Electric car batteries using molten salt could be significantly cheaper but offer twice the energy of their lithium-ion counterparts according to Sumitomo Electric Industries.
The Japanese electrics firm has teamed up with Kyoto University to produced a sodium-based electrolyte that works at temperatures of only 80 deg Celcius. Previous molten salt systems required operating temperatures of at least 300 deg Celius while the melting point of sodium chloride is 801 deg Celsius, making the batteries expensive to produce and energy-intensive in use. However, with the new breakthrough, scientist think it could allow sodium batteries to go into full production by 2015 at tenth of the cost of current generation lithium ion batteries.
According to Headlineauto, the salt used in the batteries- also known as melted or fused salt- acts as a conductor of electricity unlike the traditional table salt we see, which works as an insulator.
