Swedish company Northvolt, the largest European manufacturer of electric batteries, says it has done so Created a new “revolutionary” battery. According to the company, this is new Lithium-free sodium ion batterybeing an alternative More sustainable and cheaper.

This new technology could pay off, according to Northvolt CEO and co-founder Peter Carlson. Financial Times, Tens of billions of dollars. Ten years from now, the backlog of energy storage orders “may be as large or even larger than it is today.”

At the moment, Northvolt has not yet decided where it will produce the battery. But one thing is for sure “The first product is completely devoid of important raw materials.”. According to Northvolt’s Vice President of Strategy, Patrick Anderson, the use of “sodium ion technology is not new.” But as He told The Guardian“that it Basic progressBecause it opens An option that does not depend on certain parts of the worldIncluding China.

The prototype of this battery is not designed for use in electric cars, but this may be an option. The new battery has an energy density of more than 160 watt-hours per kilogram, and was developed for electricity storage stations.

Sodium ion batteries, in addition to being a cheaper, safer and more sustainable alternative, Better performance at very high and very low temperatures. However, it has a drawback: the amount of energy it can produce relative to its size has lagged far behind lithium batteries.

The battery, which does not use lithium, nickel, graphite and cobalt, was developed in the company’s laboratories in Västerås, Sweden, and will be offered to customers in 2024.