- CATL has showcased its latest innovations ahead of the Shanghai auto show, as it tries to push the "boundaries" even further.
- It unveiled the Naxtra sodium-ion battery brand, and the Naxtra passenger car battery will be mass-produced in December 2025.
CATL (SHE: 300750) has unveiled its latest battery technologies, showcasing its latest innovations ahead of the Shanghai auto show as it tries to push the "boundaries" even further.
The Chinese power battery giant unveiled a new generation of sodium-ion batteries, the Shenxing Battery, which supports faster charging speeds, and the innovative Freevoy dual-power battery at a Tech Day event in Shanghai today.
This is CATL's move to consolidate its leadership position in the battery industry at a time when competition is getting tougher.
One of its main rivals, BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY), just last month unveiled a battery with a 10C charging multiplier that it said can add 400 kilometers of range to an electric vehicle (EV) in a five-minute charge.
In January-February, CATL's share of global EV battery installations was 38.2 percent, making it the only battery supplier in the world with a market share of more than 30 percent, according to South Korean market researcher SNE Research. BYD's share was 16.9 percent over the same period.
Naxtra sodium-ion battery
CATL unveiled a new generation of sodium-ion batteries that increase energy density and support higher range than its predecessor.
The company today launched a sodium-ion battery brand called Naxtra and began exploring lithium battery replacements under this new brand.
Naxtra Battery pushes the boundaries of the material's own performance, achieving the mass production of sodium-ion batteries for the first time, CATL said.
The Naxtra Battery product line consists of two categories: the Naxtra passenger car battery and the Naxtra 24V heavy-duty truck start-stop integrated battery. Both products have full temperature range capability from -40°C to +70°C.
The Naxtra passenger car battery maintains 90 percent of its available power at -40°C, and even at extremely low power conditions with only 10 percent remaining, it achieves no significant power degradation at -40°C, according to CATL.
The Naxtra passenger car battery has a high energy density of 175 Wh/kg, the highest in the world for sodium-ion batteries and is comparable to lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, the company said.
It has a range of 500 kilometers and more than 10,000 cycles, significantly reducing maintenance costs, CATL said.
In terms of safety, the Naxtra Battery eliminates combustion-supporting factors at the material level, achieving a breakthrough from "passive defense" to "intrinsic safety," according to the company.
The CATL Naxtra 24V integrated start-stop battery for heavy-duty trucks has a service life of more than eight years and a 61 percent reduction in total life cycle cost compared to traditional lead-acid batteries.
The product supports full-capacity deep discharge, one-click starting at -40°C, and starting after one year of inactivity.
Compared to lead-acid batteries, Naxtra is more efficient, environmentally friendly and economical, leading commercial vehicles into the lead-free era, CATL said.
Mass production of the Naxtra 24V integrated start-stop battery for heavy-duty trucks will begin in June 2025, and the Naxtra passenger car battery will be in mass production by December 2025, the company said.
CATL unveiled its first-generation sodium-ion battery in July 2021, with a single cell energy density of 160 Wh/kg. Several other companies have announced their sodium-ion batteries since then.
However, as lithium prices have plummeted over the past few years, sodium-ion batteries have become significantly less attractive and less frequently mentioned.
Second-generation Shenxing Battery
CATL today announced the second-generation of its Shenxing Superfast Charging Battery, which it said pushes the limits of ultra-fast charging performance and sets a new world record for charging rate.
The second-generation Shenxing Battery is the world's first LFP battery with both an 800-kilometer range and a 12C peak charging rate, the company said.
With peak charging power of up to 1.3 MW and a range of up to 2.5 kilometers per second of charging, virtually eliminating the frustration of waiting, it said.
At temperatures as low as -10°C, the second-generation Shenxing Battery can be charged from five percent to 80 percent in just 15 minutes, which is twice as fast as the industry's highest current charging level, according to CATL.
The battery delivers strong power across all temperature ranges and states of charge. Even at low-charge, it maintains an output of 830 kW, the company said.
CATL released the first-generation Shenxing Superfast Charging Battery in August 2023, the world's first LFP battery to support 4C charging at that time.
C refers to the battery's charge multiplier, and 4C means that the battery could theoretically be fully charged in a quarter of an hour.
The second-generation Shenxing Battery is one of the few recent ones in the industry to exceed 1 MW of peak charging power.
BYD announced on March 17 a flash charging battery with a 10C charging multiplier and 1 MW of peak charging power.
Freevoy Dual-Power Battery
The Freevoy Dual-Power Battery features two "independent energy zones" that incorporate CATL's dual-power architecture and self-forming anode technology.
The dual-power architecture enables dual high-voltage, dual low-voltage, dual structural, dual thermal management and dual thermal runaway safety protections to ensure continuity, stability and safety of power output, according to CATL.
This dual power supply design and innovative software integration will provide a more stable and reliable power source for vehicles in the upcoming L3 and L4 autonomous driving era, CATL said.
The self-forming anode technology represents a disruptive breakthrough at the atomic level, increasing the battery's volumetric energy density by up to 60 percent and its gravimetric energy density by up to 50 percent, the company said.
This also means that more energy can be accommodated in the same battery pack space, thus supporting longer ranges.
The technology has the flexibility to work with a variety of material systems, and in combination with the NCM (nickel, cobalt, manganese) systems, the energy density can be increased to more than 1,000 Wh/L.
The Freevoy Dual-Power Battery's "dual-electric range extension" technology intuitively adjusts the distribution strategy of the two energy zones according to the vehicle's driving status and the user's driving habits.
The main energy zone adopts different battery chemistry systems according to the user's driving habits and scenarios to meet daily driving needs.
The extended range energy zone can adopt high specific energy self-forming anode technology to provide greater capacity to meet users' long-distance travel needs, CATL said.
CATL today announced three dual-power solutions with different chemical systems. It explained as follows:
Sodium-LFP Dual-Power Battery -- It combines Naxtra with a LFP self-forming anode battery, fully utilizing the low-temperature performance of sodium-ion technology to provide users with an exceptional experience that excels in cold conditions while delivering extended range.
LFP-LFP Dual-Power Battery -- It pairs the second-generation Shenxing Superfast Charging Battery with the LFP self-forming anode battery. It easily achieves 1,000 kilometers of pure electric range in sedans with a 3-meter wheelbase, reducing the commuting cost per kilometer to as low as 0.1 yuan.
NCM-LFP/NCM-NCM Dual-Power Battery -- It integrates an NCM battery with an LFP self-forming anode battery, achieving a peak charging rate of 12C for the NCM battery in the main energy zone, providing over 1 megawatt of power. Even when SOC drops to 20%, it can still output over 600KW of power.
The upgraded product consists of an NCM battery and NCM self-forming anode battery, achieving more than 180 kWh capacity in a 3-meter wheelbase sedan and surpassing 1,500 km of pure electric range, CATL said.
The architecture from dual to multi-power will not be limited to the electric passenger car segment, but will also be used in all segments such as electric buses, heavy-duty trucks, airplanes, ships, as well as industrial and commercial applications, the company said.
This will also accelerate the adoption of cutting-edge technologies such as solid-state batteries, CATL added.
CATL introduced the Freevoy Battery for hybrid vehicles in October 2024, capable of delivering more than 400 kilometers of range and supporting 4 C fast charging, thus allowing hybrid vehicles to deliver a BEV-like experience.
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