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A comment on Bidirectional Charging During Grid Outages. Parent comment

Re:Bidirectional Charging During Grid Outages by aftbit on Sunday November 01, 2026 @11:55AM (#50327343)
LiFePO4 are much more robust against thermal runaway, omit a lot of the expensive materials that are in typical Li-NMC batteries, and have a better cycle life. They still can't be charged below 0°C, they have worse specific energy, and they generally can't handle the same peak power output, but they're a better choice for fixed storage applications IMO.
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Re:Bidirectional Charging During Grid Outages by Kirby64 on Sunday November 01, 2026 @12:08PM (#50327489)
GP is referring to sodium ion batteries. They’re even cheaper materials wise (no lithium) and have even more favorable outcomes for freezing conditions.

Worse energy density and similar or potentially worse number of cycles, but that’s being worked on.

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Re:Bidirectional Charging During Grid Outages by rootusrootus on Sunday November 01, 2026 @12:43PM (#50327803)
But an important difference is that LFP is available today. Expecting a dramatic shift to sodium ion anytime soon is wishful thinking. Battery tech evolves steadily but slowly.
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Re:Bidirectional Charging During Grid Outages by cmrdporcupine on Sunday November 01, 2026 @12:47PM (#50327848)
CATL is already producing sodium ion at competitive prices. Expect 5-10 years to end up with a flood of stationary battery products based on them, at prices less than LFP.
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Re:Bidirectional Charging During Grid Outages by aftbit on Sunday November 01, 2026 @06:57PM (#50331247)
Do you have a link to a good brief on these from an engineering point of view? Where can I buy cells, in what packaging, with what specific energy & power, peak draw, charge rate, etc etc? I do some tinkering around with batteries for various purposes and I'd love to learn more.
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Re:Bidirectional Charging During Grid Outages by hedora on Monday November 02, 2026 @12:22AM (#50333409)
They'd have to beat used car battery pricing and I suspect used car batteries are going to be worth ~ $0 until recycling becomes better.

Apparently, it's almost impossible for wrecker yards to get rid of EV car batteries, even if the battery pack is still fine (but the car was totaled).

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Re:Bidirectional Charging During Grid Outages by rootusrootus on Monday November 02, 2026 @11:43AM (#50339549)
That's weird, the reason EVs have been so easy to total is that the residual value of the battery pack is high and therefore it takes less damage to reach the breakeven point than it does with an ICEV.
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