China’s top EV battery maker CATL touts new sodium-ion batteries

July 29, 2021

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s top electric vehicle (EV) battery maker CATL has launched its newly developed sodium-ion battery, its chairman Zeng Yuqun said on Thursday.

Huang Qisen, deputy head of CATL’s research centre, said the energy density of its new sodium-ion battery is still lower than its lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries but that it performs well in fast-charging scenarios.

Huang said the Ningde-based battery giant, which supplies automakers including Tesla Inc, Volkswagen AG and Geely, aims to set up a supply chain for sodium-ion batteries in 2023.

CATL, which competes with Japan’s Panasonic Corp and South Korea’s LG Chem, currently has over 5,000 researchers, Zeng said.

(Reporting by Yilei Sun and Tony Munroe; editing by Jason Neely)

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