Bluetti Pioneer Na review: the first sodium-ion power station tested
We test Bluetti’s Pioneer Na, the first mainstream sodium-ion portable power station, to see whether this next-gen battery tech lives up to the hype
Battery technology is moving on at a frenetic pace. Spurred on by massive investment in electric cars, the ingredients that go into batteries are being played with all the time, and one of the next big contenders is Sodium-ion.
While it's not really ready for electric cars just yet, it could be a viable replacement for Lithium-ion soon, thanks to some key benefits. I'll come back those.
And one of the first commercial applications to hit the mainstream is in this new portable power station, by Bluetti. The Pioneer Na.
Its name is as clever as the battery tech. It's a Pioneer because, well, it is. And Na is the chemical symbol for Sodium.
From the outside of the new Pioneer Na, the only way you'd know it's different is from the colour scheme. Blue and gold is a departure for Bluetti, but so is this new battery tech.
So what is the big deal? What's so good about Sodium? The most important thing, perhaps, is sustainability. Sodium is incredibly abundant, while lithium is not. At least in relative terms. This makes it cheaper, and it rules out the use of other mined metals like cobalt and nickel.
It works better in extreme cold, too. This is less of a selling point in the UK, but it could make a difference to some users.
Sodium is safer. There's a very low risk of thermal runaway, it's less likely to overheat, it can be shipped at zero watts, and the environmental impact is so much lighter thanks to its lack of rare earth metals.
That said, there are issues we still need to overcome with Sodium-ion. LFP batteries can last a little longer over their lifespan. Sodium's getting there, but it's not 100% competitive yet.
It's also less energy-dense, which means batteries need to be heavier for the same capacity. This is one of the reasons it's not in your Citroens and Peugeots yet.
For Bluetti, this means the Pioneer Na is a bit bulky. At 16Kg for a 900Wh battery, it's a hefty beast.
However, the inverter's good with 2,250w of lifting power and two AC plug sockets, there's a 500w solar input, 2,300w AC input, and all the usual Bluetti tech has gone into the controls and the display.
It works exactly as you'd expect a Bluetti should, then, except it's a bit bigger, a bit heavier, and it's blue.
It's not overly pricey, either. Especially if you can catch Bluetti's current deal and grab one for £799.
You might think that's a lot of money for a 900Wh portable power station and, of course, it is. But this is a unit aimed at early adopters, the environmentally conscious, and anyone who might need off-grid power at -25C.
These people might not mind the fact there's only one USB-C socket and four USB-A sockets, which is a shame, and they might not mind the extra size and weight because, to be honest, it's not that much of an issue.
Because the Pioneer Na is a pioneer in every sense of the word. It's an illustration of things to come and, while the technology is still developing, Bluetti used it first. Hats off to them.