Abstract
The status of development of sodium/sulfur batteries is reviewed and properties to be achieved within the next years are forecasted. Cells with an energy density ≈5 times higher and a maximum power density 2 times higher than the corresponding quantities of lead acid cells are attained. Average cycle life amounts to 500 cycles, several cells surpassed 1000 cycles. The performance did not appreciably decrease during this period of time. Batteries containing ≈100 cells have been operated. The electrical behaviour corresponded to that of single cells. Conventional heat insulations were used to keep the batteries on operation temperature. Non-conventional insulations the weight and volume of which will be considerably decreased compared to present insulations are in development. It is expected that reliability and lifetime statistics of cells as well as energy and power density of batteries can be further increased so that final battery performance will be much better than that of conventional batteries. The range of Na/S-battery propelled vehicles will be higher than those of today's electric vehicles. Utilisation of batteries for the propulsion of electric vehicles and for load leveling will contribute to substitution of crude oil by other primary energy resources.
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