Chinese battery giant to mass produce sodium batteries

The Chinese company CATL will mass-produce a new battery based on sodium-ion technology from December. The solution could make electric cars cheaper and less dependent on the expensive and environmentally damaging lithium. This is reported by the German Spiegel.

Sodium is cheaper, more readily available and less flammable than lithium. According to the company, the new battery type has an energy density of 175 watt-hours per kilogram, which is close to the widespread lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.

- Sodium-ion batteries can replace up to half of the LFP batteries in the future, says Robin Zeng, CEO of CATL.

The company also presented a new fast-charging technology that provides a range of 520 kilometers after five minutes of charging. It is not yet known which car brands will use the new sodium batteries first.

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