TL;DR
Batteries that need no lithium could soon be made in the kind of volume that makes things cheap. A Chinese supplier, Ronbay Technology, says it will spend about $500 million on a plant to make 200,000 tons a year of the key ingredient for sodium-ion batteries, and plans 500,000 tons a year across two sites. Sodium is common, and these cells need no lithium, cobalt or nickel, the scarce metals behind today's battery price swings and supply fights. For people, that could eventually mean cheaper storage for the power grid, steadier electricity prices as more solar and wind come online, and lower-cost small electric cars. The catch: every number is the company's own, no buyers have been named, and a plant on paper is not a plant making material.
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