First commercial sodium-ion battery in production operates at -40°C with 90% capacity retention – NotebookCheck.net News
CATL has added a sodium-ion battery capable of charging and operating at arctic temperatures to its commercial vehicle roster. The sodium battery’s energy density still compares to the popular LFP chemistry in mass market electric cars.
The world’s biggest battery maker, CATL, unveiled the first commercial sodium-ion battery that will be produced at large scale. Advertised as the “low-temperature” solution for commercial vehicles, the battery pack can be charged even when it is -30 degrees Celsius (-22° Fahrenheit) outside, while operating at -40 degrees it only loses 10% of its capacity.
CATL’s new sodium-ion battery pack basically solves the problem of light electric trucks and vans or other commercial vehicles operating in arctic temperatures that the current Li-ion battery chemistry isn’t able to master.
Instead of the relatively expensive battery-grade lithium carbonate, whose price is again on the rise, the Tianxing II low-temperature battery of CATL uses affordable and abundant sodium. The material’s conductivity rate doesn’t degrades when the temperatures drop and it is not nearly as volatile as lithium, so the 45 kWh Na-ion is much safer in case of accident, too.
Besides the commercial sodium-ion battery for cold weather climates, CATL also unveiled new versions of its long-range and fast-charge batteries for light duty vehicles. The long-range type comes in the form of a large 253 kWh battery pack that can propel a truck for 500 miles, while the other variant can be charged in 18 minutes, suiting every fleet’s requirements.
What’s even more impressive, however, is that CATL’s new sodium-ion battery pack comes with the commendable 175 Wh/kg energy density, nearly doubling that of the first commercially available Na-ion battery efforts. This puts it on even keel with the most popular and affordable LFP battery chemistry. There are now even commercial products like the first sodium-ion jump starter available on Amazon for anyone to buy., indicating the commercial viability of the nascent battery chemistry.
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Daniel Zlatev – Senior Tech Writer – 2036 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2021
Wooed by tech since the industrial espionage of Apple computers and the times of pixelized Nintendos, Daniel went and opened a gaming club when personal computers and consoles were still an expensive rarity. Nowadays, fascination is not with specs and speed but rather the lifestyle that computers in our pocket, house, and car have shoehorned us in, from the infinite scroll and the privacy hazards to authenticating every bit and move of our existence.
Daniel Zlatev, 2026-01-23 (Update: 2026-01-23)
