On February 23rd, 2023, HiNa Battery presented three types of Na-ion battery cells at the new product launch. What is even more interesting is that HiNa Battery has launched the first Na-ion battery electric vehicle in cooperation with JAC Motors. This Na-ion battery system has a capacity of 25kWh and an energy density of 140Wh/kg for the cells, while the system energy density is 120Wh/kg and supports fast charging from 3C to 4C.

This time, HiNa Battery's Na-ion battery was installed in the electric vehicle, proving that Na-ion battery is not only a mixed A/B battery system with lithium-ion battery, but can be installed in electric vehicles independently.

This Na-ion battery system is installed in JAC Motors's Sihao EX10 Flower Fairy, an A00-class model to be launched by the end of 2021. The sodium ion battery system version is equipped with a battery capacity of 25kWh Na-ion battery, the CLTC battery endurance range of 252 km, the energy density of the Na-ion battery system is about 120Wh/kg. As a reference, the lithium-ion battery system version is equipped with a battery capacity of 30.2kWh LFP battery, the CLTC battery endurance range of 301 km, the energy density of the LFP battery system is about 140Wh/kg.

In terms of fast charging performance, Na-ion battery and LFP battery are about the same. However, in terms of EV battery system capacity and energy density, Na-ion batteries are still inferior to LFP batteries.

Does this mean that Na-ion batteries are not valuable in electric vehicle application scenarios? Of course not. There are three reasons.

First, the battery system energy density of 120 Wh/kg of EV battery system itself has reached the threshold for installation in small miniature electric vehicles. Some of the current small mini electric vehicles are similar. For example, the battery system energy density of Dfsk Motor's Fengguang MiniEV is only 120 Wh/kg, and the battery system energy density of Mercedes-Benz's EQC is only 125 Wh/kg.

Secondly, the Na-ion battery cell used in the Sihao EX10 Flower Fairy is not one of the best performing battery cells from HiNa Battery. In this product launch, HiNa Battery showed three models of battery cells, two prismatic cells and one cylindrical cell. This time, the Na-ion battery EV is equipped with the cylindrical cells, which has the lowest performance in terms of cell energy density and cycle life.

Finally, the performance of the current Na-ion battery is only suitable for A00-class EVs for now. However, the A00-class EVs, both consumers and EV manufacturers, have positioned their greatest focus on the ultimate price/performance ratio, both with high price sensitivity and low energy density requirements.

 With the performance improvement of Na-ion battery in energy density and cycle life, as well as the cost reduction brought by the large-scale manufacturing of Na-ion, the low-cost advantage of Na-ion battery will be more obvious and the application will be more and more widely.

WinAck Group can provide a full range of Na-ion battery solutions from laboratory production, pilot production to mass production. Come by, contact us for a solution that can help you succeed. For better batteries, Win & Ack!