CATL Hedges a Future With Sodium Batteries in It

Batteries powered by lithium are the undisputed king of the global energy transition. But in a farsighted move to hedge against growing resource nationalism and diversify its offerings, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. is putting money on creating a new supply chain and commercializing a rival system.

Even though there’s much skepticism about the viability of using batteries running on sodium ions to efficiently fuel electric vehicles and stationary energy systems, CATL has enough clout to establish a mainstream market for the technology. It needs to do this over the next two years by securing sufficient deals to scale production and drive down costs.