Inlyte Energy's endeavors to bring back sodium-metal-halide batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries are today's most common energy storage technology, with uses large and small, ranging from smartphones and other electronic devices to electric cars and stationary. But science is far from resting on this standard – battery efficiency and durability are still in high demand. With sodium easier to source and exponentially cheaper than lithium, a redesigned sodium-metal-halide battery may lead the way to energy storage with less environmental damage.

Sodium-metal-halide batteries, first patented in the mid-1970s, were both energy-dense and cheap to make. Mercedes-Benz even invested in research and development of these batteries and even tested them in a few compact sedans.

Not as economically viable, electric vehicles fell to the wayside, and the lithium-ion battery was, instead, caught up by the electronics industry, with sodium-metal-halide batteries fading into obscurity.

Lithium alternatives

Sulfur can make battery chemistries cheaper, while zinc-air batteries improve efficiency. Now, Inlyte Energy is investigating the potential of sodium-metal-halide batteries, a pioneering revival of a technology five decades in the making.

dörkdesign

With sodium and iron far easier to source and exponentially cheaper than lithium, a redesigned sodium-metal-halide battery may drop the price on grid-scale energy storage with less environmental damage.

"Along the way, as I was really trying to understand what happened in the industry around sodium-metal-halide batteries – why has it not grown beyond a niche battery technology? – I got in touch and connected with these people in the UK called Beta Research, which had been involved from the beginning, from the early 1980s," Antonio Baclig, founder of Inlyte Energy, told TechCrunch. "They were the ones that really developed that technology, and I didn't know they were still around."

While still in operation, Beta Research was struggling financially, so it made a deal with Inlyte to acquire the team and its facilities following successful fundraising.

Baclig's company has now received seed funding for $8 million to bring sodium-metal-halide batteries into the 21st century.

The round was led by At One Ventures, with participation from First Spark Ventures, Valo Ventures, TechEnergy Ventures, Climate Capital, Anglo American, and others.

Iron man

Baclig has a theory: iron can be optimized, creating batteries at a significant discount over lithium-ion, with easily sourced materials, minus the need for critical minerals.

The Beta Research team "felt they got iron to work pretty well, but they just hadn't completed that, it hadn't been optimized," Baclig told TechCrunch.

Recently, though, the merged team has made progress.

"We're definitely on a good track to optimize the iron," Baclig added.

Sodium-metal-halide batteries aren't ideal for vehicles – as they would run too hot – but show the most promise in grid-scale renewable energy storage. With cheaper battery technology available, it will be much easier to scale up.

Inlyte's first battery factory is already pushing to be ready by 2027. Baclig believes his company's batteries could cost as little as $35 per kilowatt-hour when produced at gigafactory-scale.