Natron Closes Its Doors, Ending Job Opportunities In Michigan & North Carolina
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Natron Energy was founded in 2012 by Colin Wessells, who at the time was a Ph.D. student at Stanford University. Its mission was to develop sodium-ion batteries as a cost-effective sustainable alternative to lithium-ion batteries. In 2020, Natron’s sodium-ion battery became the first to meet the UL 1973 safety standard for energy storage systems, enabling commercial deployment in data centers. According to Wikipedia, Natron began commercial production at its facility in Holland, Michigan, in May 2024.
In August 2024, Natron announced plans for a $1.4 billion gigafactory in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. That factory was expected to create 1,000 jobs and produce 24 gigawatt-hours of sodium-ion batteries annually by 2028. Now here is the important part. The factory was supported by federal incentives provided by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
This week, Natron informed officials in Michigan and North Carolina that it is closing its doors and will cease all operations. “We appreciate our customers and partners support through our journey and this is not how we or anyone at Natron wanted this to end,” said an internal memo sent to all Natron employees and viewed by Politico. The memo added that the company would discontinue operations on September 3, 2025 because of financing challenges.
“While a small team of Natron employees are being retained to shut down Natron in a safe and environmentally responsible manner, none of the commercial team will be retained,” the memo said. “We will not be in a position to deliver on any current or future orders.” The announcement should come as no surprise, considering what happened to the IRA once Pharaoh on the Potomac took over the Offal Office. He ordered his stooges in Congress to gut it as part of the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill.
North Carolina Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley called the announcement a disappointment. “It stood to create 1,000 good paying jobs in a growing industry,” he said in a statement. “It’s unfortunate Natron will not be able to proceed with their plans.” Lilley failed to place the blame squarely where it belongs — on the state’s Congressional delegation.
The OBBB was enthusiastically supported by every Republican member of Congress from North Carolina, including so-called senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, and representatives Greg Murphy, Virginia Foxx, Addison McDowell, David Rouzer, Mark Harris, Richard Hudson, Pat Harrigan, Chuck Edwards, Brad Knott, and Tim Moore. If you live in North Carolina and should happen to run into any of these people, be sure to thank them for doing such a great job of making America a third world nation, because North Carolina don’t need no stinking clean energy jobs that pay well and offer good benefits.
The company’s proposed $1.4 billion Edgecombe County facility was expected to be one of the biggest eastern North Carolina economic development deals in recent years, and one of the latest to bolster the state’s roster of clean-energy companies. according to WRAL News. The state had approved an incentives package worth up to $56.3 million for the project, which was projected to grow the state’s economy by more than $3.4 billion over 12 years.
Natron Faced Growing Financial Pressures
Battery Technology offered its insights into the fate of Natron the day the closure notice occurred. It said the financial struggles for Natron “highlight the broader challenges of scaling up innovative technologies. Liquidity concerns plagued the company for months, with many investors freezing scheduled payments.” While Natron had received preliminary clearance from Underwriters Laboratories in 2020, it needed additional certification from UL to get access to the $25 million in orders it had on its books. Making matters worse, the price of lithium-ion batteries continues to fall, putting pressure on alternative battery technologies.
“Natron Energy’s closure serves as a reminder of the challenges faced by companies attempting to scale up innovative technologies,” Battery Technology added. For the energy storage industry, it highlights the need for robust financial backing and strategic planning to navigate the complexities of scaling up.
“Sodium-ion batteries remain a promising alternative; however, overcoming supply chain vulnerabilities and market pressures will be crucial for their widespread adoption. As the energy storage market evolves, coordinated efforts by policy makers and industry leaders will be essential to ensure the competitiveness of sodium-ion technology in the face of growing alternatives like LFP batteries,” the battery news site stated.
Coordinated efforts by policy makers and industry leaders in the era of MAGA? Please be serious. That is not going to happen, and so the US will slide further back in the rear view mirror as China increases its domination of battery technology.
Why Sodium Batteries Are Important
What’s the big deal about sodium-ion batteries, anyway? For one thing, the Natron batteries were going to be manufactured in America using raw materials readily available in the US. That made them fully compliant with the Build American, Buy American act which requires all iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials used in federally funded infrastructure projects to be produced in the United States. Clearly that is another piece of “woke” legislation that has been blown up by the failed administration in Washington.
On its website, Natron said the secret to the high performance of its batteries is the use of Prussian blue electrodes. “Prussian blue, when combined with sodium ions, creates a chemistry that delivers super-fast charging and power delivery, with no friction. It’s that lack of friction that enables our batteries to last much longer — over 50,000 cycles. And it creates a battery that’s incapable of thermal runaway, incredibly safe, and made entirely from abundant and readily available resources,” the company said.
As we reported a year ago, sodium has none of the disadvantages associated with lithium. It is abundant, found everywhere around the world, and cheap. Sodium-ion batteries do not have the energy density of the best lithium-ion batteries, but they have some advantages lithium-ion batteries do not. Their performance does not degrade as much as lithium-ion batteries do in cold temperatures, and they have a greatly diminished risk of fire.
“Sodium-ion battery technology is at the beginning of the development curve and is about where lithium-ion technology was a decade or so ago,” we said back then. And indeed, CATL, the largest battery manufacturer in the world, has announced its second generation sodium-ion batteries are already in production and are expected to find their way into energy storage applications shortly as well as automotive use.
In fact, CATL has created Freevoy, a battery pack for EVs that uses some lithium-ion batteries and some sodium-ion batteries. The lithium cells provide good performance while the sodium cells compensate for low temperatures. But the US is more interested in scoring points than leveraging new technologies, especially those that might lead to lower use of fossil fuels. And so, America, here’s the message from your government — No Sodium Batteries For YOU!
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