Sumitomo May Expand Sodium-Ion Battery Sales to Carmakers

Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. plans to sell a sodium-ion battery it is developing to makers of electric and hybrid passenger cars, expanding beyond the original target of commercial-vehicle fleet operators.

“Technically, it should be possible,” Mitsuo Nishida, a senior managing director at the Osaka-based company, said in an interview. “We can expect overall sales of the batteries to be boosted because we are now targeting a much big sector of the automotive market.”