Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

A group comprising 14 Japanese universities, companies and research institutes is set to work toward establishing mass production and commercial adoption of sodium-ion batteries, which are expected to represent the next generation of storage batteries, according to announcements made Thursday.

As the acquisition of critical minerals has become an important issue for Japan's economic security, expectations are rising for the development of mass-production technology for sodium-ion batteries, because these are made without the use of minor metals.

Research on sodium-ion batteries has largely remained at the basic stage in Japan, but the group involved in Thursday's announcements -- which includes the Tokyo University of Science and major battery manufacturer GS Yuasa International Ltd. -- will aim for mass production with the support of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), a national agency.

According to the Tokyo University of Science, sodium-ion battery technology has already been established at the laboratory level. The new project is expected to move that technology toward the practical application stage. With a budget of about 760 million yen, the group will develop mass-production technology for stationary storage batteries to be used by energy companies.

In Japan, research on sodium-ion batteries has so far been led by scholars such as Prof. Shinichi Komaba of the Tokyo University of Science. Sodium is abundant in seawater, so there is no risk of stocks being depleted as there would be with minor metals. Furthermore, sodium-ion batteries are good at charging quickly and maintaining high output at both low and high temperatures, leading to expectations that they will become part of the next generation of storage batteries.

Meanwhile in Japan, ternary lithium batteries are widely used as storage batteries for electric vehicles, personal computers and other devices. Compared to sodium-ion batteries, they have higher energy density, but the particular mix of materials they use makes them vulnerable to procurement problems. Japan relies on imports for lithium -- making it subject to price fluctuations -- and the batteries also require minor metals such as nickel and cobalt. This makes sodium-ion batteries look to be a promising alternative.

It is said that one in four new cars sold worldwide is now an EV, a trend which is resulting in an increase in demand for storage batteries. Efforts to develop storage batteries are heating up in various countries, with a focus on reducing costs, extending driving range and ensuring safety.

In Japan, the development of all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries, which excel in safety and energy density, is thought to be nearing the commercial adoption stage. Meanwhile, a fierce development race is unfolding in China, where domestic companies have achieved results including utilizing lithium iron phosphate batteries to reduce EV production costs. Their work on developing sodium-ion batteries for EVs is also growing more active, as are their efforts to have these batteries used in EVs.

Japan, by contrast, has yet to achieve mass production of sodium-ion batteries. However, it is said that these can share production lines with ternary lithium-ion batteries, as the processes for mass-producing the two battery types are similar. Thus the adoption of sodium-ion batteries may proceed at a rapid pace once mass-production technology is established.

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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

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July 10, 2026 03:59 ET (07:59 GMT)

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