For those who came in late sodium-ion battery production uses sodium, iron, and manganese instead of expensive lithium, nickel, and cobalt.

Natron Energy announced the opening of a "gigafactory" in North Carolina, set to produce 24 gigawatt hours of sodium-ion batteries annually, enough to charge 24,000 electric vehicles. Despite these advancements, sodium-ion batteries are still in their early stages compared to lithium-ion and have yet to hit the market on a massive scale.

Exponent principal engineer Keith Beers warned that it was unlikely sodium-ion could displace lithium-ion anytime soon.

The main limitation is their weight; sodium is nearly three times as heavy as lithium, leading to larger batteries with lower energy storage capacity.

Natron CEO Wendell Brooks said that sodium-ion batteries can withstand millions of charge cycles compared to the few thousand cycles of lithium-ion batteries.

While unsuitable for smartphones or electric vehicles due to their size, sodium-ion batteries offer a cost-effective solution for grid or backup energy storage, where density is less critical.

 "When something is built out to support grid or backup storage, it doesn't need to be very dense. It's staying put," Beers said.

Natron plans to invest nearly $1.4 billion in the new factory to meet the growing demand for industrial and grid energy storage solutions.

Natron's batteries are UL-listed and will serve various markets, including data centers, mobility, EV fast charging, microgrids, and telecom.