The rising demand for sodium-ion batteries is set to transform salt into a highly sought-after commodity, according to Morgan Stanley.
Analyst Jack Lu and his team, in a note to clients, forecast that sodium-ion batteries will account for 20% of the global battery deployment market by 2030 and 37% by 2035, up from a projected 2% next year, reported CNBC on Sunday. Lu characterizes the emerging sodium-ion battery era as the ‘New Oil Age’.
The sodium-ion battery market is expected to reach 830 GWh by 2030 and 2.4 TWh by 2035, driven by costs that are 30%–40% lower than those of lithium iron phosphate batteries and better cold-weather performance, according to Lu.
The analyst anticipates new investments worth nearly $800 billion in this sector by 2035. He stated, “In an AI-driven, power-intensive world, sodium-ion batteries address the critical bottleneck where energy security meets AI.”
Another Morgan Stanley analyst, Andrew Percoco, noted that sodium is widely available and inexpensive in the U.S. He mentioned that General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) has an “early foothold” in the U.S. market through its partnership with Peak Energy to develop next-generation sodium-ion batteries.
