Bringing the next generation of battery chemistry to Australian driveways.
Salty Cells exists because of a simple observation. The battery under your bonnet is the oldest piece of technology in your car. The engine has changed, the electronics have changed, everything has changed, except the lead acid battery, which is built on chemistry patented in 1859. Australians replace millions of them every year, and most fail in 3 to 4 years, usually on the coldest morning or the hottest afternoon of the year.
I thought we deserved better. Salty Cells is Australia’s first dedicated retailer of 12V sodium ion starter batteries, and this page explains why I built it.
I’m Jeremy Pearce. I have spent the last 10 years in Australian renewable energy, leading business development and sales across the solar and battery storage industry. That work put me on the front line of the energy transition, building installer networks across the country, developing partnerships with manufacturers and distributors, and helping thousands of Australian households and businesses adopt technology that was once considered exotic.
Solar taught me a pattern I have now seen twice. A proven technology arrives, the incumbents dismiss it, early adopters do their research and switch, and within a decade the old way looks absurd. Rooftop solar went from fringe to one in three Australian homes. Home batteries are following the same curve. Starter batteries are next.
Working in energy storage, I watched sodium ion move from research papers to mass production. The world’s biggest battery makers began commercialising it because the chemistry solves real problems. Sodium is abundant and cheap, roughly a thousand times more plentiful than lithium. The cells tolerate heat and cold that punish other chemistries. And they cycle thousands of times where lead acid manages a few hundred.
Then I looked at the 12V starter battery market and saw the gap. Lithium starter batteries existed, but they came with alternator compatibility problems and heat limits that made them a poor fit for Australian engine bays. Lead acid was cheap but disposable. Sodium ion could do what neither could: drop straight into the tray your car already has, work with the charging system your car already has, and last three times longer or more. Nobody in Australia was focused on bringing that to everyday drivers.
So I started Salty Cells.
Australian conditions are close to a worst case test for a car battery. Summer engine bays in Darwin and the Pilbara cook batteries from the inside. Frosty mornings in Canberra and the high country expose every weak cell. Corrugated outback roads shake plates apart. It is why battery failure remains one of the most common roadside assistance callouts in the country.
Sodium ion is rated to discharge from minus 30°C to 70°C, which covers everything this continent throws at a vehicle. Our batteries are rated for at least 3,000 cycles and carry a 3 year warranty. For the full technical case, read what a sodium ion battery is and why sodium beats lead acid.
Salty Cells is Australian owned and operated, based in Brisbane. I read every customer email. If you have a question about whether sodium ion suits your vehicle, a fleet enquiry, or feedback on anything we do, get in touch. If you are ready to see the range, head to the shop.
Jeremy Pearce
Founder, Salty Cells