Efficient and low cost energy storage is a crucial requirement for many high technology
markets including low carbon vehicles, mobile communications and renewable energy.
Rechargeable batteries are advancing in technology to meet these market demands but they
are currently hindered by high cost, weight and volume and significant safety issues. There is
a huge opportunity for a company to develop new battery technology to tackle these key
issues and this is what this project aims to do.
Faradion intends to develop a new range advanced battery materials based on sodium-ion that
significantly reduce the cost of advanced batteries. The electric-vehicle market represent
today`s largest opportunity for new battery materials. All market research data suggests that
the markets for these materials will be growing at rates exceeding 120% throughout the next 5
years and beyond, so that the size of the market for batteries in electric vehicles will have
grown by $23Bn by 2020. However it is also clear that today`s materials are not adequate for
the market’s demands and there will need to be major technical improvements if the full
market potential is to be realised. The battery pack for a full electric vehicle currently costs up
to 50% of the total vehicle (less for a hybrid) and current EVs are still too expensive for the
mass market. The growth of the market is highly dependent on a reduction in battery pack
costs which will require significantly less expensive electrode materials. Beyond electric
vehicles new low cost batteries will have market opportunities in consumer electronics ($14bn
in 2016 for batteries) and grid/renewable energy storage ($2.5bn in 2016 for batteries).
To answer this market need Faradion is looking to exploit the unrecognised potential of
sodium-ion batteries which can match the performance of lithium-ion batteries but use
significantly cheaper, more sustainable and safer materials. The output from this project will
be proof of technical viability for the new materials along with associated IP protection. To
exploit this IP Faradion will first develop a range of cell demonstrators (a follow-on project)
to prove the performance of the technology at cell level and to investigate production options.
Following this Faradion will be in a position to partner with an existing cell manufacturer
(such as Sanyo, Samsung, LG, etc.) to look at productionisation.
For this fast moving market Faradion will follow an aggressive development plan; completing
this proof-of-concept project in 6 months and then having demonstrator cells in 18 months.
This will enable Faradion to address the market need ahead of competitors. With cost being a
key driver this technology benefits from being able to drop into existing production lines
using the same equipment and the resulting batteries will be indistinguishable from standard liion
batteries making them simple replacements – this will result in low cost fast technology
introduction.