South Korea’s new battery roadmap puts sodium-ion batteries at the centre of its plan to win back energy storage share from Chinese makers, targeting full commercialisation by 2030.
South Korea has made sodium-ion batteries a national priority in a new battery roadmap released on 22 September. The Battery Industry Technology Roadmap names them the preferred chemistry for energy storage systems and lower-cost electric vehicles. Meanwhile, all-solid-state batteries will target high-performance vehicles, robots, drones and urban air mobility.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said “K-battery” would regain global market leadership through “selection and focus”. LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK On joined the plan, along with major Korean materials suppliers.
Targets for sodium-ion batteries
The roadmap calls for sodium-ion cells with an energy density of 160Wh/kg by 2027. That target then rises to 220Wh/kg by 2030, when the government wants full commercialisation. Energy density measures how much energy a cell stores per kilogram, and it’s most important in vehicles.
Those numbers leave Korea playing catch-up. CATL released its first sodium-ion battery at 160Wh/kg in 2021 and has upgraded the technology since. Other Chinese makers are moving fast too, with Hithium recently unveiling a 20,000-cycle sodium-ion cell.
Why Korea is changing course
The shift reflects where Korean suppliers have lost ground. Lithium iron phosphate cells now make up around 90% of battery storage deployments worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency. Chinese manufacturers now dominate the production of those cells and their materials.
Sodium-ion batteries use sodium, which is cheap and widely available, in place of lithium. They also avoid nickel and cobalt, two costly and supply-constrained metals. On the other hand, they store less energy by weight, which suits stationary storage better than long-range cars.
By contrast, Korean makers have mostly built high-nickel lithium-ion cells for electric vehicles. So sodium-ion batteries could give them a route into markets where low cost counts for more than maximum energy density. However, sodium-ion cells remain more expensive today.
Money, tax credits and shared standards
The roadmap proposes a research programme costing about KRW 400bn, or just under $300m, from 2027 to 2031. Separately, the ministry said companies plan to invest around KRW 8tn in research and production facilities from 2026 to 2030. It didn’t say how much of either sum will go to sodium-ion.
The government also plans a production tax credit from 2027, plus measures to boost battery recycling. In addition, it wants the three cell makers to cooperate on areas it sees as non-competitive. These include battery dimensions and specifications for parts such as current collectors.
Another proposal would have materials firms develop products to a target price and performance. Cell makers would then test and buy the results. A separate project would feed battery management data from electric vehicles back to cell and materials developers, starting in 2027.
Solid-state as the second bet
Solid-state batteries form the roadmap’s other big wager. South Korea has set a 2028 target for a solid-state cell with an energy density of 400Wh/kg. It also aims for a prototype in 2027 and commercialisation in 2030. A cell at 400Wh/kg would store far more energy than today’s mainstream lithium-ion cells.
The ministry describes the planned 2027 prototype as a “world first”. Yet it hasn’t explained how it would differ from solid-state prototypes already built elsewhere. Instead, the 400Wh/kg goal is the figure to watch.
For Korea’s big three cell makers, the plan means shifting research spending towards cheaper chemistries. Each has invested heavily in high-nickel cells for electric vehicles, so sodium-ion batteries would widen their product range. Cooperation on shared standards could also cut costs across the supply chain.
For now, the roadmap sets direction more than it commits cash to specific chemistries. The real test will come in 2027, when the research projects, tax credit and first sodium-ion density target all arrive together.
