the revolutionary EV solid state battery that can store nearly double the energy of select Tesla EVs), along with potential methods to completely transition away from conventional lithium-ion batteries. In fact, just lately, we have observed researchers making significant progress towards achieving sodium-ion batteries at a scalable level. These so-called lithium-free batteries hold considerable promise for powering future devices, albeit they face some substantial challenges that need to be addressed.
One specific design that researchers have been striving to scale up are sodium-sulfur batteries. They claim these are significantly more sustainable and cost-effective compared to lithium-ion batteries. However, they have encountered a major challenge in making them functional, as they typically necessitate high operating temperatures. This results in any efforts to modify them for lower temperature use suffering from reduced voltages and requiring substantial amounts of metallic sodium—rendering the batteries highly flammable.
Nevertheless, a team of researchers believes they may have discovered a way to surmount these obstacles. The key, according to findings detailed in a 2026 study, is to employ a novel chemical composition for sulfur that can function at voltages comparable to lithium-ion batteries. This leads to an entirely new variant of sulfur battery that does not depend on any form of anode. Perhaps with this investigation, we may not have to wait for an innovative new vehicle to revolutionize the future of EV batteries, as the replacement of lithium-ion batteries in EVs could now be more feasible than ever.