“The lithium commonly used for batteries isn’t that common. It makes up about 20 parts per million of the Earth’s crust, compared to sodium, which makes up 20,000 parts per million.”
Sodium is 1,000 times more abundant than lithium, and the Lithium Triangle of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia holds over 75 percent of the supply. The trick here is a current collector made of aluminum powder, pressed until it hugs the solid electrolyte like a liquid would. The press release says breakthrough. The cells cycled stably for several hundred cycles in a lab, and the patent application went in first.