Human Tech Tree
Current research2025–2026 · Present (2015 – now)

Energy & Industry / Energy

Sodium-Ion & Solid-State Cells

CATL and Changan unveil what they call the world's first mass-produced sodium-ion passenger car (2026, company claim); solid-state cells stay at pilot stage, with volume plans from 2027.

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Sodium-ion cells need no lithium, cobalt or nickel and tolerate cold better, but store less energy (CATL Naxtra: up to 175 Wh/kg, nearly matching LFP cells). Solid-state batteries replace the liquid electrolyte with a solid one and promise more energy and safety, but are hard to manufacture at volume.

As of now

CATL and Changan unveiled the Nevo (Qiyuan) A06 with a 45-kWh Naxtra sodium-ion battery in February 2026 and call it the world's first mass-produced sodium-ion passenger car; CATL expects 10,000 to 20,000 sodium-ion vehicles in 2026 and full-scale battery mass production from the fourth quarter. For solid-state cells, Samsung SDI plans mass production at Ulsan in the second half of 2027, Toyota and Idemitsu aim at 2027-28 (Idemitsu began building a solid-electrolyte pilot plant on 29 January 2026), and QuantumScape is still on a pilot line. Broad series production of solid-state batteries does not yet exist.

Open steps

  • Sodium-ion density and proven life Medium AI leverageRaise cell energy density closer to lithium-iron-phosphate and confirm claimed cycle life and cold performance outside the maker's own tests.
  • Stable interfaces in solid-state cells Medium AI leverageStop cracking, voids and dendrites at the solid electrolyte under realistic stack pressure and fast charging, over thousands of cycles.
  • Cheap sulfide electrolyte Medium AI leverageCut the cost of lithium sulfide and sulfide electrolyte with scalable liquid-phase synthesis and dry processing.
  • Manufacturing yield of solid-state cells Medium AI leverageReach high yield on large-format solid-state cells with dry-electrode and stack-pressure designs; makers aim at 2027 while QuantumScape is on a pilot line.

Where AI could help

Medium AI leverage. AI screens electrolytes and electrodes quickly, but pilot lines, yields and factory scale-up decide when new cells ship.

  • Screen solid electrolytes and sodium cathodes with learned atomic potentials
  • Predict interface degradation that kills solid-state cells
  • Optimise manufacturing parameters for coating, pressing and formation cycles
  • Run closed-loop lab tests of cell recipes with Bayesian optimisation

Shown so far

  • In January 2024, Microsoft and PNNL said, according to Microsoft, that AI screened 32.6 million candidate materials and led to a solid electrolyte using about 70% less lithium, tested in a working all-solid-state prototype. source

Prerequisites

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Sources

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