Chinese battery giant CATL has signed the world’s largest sodium-ion battery order to date, agreeing to supply 60 GWh worth of batteries over three years to to Chinese energy storage firm HyperStrong, who create battery storage systems for residential, commercial, and EV charging purposes.
The deal indicates that sodium-ion batteries have moved beyond the development phase, and are now reaching early commercial reality. The agreement makes HyperStrong CATL’s first strategic partner for sodium-ion batteries within battery energy storage system applications, and the two companies are set to closely collaborate on future research and development, product application, and more. This significant order comes just weeks after CATL unveiled its sodium-ion battery storage cell, offering an energy density of around 160 Wh/kg, and an operating temperature range from -40°C to 70°C.
Sodium-ion batteries have been found to be much more cost effective than their lithium-ion counterparts, and also more sustainable, with sodium being significantly more abundant than the tight supply of lithium. However, as they typically have a lower energy density than lithium-ion batteries, they are arguably more suited towards stationary energy storage projects such as this agreement, where size constraints and weight are less of an issue.
That doesn’t mean that automotive OEMs aren’t shunning the technology, however. Changan Automobile has confirmed that its future passenger electric cars will use CATL-supplied sodium-ion battery units, which will help keep EV costs down. In automotive applications, sodium-ion chemistry also holds a notable edge over lithium-ion in the critical area of cold weather performance. Whereas lithium-ion cells can suffer significant range penalties in sub-zero conditions, sodium-ion batteries typically maintain strong output, granting a competitive advantage in car markets where winter driving is a common issue.
