UNIGRID Sodium-Ion Sparks Lead-Acid Industry Disruption as a Direct Replacement for Automotive 12V Starter Batteries

Fully drop-in design helps partners easily transition from lead to sodium

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- UNIGRID Inc., the ultra-safe sodium-ion battery company, today unveils their cell technology for the Na⁺ Fleet platform, a 12V starter battery built around the company's NaCrO₂ (NCO) sodium-ion cells. With Na⁺ Fleet, OEMs will be able to directly integrate NCO sodium-ion cells into their own range of 12V Na⁺ packs for distribution.

Hundreds of millions of lead-acid batteries are replaced annually worldwide in a massive $50B replacement market. For more than 70 years, the 12V starter market has relied on lead-acid batteries — heavy units that require regular maintenance, suffer from high self-discharge rates and are replaced at least three to four times during a vehicle's lifespan. Lithium-based options address some of those limitations but bring their own challenges, including reliance on active battery management, poor performance in cold temperature and the potential for fire hazards in the vehicle's engine bay.

Unlike traditional lead-acid batteries, sodium-ion enables a design that is smaller and lighter, while simultaneously providing superior power, enhanced efficiency and a substantially longer operational lifespan. This makes Na⁺ Fleet a high-performance, more sustainable upgrade for modern fleets.

"NCO sodium-ion available today beats lead-acid in almost all metrics relevant for SLI applications, including total cost," said Darren H. S. Tan, CEO and co-founder of UNIGRID. "Strategically, this is an attractive early entry market for sodium ion; it is a large, already existing market using an outdated technology that is primed for disruption."

Na⁺ Fleet is designed for the broad range of vehicles and equipment that use standard 12V starter batteries — including cars, pickups, motorcycles, golf carts, snowmobiles, forklifts, buses and HEV/EV 12V systems. By using versatile cell sizes, it supports a variety of flexible configurations to fit various form factors, enabling partners to offer sodium-ion starter batteries as a direct replacement for lead-acid batteries.

Key Features of Na⁺ Fleet

• Superior Sodium-Ion Chemistry: Ultra-safe NaCrO₂ chemistry eliminates thermal-runaway risk.
• BMS-less Operation: A lead-acid-compatible voltage window (8–14.4V operating) enables passive balancing without a BMS, lowering costs.
• Longer Service Life: 5,000+ usable cycles across hot or cold climates, 10x of comparable lead acid.
• Indefinite 0% SoC Storage Capability: Low self-discharge removes the need for maintenance charging.
• Better Cold Cranking Performance: >2x of lead acid's cranking amps between –40°C and 60°C.

Na⁺ Fleet sodium ion cells are available now for OEMs, integrators and distributors.

For more information visit the website.

About UNIGRID, Inc.

UNIGRID, Inc. delivers safe, low-cost, advanced sodium-ion batteries to power energy storage and electric mobility applications. It's a University of California, San Diego spin-off company founded in 2021 based on the groundbreaking Ph.D. research work of Dr. Darren H. S. Tan and Dr. Erik A. Wu. To learn more about UNIGRID, Inc., visit the website: https://unigridbattery.com/

SOURCE UNIGRID