Ouyang Chuying, co-president of the CATL R&D system and director of the 21C Research Institute, introduced the characteristics of new sodium batteries. (Photo courtesy of CATL)
China Youth Daily client news (China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Zhang Zhenqi) "Slow charging speed", "serious attenuation of battery life in low temperature environments", "questionable battery safety under extreme circumstances"…the above problems have always been accompanied by the development of new energy vehicles and have become shackles restricting the continuous improvement of the industry. Recently, at CATL's first Super Technology Day, CATL released a number of blockbuster products to "check the pulse" of the current pain and difficulty of power batteries.
The power batteries currently on the market are mainly divided into two categories, one is ternary lithium battery, and the other is lithium iron phosphate battery. No matter which one it is, it is inseparable from the raw material "lithium". As a major producer of power batteries, China has a large demand for lithium resources, but its own reserves only account for 7% of the global total and it mainly relies on imports.
From 2022 to 2023, global lithium prices rose continuously, causing many domestic new energy vehicle companies to interrupt their production and supply chains and increase the prices of their models. Therefore, exploring new power battery materials is not only related to the stable development of the new energy vehicle industry, but also helps consolidate China's energy security.
Against this backdrop, CATL has launched the world’s first sodium-ion battery “Sodium New Battery” for automotive-grade mass production applications. "Sodium new batteries use innovative solutions to solve the resource 'stuck' problem, as well as the low-temperature pain points of new energy vehicles in the northern region, and implement 'technology for good' with technological innovation." said Ouyang Chuying, co-president of CATL's R&D system and director of the 21C Research Institute.
The reporter learned that compared with traditional lithium batteries, CATL's new sodium battery can still maintain 90% of the available power at minus 40 degrees Celsius. In the extreme state of only 10% remaining power, the sodium new passenger car battery can still achieve basically no attenuation of vehicle power at minus 40 degrees Celsius, allowing northern consumers to enjoy the convenience and benefits of new energy vehicles. In addition, the carbon emissions per unit of sodium battery cells are up to 60% lower than that of lithium batteries, achieving a green and low-carbon life cycle from production to recycling.
At the same time, CATL’s new sodium battery has an energy density of 175Wh per kilogram, which is currently the highest sodium battery in the world, comparable to lithium iron phosphate batteries; it supports a peak charging rate of 5C and a battery life of 500 kilometers. It is CATL's new sodium battery that has broken through the performance boundaries of the material itself, allowing sodium-ion batteries to be applied on a large scale.
Based on new sodium batteries, CATL also released the Snapdragon dual-core battery solution at this conference. It innovatively uses the "CATL dual-core architecture" to divide a battery pack into two independent energy areas (main energy area and extended-range energy area), realizing five dual-core functions and flexibly combining "lithium + lithium" and "sodium + lithium" to achieve complementary advantages between cells with different characteristics.
Xiaoyao dual-core battery is the first to introduce "self-generated anode technology", which replaces the traditional graphite anode material by depositing elements in the form of metal on the current collector, achieving a jump in energy density. On the basis of "ultra-long battery life", combined with the application of sodium and lithium batteries, Xiaoyao dual-core batteries can be flexibly "freely combined" and use intelligent energy management strategies to break the original travel boundaries of new energy vehicles and promote power batteries into the "multi-core era".
It is worth noting that the "dual-core" concept will also cover more fields such as commercial vehicles, electric ships, aircraft, etc. in the future, and may also allow some advanced technologies to be implemented in advance. In addition, CATL also released the second-generation Shenxing superchargeable battery. Its 12C peak charging power is 1.3 megawatts, setting a new record for supercharge rates.
In fact, the launch of the above-mentioned new products and new technologies is inseparable from CATL’s long-term investment and hard work in the field of power batteries. Through technology research and development, supply chain integration, scale effects and industrial collaboration, CATL has built full-chain technical barriers covering materials, manufacturing and applications.
Statistics show that CATL has applied for more than 43,000 patents in the past five years, and its single-year R&D investment in 2024 will reach 18.6 billion yuan. Especially in the field of power battery materials, CATL adheres to the "multi-directional saturated R&D" strategy, and the launch of new sodium batteries is the most vivid footnote.
More importantly, CATL has served more than 18.23 million vehicles and has been sold to a total of 66 countries and regions. In extensive practice, a unique R&D closed loop has been formed that is mutually confirmed by R&D test data and massive real vehicle feedback. Through full-process technological innovation, CATL is leading the accelerated transformation of batteries into digital intelligence.
"The launch of new sodium batteries, Snapdragon dual-core batteries, and second-generation Shenxing supercharged batteries is an important boost to the new energy vehicle industry." As Ouyang Chuying said, with the retail penetration rate of domestic new energy passenger vehicles reaching more than half, CATL is using technology as a spear to outline a new development blueprint for the "multi-core era" of power batteries through material breakthroughs represented by sodium ions.
