Ford built a working sodium-ion battery in 1966. Sodium-ion means it runs on salt instead of lithium, the stuff in your phone. Then Ford put it in a drawer. Serious work only picked back up in the last fifteen years, mostly in China.
Sixty years. I've had headaches that felt shorter.
Credit where it's due: the 1966 prototype apparently worked. That's more than I can say for most Mondays. Ford's follow-up plan was, near as I can tell, nothing. A whole battery chemistry, shelved next to the ashtray options and the eight-track.
Meanwhile Chinese firms are now rolling salt batteries into actual cars. Ford, presumably, is in a meeting about it. They'll be ready by 2090. I won't be around for the ribbon-cutting, but I'm sure it'll be lovely.
Related twisted takes: China Has 1.3 Billion Barrels of Oil Saved Up, Like a Doomsday Grandma · Earthlings' Battery Dreams Fizzle: Northvolt's Epic Fail · Ford Spent Millions on AI. Then Hired Grandpa. Grandpa Won.
Based on the original article "Salt batteries are about to shake up EVs and grid storage".
