Natron Sodium-Ion Battery Startup Shuts Down Due to Long Certification Process and Cash Crunch
A sodium-ion battery startup, Natron, has shut down its operations this week, ending a 12-year journey aimed at commercializing its technology in the United States. The company had secured orders worth $25 million for its Michigan factory, but could not deliver due to the requirement of UL certification.
The News & Observer reported on Natron’s closure, as the startup was planning to establish a new factory in North Carolina and bring jobs to the state. However, the process of obtaining UL certification often takes several months, and investors withheld further funds, leaving Natron facing a cash crunch.
Natron’s primary shareholder, Sherwood Partners, attempted to sell its stake but found no buyers. As a result, the company is being liquidated, and most employees have been let go, with a small team remaining to oversee the winding down of operations.
The closure underscores the challenges faced by startups aiming to manufacture batteries without consistent industrial policies. The transition from startup to gigafactory often takes a decade or more—a journey much longer than typical business cycles and investor trends.
Natron had planned to construct a $1.4 billion sodium-ion battery factory in North Carolina, capable of producing gigawatt-hours’ worth of cells annually, potentially creating up to 1,000 jobs. The company focused on stationary storage and data center markets, where the lower energy density of sodium-ion batteries is less of a concern.
However, the potential of sodium-ion batteries has been undermined by a lithium price war in China. Over the past two and a half years, the price of lithium carbonate has plummeted 90%, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
Natron is just the latest in a series of recent attempts to manufacture large quantities of batteries outside Asia. In June, Powin, based in Oregon, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to find a non-Chinese supplier of lithium-iron-phosphate cells. Northvolt, a Swedish battery manufacturer, also filed for bankruptcy earlier this year in its home country, marking the end of Europe’s best chance at a domestic competitor. The company was reportedly burning through $100 million a month as it struggled to master large-scale manufacturing. BMW canceled a $2 billion contract in June 2024 due to Northvolt’s inability to deliver.
The string of failures underscores the difficulty of building battery companies outside Asia, which has developed both mature supply chains and companies with vast expertise over the years. If the U.S. or Europe is to succeed in creating domestic challengers to the Asian battery giants, it will require sustained government support for a decade or more, rather than the inconsistent policies that have characterized the past 15 years. Collaborative ventures with companies like Panasonic, LG Energy Solution, and SK Innovation are likely to yield better results in the near future.
For the foreseeable future, the West’s best chance at domestic battery manufacturing remains linked to Asia.
