Photo: CATL
Chinese battery producer CATL has unveiled Naxtra, claiming it is the world’s first mass-produced sodium ion battery. At its inaugural Super Tech Day, the company also showcased a battery that sets a new global record for superfast charging technology.
Naxtra breaks resource constraints and strengthens the foundation of the new energy industry, according to Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), one of the world’s biggest battery producers. Back in 2021 the company presented first generation of sodium ion batteries.
Batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems are predominantly made using lithium ion technology. However, the technical solution comes with environmental risks because of lithium production in mines and salt flats. The race is on to find a better one and sodium ion could be the winner.
CATL underlined that Naxtra Battery breaks through the performance boundaries of the material itself, allowing mass production of sodium ion batteries for the first time.
Naxtra Battery product line has two units
“With sodium’s inherent safety and abundant reserves, it efficiently reduces dependence on lithium resources and strengthens the foundation of new energy technologies, while promoting energy utilization from single resource dependence to energy freedom,” the press release reads.
The Naxtra Battery product line has two units: the Naxtra passenger EV Battery and the Naxtra 24V Heavy-Duty Truck Integrated Start-Stop Battery. Both are capable of performing across the full temperature range from minus 40 to as high as 70 degrees Celsius, redefining the extreme temperature limitations of batteries, CATL said.
The Naxtra passenger EV Battery retains 90% usable power at minus 40 degrees and achieves an energy density of 175 Wh per kilogram, the highest among sodium ion batteries worldwide, and comparable to LFP batteries, the update reads.
In terms of safety, it is a transformative breakthrough
CATL said the system provides a 500-kilometer range and that it can achieve over 10,000 cycles, significantly reducing maintenance costs. In terms of safety, it is a transformative breakthrough from “passive defense” to “intrinsic safety,” the manufacturer claimed.
According to the company, Naxtra 24V Heavy-Duty Truck Integrated Start-Stop Battery boasts over eight years of service life and reduces total lifecycle costs by 61% from the level in traditional lead-acid batteries.
Compared to lead-acid batteries, it is more efficient, eco-friendly, and economical, driving commercial vehicles into a lead-free era where vehicles and batteries age as one, the company claims.
Shenxing Superfast Charging Battery offers robust power across all temperature ranges
On the same occasion, the company presented two more “groundbreaking EV battery products,” as it called them.
The Freevoy Dual-Power Battery introduces a pioneering cross-chemistry system design that transcends the limitations of single technology paths to meet customized user needs. The second-generation Shenxing Superfast Charging Battery, with its peak 12C charging rate, sets a new global record for superfast charging technology, according to CATL.
The company stressed that Shenxing Superfast Charging Battery is the world’s first LFP system featuring both an 800-kilometer range and a 12C peak charging rate. With a peak charging power of 1.3 MW, it achieves 2.5 kilometers of range per second of charging, virtually eliminating the frustration of waiting, according to the press release.
Additionally, the device provides robust power across all temperature ranges and states of charge.
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