Chinese scientists are about to launch three different lines of sodium-powered cars. They will be cheaper than regular cars or electric vehicles.
Three Chinese firms, BYD, Chery and JAC, plan on releasing these next-generation sodium-ion cars for public sale later this year.
Downside of sodium batteries is shorter range of 200 to 300 kilometres compared to 300 and 500 for lithium batteries. That’s perfect for people whose main journeys are to work or school or to nearby towns, but who don’t make road trips across the country.
China is starting to live in the future. And then I look out my window and America is literally crumbling apart brick by brick. Unused lots full of scrap and rotting metal skeletons. Broken glass windows. It's depressing. So depressing. There's no future here.
If the main downside is just range, then I think these could still sell well. The top-selling electric car in China is (or was a couple years ago - I haven't checked if it's changed) a cheap mini car with a range of 120-170km.
People in the west are getting increasingly salty seeing China outpace the west in science and technology. After decades of being told that China isn't able to innovate and it's just stealing western tech the fact that China is rapidly outpacing the west technologically is a hard pill for them to swallow.