British technology commissioning company Faradion had, in cooperation with Williams Advanced Engineering and the University of Oxford, developed new sodium-ion batteries and fitted them to an electric bicycle.

Lithium-ion batteries have become the most frequently used medium for energy storage inside hybrid and electric cars of today. They do, however, have certain drawbacks, which could be eliminated if lithium was to be replaced by sodium. Sodium is cheaper, safer and much easier to produce as it can be generated from the sodium chloride or, simply put, ordinary kitchen salt.

The bicycle presented at the launch had four, 12-cell sodium-ion units which were, being a prototype, considerably larger when compared with the lithium-ion equivalents. There is still a lot to be done and, once perfected, size, capacity and life span of sodium-ion batteries will be just the same as lithium-ion give us right now.

May 22, 2015 Driving photo: Faradion

This website uses cookies.
To comply with the EU regulations you must confirm your consent to their use.

You can do that by clicking "OK" or simply continuing to browse this website.
If you do not wish to have cookies set, you can opt out in cookie settings

close