Are Investors Betting on the Wrong EV Batteries?

Comment on this storyCommentWith all the mushrooming battery technologies, it isn’t easy picking winners. However, the latest bold bet on the next new powerpack looks to have gone awry.The world’s biggest battery maker, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., or CATL, unveiled the sodium-ion powerpack last year with much fanfare. It had broken past a key hurdle for this variety and said it was building out a supply chain and in talks with carmakers.The battery held promise. At the time, CATL’s deputy head of research said that while the energy density of its new sodium-ion powerpacks was lower than the reigning lithium-ion, these had other advantages like maintaining their performance in cold weather and charging quickly. Late last month, the company said it planned to start mass producing them next year.On paper, the cost of materials for these batteries is about 30%…

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