U.S. and European startups are racing to develop new batteries using two abundant, cheap materials — sodium and sulfur — that could reduce China's battery dominance, ease looming supply bottlenecks and lead to mass-market electric vehicles.
Today's EVs run on lithium-ion batteries — mostly made with lithium, cobalt, manganese and high-grade nickel, the prices of which have soared. Western producers are struggling to catch up with their Asian rivals, and carmakers expect supply bottlenecks to hit car production around the middle of the decade.
The EVs of the future — those arriving after 2025 — could shift to sodium-ion or lithium sulfur battery cells that could be up to two-thirds cheaper than today's lithium-ion cells.
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