By Greg Gao 

Chinese EV battery titan CATL introduce its EV’s AB battery pack solution integrating sodium-ion cells and lithium-ion cells into one pack which can allow sodium-ion batteries to run with a range of 500km on a single charge. Huang Qisen, deputy director of the CATL Research Institute, talked about this solution at the sodium-ion battery industry forum on November 29.

CATL’s sodium-ion batteries and the AB battery pack solution have the advantages of high-energy density, fast-charging capability, excellent thermal stability, outstanding low-temperature performance, and high-integration efficiency. This technology will be used in EV models with range above 500km, which accounts for 65% of the EV market. So CATL’s solution has vast potential in the future, according to Huang.

Previously, the company stated on its investor relationship management platform that it is committed to promoting the industrialization of sodium-ion batteries in 2023.

CATL’s first-generation sodium-ion batteries can be applied to various transportation electrification scenarios (including electric scooters), especially in regions with extremely low temperatures. It also can be flexibly adapted to many energy storage fields. CATL’s AB battery pack solution mixes and matches sodium-ion cells and lithium-ion cells. The solution not only makes up for the sodium-ion batteries’ shortcomings of relatively low energy density, but also gives full play to its advantages of high power and low-temperature performance, according to the company.

In the field of traction batteries, CATL believes there is a lot of room for improvement in battery technology in the future. Material innovations include high-nickel, high-silicon, M3P, sodium batteries, metal-free batteries, and solid-state batteries. Battery structure innovations include CTP, AB batteries, and CTC batteries. In manufacturing, it is necessary to pursue extreme manufacturing and meet the high standard requirements of model battery factories. The company also attaches great importance to safety and reliability, claiming its product failure rate is one in a billion.