Catl's launch of a sodium-ion battery brand may challenge the dominant position of lithium batteries

(Shanghai/Beijing) Chinese battery giant CATL has launched its first sodium-ion battery brand, "Sodium-New". The company predicts that sodium-ion batteries, which have advantages in safety, wide temperature range and energy controllability, will replace half of the market share of lithium iron phosphate batteries in the future.

According to reports from Securities Times and Xinhua News Agency, CATL officially launched "Naxin" at the Super Technology Day event in Shanghai on Monday (April 21st), and introduced two products of the brand, including Naxin passenger car power batteries and Naxin 24V heavy-duty truck start-stop integrated batteries. The two products will be officially mass-produced in December and June this year respectively. It will be the world's first large-scale mass-produced sodium-ion battery.

Traditional batteries have application shortcomings in extremely cold environments. Gao Huan, the chief technology officer of domestic passenger and commercial vehicles at CATL, said that the two products of Naxin have good low-temperature resistance and can be adapted to the full temperature range from minus 40 degrees Celsius to plus 70 degrees Celsius. Among them, the Naxin passenger vehicle battery can maintain 90% of its usable power in an environment of minus 40 degrees Celsius.

He emphasized the safety of the battery, stating that CATL's sodium-ion battery can achieve "no fire and no explosion" under tests such as multi-faceted compression, needle puncture, electric drill penetration and battery sawing.

Gao Huan said that with the abundant reserves of sodium resources, sodium-ion batteries will effectively reduce the reliance on lithium resources. He also pointed out that as the technology matures, the commercialization degree of sodium-ion batteries will become increasingly high, and in the future, a new type of battery industry ecosystem that is safer and more low-carbon will be built.

Regarding battery costs, Ouyang Chuying, co-president of the R&D system at CATL, said that driven by technology, the cost of sodium-ion batteries is constantly decreasing and they will definitely have a better cost advantage than lithium-ion batteries in the future.

Catl has ranked first in global battery pack installations for eight consecutive years. In the first quarter of this year, its battery sales increased by more than 30% year-on-year. The company's battery pack sales in the European market have grown in recent years, with its market share rising from 17% in 2021 to 38% in 2024.