Is this battery worth it's salt 2: Sodium Ion Batteries

[Muhendis]

This article caught my eye earlier. 

https://www.ess-news.com/2025/06/16/italian-startup-releases-9-8-kwh-sodium-ion-battery-for-residential-applications/

Good news but I think it will be some time before such batteries are available here in Thailand.

At daily 80% discharge they will live for almost 18 years.

Can be discharged to 100% (but I doubt they would live very long if that happened too often).

 

Italian startup Heiwit has developed a sodium-ion battery for residential use.

Heiwit said the battery poses a lower fire risk, avoids materials with significant geopolitical concerns, and offers easier end-of-life recycling. “The overall cost is lower than lithium counterparts of equal capacity,” the company said in a statement.

The system measures 700 mm x 480 mm x 170 mm and weighs 130 kg. It has a nominal power of 10 kW and an energy storage capacity of 9.8 kWh.

The company said the system provides a round-trip efficiency of 95% and supports a 100% depth of discharge. It operates in ambient temperatures between -10 C and 55 C and offers a reported lifespan of 6,500 cycles at 80% depth of discharge.

Heiwit conducted tests at its experimental plant in Caronno Pertusella, in the northern Italian province of Varese.

“The battery, connected to a proprietary 6 kW hybrid inverter, is now fully operational and able to manage the storage and distribution of energy produced locally from renewable sources,” the statement said.

During initial testing, the battery maintained thermal stability, with cell temperatures between 27 C and 28 C even under high cycling conditions.

The company said the battery can reach full charge in under two hours due to “optimization of the cells and the advanced management of the inverter.”

“This reduces the risk of overheating, prolongs the useful life and improves safety, making the system also suitable for installations without active temperature control,” added Heiwit.

“The system can already be ordered,” said CEO Alessandro Gallani. “For the first few months, priority will be given to premium installers, with technical visits available at the headquarters to evaluate performance in real conditions.”

[UWEB]

Wondering if it works with Heiwit Inverters only or with other Brands as well. It's an 48V Battery, but the price is EUR 5.900,00, so lifetime must exceed more than 20 years.

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, Muhendis said:

“The overall cost is lower than lithium counterparts of equal capacity,” the company said in a statement.

10Kwhr Lifepo batteries are around 40,000bht

This battery is E6,000 so 240,000bht

 

Where is the lower cost?

[Muhendis]

12 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

10Kwhr Lifepo batteries are around 40,000bht

This battery is E6,000 so 240,000bht

 

Where is the lower cost?

Good question.

However, shouldn't you be comparing prices of Lithium batteries in Europe with prices of sodium batteries in Europe?

Also it's early days with batteries going to premium installers. I would expect the prices to reduce once costs have been recovered and bank loans paid back.

 

23 minutes ago, UWEB said:

Wondering if it works with Heiwit Inverters only or with other Brands as well. It's an 48V Battery, but the price is EUR 5.900,00, so lifetime must exceed more than 20 years.

 

Yes. I wondered about that too. The wording is proprietary inverters

[xtrnuno41]

https://www.ufinebattery.com/blog/a-comprehensive-guide-to-sodium-ion-battery/

 

Still developing. I even thought it wasnt on market yet.

 

Once you had the SD card, costed 1000$ for 256 MB.

Nowadays it is a minor fraction of that and then you have up to 2 TB, though those bigger ones still cost some more. But a 512 GB is about 50$. And lower GB's  for the price of a cup of coffee. Quite a difference.

And that is with everything new. Buy in beginning and it will cost you, wait a year and prices are down.

 

Guess it will work with any inverter, however manufacturer can make it like that, you ll have to buy his batteries with the inverter. It is what Apple is doing, you cant charge an Apple phone if you dont have an Apple charger.

Some communication chips/OS  in it, blocks it.

 

So for Sodium batteries, wait a while. But sure it will get a place in the market.

[Muhendis]

58 minutes ago, xtrnuno41 said:

Guess it will work with any inverter,

 

That is correct. but the term "inverter" is a bit of a misnomer. 

It is the MPPT charge controller that charges the battery not the inverter. 

Currently, inverters tend to be all in one kits which include the charge controller.

In the case of the "all in one inverter" the charge controller may not have the flexibility to be adjusted for different battery chemistries.

But, as long as the charge controller has a manual setting it will be possible to adjust the charging voltage to suit any battery chemistry.

It would be very difficult for any battery manufacturer to make a bespoke battery which only one charge controller (theirs) can charge.

 

[UWEB]

25 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

 

It would be very difficult for any battery manufacturer to make a bespoke battery which only one charge controller (theirs) can charge.

 

Huawei? As far as I know you can use Huawei Luna 2000 Batteries only with Huawei Inverters and vice versa.

[Muhendis]

42 minutes ago, UWEB said:

Huawei? As far as I know you can use Huawei Luna 2000 Batteries only with Huawei Inverters and vice versa.

 

That is absolutely correct and Huawei went to a lot of trouble to make it so.

 

Having said that I wouldn't bother to do that If I was a battery manufacturer.

I would make my batteries as compatible as possible to enable retrofitting and after-life replacements.

This is from Mr. & Mrs. Google

• Sodium-ion batteries, like lithium-ion batteries, employ a CCCV charging method.
• This involves an initial phase of constant current charging until a predefined voltage threshold is reached, followed by a constant voltage phase where the voltage is maintained while the current gradually decreases.
• A configurable lithium-ion charger can be adapted for sodium-ion batteries by adjusting the voltage settings, as the same Battery Management Systems (BMS) integrated circuits can be used for both types of batteries. 

So although they are not quite drop in replacements for lithium ion chemistry batteries, they are not too different.

Just don't expect to use 'em if you have a Huawei inverter.