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View all search resultsSodium batteries: The second chance we shouldn’t miss
The government's tunnel vision as regards our vast nickel reserves vis-à-vis the country's EV ecosystem development is blinding it to an equally efficient, effective and more eco-friendly energy alternative that is beginning to gain global ground: sodium-ion batteries.
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A visitor looks at the chassis of an electric vehicle (EV) on July 18 at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show 2024 in Tangerang, Banten. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
I
ndonesia is a country blessed with endless sunlight all year round. Yet ironically, less than 1 percent of its solar power potential is actually utilized.
Additionally, winds sweep across the southern coasts of Java to the mountains of Nusa Tenggara, but their contribution to our national energy mix? A mere 0.2 percent. This is far behind the global average, which has surpassed 10 percent.
Electricity is still a luxury in many rural areas, where the night is lit for only a few hours. This is not because the country lacks ambition, but because energy storage technology is still too expensive, too complicated and too dependent on a fragile global supply chain.
And so we keep chasing the same old story of nickel, again and again, as if the future can only be built on one metal, one direction, one narrow narrative.
Now, imagine another path: a battery made from a simple material like salt, locally produced, cheap, safe and strong enough to store a day’s worth of solar energy. This is not science fiction, it already exists: sodium-ion batteries (SIBs).
Indonesia is racing to build a domestic electric vehicle ecosystem. The spotlight is on lithium and nickel, two metals dubbed the “new gold”. We proudly have one of the world’s largest nickel reserves and are investing heavily in battery manufacturing from the upstream to the downstream.
But amid this industrial glitter, we may be missing the point: Not every future needs to rely on rare and costly materials, especially not if it means ravaging the environment along the way.
