CATL's second-gen sodium-ion battery works normally even at -40°F
Around two years ago CATL, the world's biggest battery maker, announced its first sodium-ion battery and its intention to start manufacturing in 2023. Now, two years later, we're onto the second generation, and production is set to start in 2025. That said, mass production is only scheduled for 2027.
The second-gen sodium battery can be discharged normally in temperatures as low as -40°F. This battery has also exhibited better safety performance and low-temperature resistance while maintaining its energy density, CATL says. Speaking of which, the official density number isn't known for this one yet, but CATL is known to aim for exceeding 200Wh/kg.
Performance in low and very low temperatures is one of the Achilles' heels of lithium-ion batteries, so this new sodium battery shows a lot of promise in normalizing performance across temperatures. The sodium-ion batteries are similar to lithium-ion ones. Currently they don't have as high energy density as lithium-ion, but the temperature resistance does give sodium-ion batteries the edge for usage exclusively in cold(er) regions.
BYD earlier this year predicted that sodium-ion batteries should be on par, cost-wise, with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in 2025 and will eventually be less than 70% of the cost of LFP in the long term. We've already seen a few Chinese cars using sodium-ion batteries, and who knows, in the future there may be more. According to unnamed reports from China, CATL's second-gen sodium-ion batteries could replace 20% to 30% of LFP batteries in small or short-range vehicles.
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