New liquid sodium metal air fuel cell could pack 3x as much energy per pound as today’s best EV batteries, offering a lightweight option for powering trucks, planes, or ships

Liquid sodium metal is an inexpensive and widely available commodity as it comes from regular salt.

In a series of experiments with a prototype device, the researchers demonstrated that this cell could carry more than three times as much energy per unit of weight as the lithium-ion batteries

The threshold that you really need for realistic electric aviation is about 1,000 watt-hours per kilogram. Today’s electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries top out at about 300 watt-hours per kilogram. This system should be able to reach that target.

Marine and rail transportation could widely benefit, even if it’s not enough density for most aviation.

The liquid sodium metal would be packaged into cartridges which can be simply and rapidly inserted to “refuel” these batteries.

These batteries are also safer.

There would be no CO2 emissions. Instead the emissions, consisting of sodium oxide, would actually soak up CO2 from the atmosphere. This compound would quickly combine with air moisture to make sodium hydroxide, which readily combines with CO2 to form sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). This can be dumped into the ocean to help de-acidify it.

Members of the research team have already formed a company to develop the technology.

It’s been 0 days since the last spectacular new battery or energy storage solution… If only any of them would actually make it to mass production