US Sodium-Ion Production Starts
Peak Energy to Open First US Commercial Sodium-Ion Battery Factory in Sacramento
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California startup Peak Energy is opening the first commercial sodium-ion battery factory in the United States — and it is doing so in Sacramento. The company has already secured $1.1 billion in pre-orders and plans to ship its first products in early 2027, according to Sacramento Bee.
The move is a rare piece of good news for California's business climate, which has seen a wave of companies relocate to other states. Peak Energy is betting that a newer battery chemistry can carve out a major slice of the grid-scale energy storage market.
What Makes Sodium-Ion Batteries Different From Lithium
Sodium-ion batteries work like lithium-ion batteries but swap out lithium for sodium — a far more common and cheaper element. That matters for large storage systems, not the kind that go in your phone or car. Peak Energy is targeting data centers, factories, and other big pieces of the power grid, Sacramento Bee reported.
Some analysts note that lithium-ion batteries are still cheaper per unit of energy stored. But sodium-ion batteries have one key advantage: they do not carry the same fire risk. For grid operators storing massive amounts of energy in one place, that is a serious selling point.
CEO Landon Mossburg Sees a Wide-Open Market
Peak Energy co-founder and CEO Landon Mossburg has been open about the challenges ahead. But he says the timing is right. The global demand for grid storage is growing fast as more solar and wind power — which only generate electricity part of the time — come online. Storage systems are needed to fill the gaps.
Mossburg has expressed strong optimism about sodium-ion technology's future. The company's $1.1 billion in pre-orders suggests at least some large buyers share that view, even before a single pack rolls off the Sacramento line.
Battery Cells Will Still Come From Asia — For Now
Peak Energy will not make everything from scratch in Sacramento. At first, the individual battery cells will be imported from China and other Asian countries. Workers at the Sacramento factory will assemble those cells into full battery packs, Sun Herald reported.
That is a common approach for U.S. battery startups trying to move fast. Building domestic cell manufacturing takes years and billions of dollars. By importing cells and assembling packs locally, Peak Energy can get to market in 2027 without waiting for a fully American supply chain.
Sacramento Lands a First-of-Its-Kind Factory
No other U.S. company currently makes sodium-ion battery packs at commercial scale. That makes Peak Energy's Sacramento plant a first for the country. The factory puts California — often criticized for driving businesses away — at the center of a new chapter in American energy storage, according to Bellingham Herald.
The project also fits into a broader push to build more of the clean energy supply chain inside the United States. Whether Peak Energy can scale up fast enough and cut costs to compete with lithium-ion on price will be the real test once 2027 arrives.
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