Natron's sodium-ion batteries have an enormous cycle life, practical power density, excellent safety and super-fast charging, without using any lithium. Through a partnership with Clarios, they'll go into mass manufacture in Michigan next year.

Current battery tech is headed for a lithium crunch, according to some experts, with the vast majority of the world's supply chain owned by China and simply not enough lithium in known reserves to meet projected levels of demand for the electric vehicle market – let alone all the other sectors that are looking to move to battery power in the coming years.

Alternatives will thus be absolutely pivotal, where their performance characteristics make sense, and sodium-ion battery projects have been popping up regularly over the last several years that aim to chip off little bits of the battery market. Notably, China's CATL launched a sodium-ion battery last year aimed at the electric vehicle market, with a specific energy of 160 Wh/kg – more than half the density offered by today's mass-market lithium-ion packs.

California company Natron has chosen a different target, using a different chemistry based on Prussian Blue, a commonly produced pigment best known for providing the blue color that gave blueprints their name, as well as being extensively used in traditional Japanese woodblock prints like Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa.