Start of sodium ion battery Naron stopped the functions this week, ending the company’s 12 -year attempt to commercialize its technology in the US
The company had $ 25 million worth of orders for Michigan’s factory, but could not deliver them until it was UL certified according to Raleigh’s The News & Observer, which mentioned the closure of the business because Natron was planning to bring jobs to the state of North Carolina with its new factory.
However, the UL certification can be a long process, often extending several months. Natron’s investors have released more chapters, leaving the start of a cash crisis.
Natron’s main shareholder, Sherwood Partners, tried to sell her share, but did not find buyers. As a result, it clears the company and dismisses everything except for a small number of employees who will oversee the winds of business.
Closing is an example of the challenges derived from the attempt to build batteries without consistent industrial policies. The road from starting to Gigafactory often lasts a decade or more – a journey that lasts longer than most business circles – and definitely more than most investor fads.
Natron is engraved through a process known as “assignment to the benefit of creditors”, a Alternative for bankruptcy of capital 7 This could lead to a quick – and quiet – sale of assets that resign from the judicial procedure followed by many clearances.
The company had announced A year ago that it will build a much larger $ 1.4 billion dollar plant in North Carolina capable of producing Gigawatt-Hours values annually, creating up to 1,000 jobs. Natron had focused on fixed storage customers and data centers, markets where the lower energy density of sodium ions is not so worrying.
While sodium ion batteries are capable of being significantly cheaper than their lithium -ion competitors due to sodium abundance, their capabilities have undergone a lithium price war in China. In the last two and a half years, the price of carbonate lithium has been held, Falling 90%according to the report of mineral information.
Natron is only the last accident in a series of recent attempts to build large quantities of batteries outside Asia.
In June, Powin based in Oregon was deposited for bankruptcy of Chapter 11, as it failed to find a non-Chinese lithium-sideller cell supplier. The company used the cells to collect network scale batteries.
Earlier this year, the Swedish battery maker Northvolt also filed bankruptcy in his country of origin, ending the journey for Europe’s best opportunity to a domestic competitor. The company is reportedly burned through $ 100 million a month as it struggled to dominate large -scale construction. BMW canceled a $ 2 billion contract in June 2024 due to Northvolt’s inability to deliver.
The series of failures highlights the difficulty of building battery companies outside Asia, which, over the decades, has developed both mature supply chains and companies with tremendous experience.
If the US or Europe will succeed in creating domestic challengers in the Asian batteries, it will receive stable government support for a decade or more, not the whipsawing it has set for the last 15 years. Given political realities, joint ventures with companies such as Panasonic, LG Energy Solution and Sk Innovation are more likely to succeed.
For the foreseen future, the best opportunity of the West in domestic batteries is still running through Asia.
