Ion battery would be heavier than lithium ion battery.

they'd probably weigh more

The article mentions roughly-equivalent energy density to today's lithium batteries. Wouldn't that mean the weight would be roughly the same?

Actually, now that you mention it, it would be useful to confirm that this line indeed refers to gravimetric and not volumetric energy density.

"Roughly equivalent" is a shoddy statement by the author. Energy densities are 75 -160 Wh/kg for sodium-ion batteries compared to 120-260 Wh/kg for lithium-ion, so there is a large disparity in energy storage capacity. Sodium Ion batteries are better suited to storage and applications that aren't mass transport like EV's. Great for home batteries, forklifts etc, replacing crappy NiMh rechargeables etc.