Sodium-ion batteries: can Britain make them from UK salt?

How is sodium-ion different from lithium-ion?

Both are rechargeable “rocking-chair” batteries: ions travel between two electrodes as the cell charges and discharges. The ion is sodium (Na⁺) rather than lithium (Li⁺). Conventional sodium-ion cells generally use a hard-carbon anode in place of lithium-ion’s graphite. Their cathodes may be layered oxides, Prussian-blue-type compounds or polyanionic materials. Those families have different costs, mineral needs and lifetimes; there is no single sodium-ion recipe.

Energy-density figures are IEA examples of recent cells, not guaranteed specifications of any home battery; pack-level values are lower. Real systems must also be judged by usable capacity, efficiency, cycle life, warranty and installed price.

Sodium ions are heavier and larger than lithium ions, contributing to lower energy density in today's products. That matters greatly in a car, where mass and space affect range. A battery bolted to a wall or sited beside a substation has more room, so material cost and reliable delivery can matter more. Some sodium chemistries also show strong low-temperature performance, but that depends on the actual cell: ask for its tested operating range rather than assuming all sodium batteries excel in a Scottish winter.

Does sodium remove the lithium supply problem?

It removes lithium from that cell and can avoid graphite. Sodium can be sourced from salt and other widely distributed industrial feedstocks, while some designs can use aluminium for both current collectors and reduce copper demand. This gives manufacturers another chemistry to use if lithium prices spike or a refinery bottleneck interrupts supply. It could reduce long transport routes and the need to concentrate every battery investment around lithium deposits.

That is a long-term logistical advantage only if the rest of the chain is built. Battery producers need controlled-purity sodium compounds, cathode precursors, processed hard carbon, electrolyte salts and solvents, separators, cell assembly, formation, quality assurance, pack integration and eventually recycling. Scaling a new chemistry means proving consistent performance across thousands of cells, not simply finding abundant raw material. Sodium-ion can use some related factory processes, but conversion still needs new recipes, equipment decisions and qualification.

The mineral picture depends on the cathode. Some layered oxides use nickel or manganese, whose refining can remain concentrated; other sodium chemistries can avoid nickel and cobalt but introduce their own material constraints. Organic electrolytes may still be flammable. Sodium-ion is not inherently risk-free, and it does not contain a chunk of reactive sodium metal or a reservoir of seawater.

What changes geopolitically?

Today’s lithium battery chain links mines and chemical processing across countries, with China particularly strong in refined materials and cells. A thriving sodium industry could give countries with industrial salt, soda ash, caustic soda, biomass and chemical plants more routes into battery production. It would also give customers a hedge against lithium price or trade shocks. It would not instantly end concentrated manufacturing: the IEA says almost all sodium-ion cells are currently made in China, and more than 95% of installed and announced capacity through 2030 is there.

Potential beneficiaries, conditional on investing beyond raw materials:

• United States: a major soda-ash producer, with chemical capacity and scope to build domestic cathode, carbon and cell supply.
• Turkey: a leading soda-ash producer that could capture more value by moving into battery-grade chemicals and manufacturing.
• European countries including the UK: existing soda-ash, caustic-soda, salt and biomass industries could underpin a regional chain if production is qualified and scaled.
• Kenya: natural soda ash provides an upstream opportunity; local processing and cell investment would be needed to capture more of the benefit.
• India: a large potential manufacturing market with an incentive to diversify its battery supply, but domestic sodium availability alone would not settle its other material needs.
• China: already leads sodium-ion cell production and could benefit most in the near term if other countries do not build their own downstream capacity.

These are opportunities, not predictions that each country will have a fully local supply chain. A change in battery chemistry can shift where value is created without automatically shifting who controls factories, intellectual property and processing.

Could we actually make batteries from British sodium?

There is a credible raw-material starting point. British Salt produces salt in Cheshire, and Tata Chemicals Europe produces sodium carbonate (soda ash) in the UK. These are established industrial activities. Their advertised grades and uses do not prove that battery manufacturers have qualified those products for a particular sodium cathode or electrolyte. “Battery grade” means the precise impurities, consistency and process specifications demanded by a chosen cell chemistry, verified at industrial scale. Table salt or glass-grade soda ash cannot simply be tipped into a battery factory.

A UK project would need to establish the sodium precursor route, test and purify it, secure the other electrode and electrolyte inputs, produce hard carbon to cell specifications, build and qualify cell lines, and demonstrate a market large enough to sustain them. Some hard-carbon feedstock might eventually come from British forestry or agricultural residues, but feedstock availability is not proof of a domestic battery-grade anode industry. Supply security would be improved by making more of these steps locally, even if some inputs remained imported.

Britain has contributed to the technology: UK-founded Faradion developed sodium-ion know-how and was acquired by India’s Reliance in 2021. That illustrates the difference between inventing a chemistry here and owning a UK-scale manufacturing chain. So the honest answer is “technically plausible, industrially unproven as an entirely domestic battery.” We cannot identify an established all-UK, Cheshire-sodium-to-finished-home-cell product today from these sources.

Should a Scottish solar buyer wait?

Usually the decision should turn on products and prices available to your household now. Sodium-ion could eventually be compelling for home and grid storage, especially if its supply chain matures and its installed cost falls. Today, mature lithium-ion products have clearer UK installer availability and track records. Compare the actual battery’s usable kWh, power, temperature limits, round-trip efficiency, warranty, supported inverter and tariff, and total installed cost. A news headline does not tell you when a specific sodium system will be sold and supported here.

Sources and further reading

• IEA (February 2026): sodium-ion progress, energy density, costs and manufacturing concentration.
• IEA: battery supply-chain diversification, soda ash, caustic soda and biomass.
• IRENA: sodium-ion technology brief (2025).
• Tata Chemicals Europe and British Salt: Cheshire salt and soda-ash production.
• USGS: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, soda ash production.

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