A consortium coordinated by German battery manufacturer Varta AG has launched a project aimed at developing environmentally friendly and cost-effective sodium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and home storage systems.
The initiative, named ENTISE (Development of Sodium Ion Technology for Industrially Scalable Energy Storage), seeks to enhance storage capacity through optimized materials.
Varta announced that researchers will focus on improving cycling stability, ensuring that the cells maintain stable performance through repeated charging and discharging cycles. This objective may be achieved by developing new and optimized electrode materials and coatings.
The project will progress from laboratory development to pre-industrial phases, ultimately producing a small series of round cells for evaluation in practical applications, including electric vehicles and stationary storage systems. A technical, economic, and ecological assessment will also be conducted to round out the project.
In May, the ENTISE initiative received EUR 7.5 million (USD 8.4 million) in funding from Germany's Federal Ministry of Research and Education. The consortium comprises 15 working groups, alongside 13 companies and universities, collaborating to advance sodium-ion battery technology.
