According to Yomiuri, 14 Japanese universities, companies and research
institutes have formed a consortium to accelerate mass production and
commercialization of sodium‑ion batteries. The group plans a roughly ¥760
million budget to develop mass‑production technology for stationary
energy‑storage batteries aimed at utilities and energy firms. Tokyo University
of Science said sodium‑ion chemistry has been validated at lab scale and the
project is intended to advance it to practical application. Sodium‑ion batteries
do not use rare metals, a strategic advantage given Japan’s constrained access
to key minerals. The consortium says production processes are similar to ternary
lithium‑ion cells, allowing sodium‑ion cells to share existing production lines
and potentially speed adoption once mass‑production techniques are established.
Yomiuri also noted about one in four new cars sold globally is electric,
supporting rising storage‑battery demand, while separate Japanese efforts to
commercialize solid‑state lithium‑ion batteries continue to advance.
