Needle Puncture + Electric Drill Non-Combustible and Non-Explosive, CATL Sodium-Ion Power Battery to Enter Mass Production by Year-End, Zeng Yuqun Envisions the "Multi-Core Era"

Even before CATL (300750.SZ) officially announced last week that it would host the "Super Technology Day" brand event, the market was already buzzing with various speculations about its "Boundary Awakening" products.

CATL held the "Boundary Awakening" themed Super Technology Day event, where it unveiled the second-generation Shenxing ultra-fast charging battery, the "NaXin" sodium-ion battery brand, and the Xiaoyao dual-core battery, along with related technologies.

CATL Chairman and CEO Zeng Yuqun once again appeared at the company's promotional event, emphasizing the "significant breakthrough of the sodium-ion battery system" and the arrival of the "multi-core era."

Power sodium-ion batteries to enter mass production in December.

At today's launch event, CATL named its sodium-ion battery brand "NaXin." Gao Huan, CATL's CTO for domestic commercial and passenger vehicles, introduced that the NaXin battery has reached the industry's highest level of mass production, with an energy density of 175 Wh/kg. The battery has undergone multiple tests, including extrusion, nail penetration, electric drill penetration, and sawing, and can remain non-flammable and non-explosive.

CATL released two sodium-ion battery products. The first product is a 24V heavy-duty truck start-stop integrated battery, which can reduce total costs by 61% compared to lead-acid batteries over eight years. It will first be implemented in FAW Jiefang models and is set to enter mass production in June this year.

The second product under the "NaXin" brand is a passenger vehicle power battery. Gao Huan stated at the launch that this is the "world's first mass-produced sodium-ion power battery." The battery can provide a pure electric driving range of over 200 km in hybrid vehicles and over 500 km in pure electric vehicles. It retains 90% of its available capacity at -40°C, with a peak charging rate of 5C, and can recharge from 30% to 80% SOC in just 10 minutes. The battery has a lifespan of 10,000 cycles and is set to enter mass production in December this year.

Caixin reporters learned from CATL that the sodium-ion power battery for passenger vehicles will first be implemented in the chocolate battery-swapping models. At CATL's battery-swapping strategy conference in December last year, the company disclosed that it has partnered with Changan, GAC, BAIC, Wuling, and FAW to jointly launch 10 battery-swapping models.

It is worth noting that CATL previously released the first-generation sodium-ion battery. In June 2023, the MIIT approved the installation of sodium-ion batteries in vehicles, revealing that the Chery Ice Cream model is equipped with CATL's sodium-ion battery.

A staff member at the technology day event told Caixin reporters that the first-generation sodium-ion battery-equipped models have been released in small batches and are still in the market validation stage.

The staff further stated that compared to the first-generation sodium-ion battery equipped in Chery models, CATL's second-generation sodium-ion battery has made some material-level changes that have optimized costs and improved energy density. For the cathode material, both Prussian blue and layered oxides are being considered, and the final mass production will depend on the cost and performance requirements of the selected models.

"There are other changes that are not yet finalized, so the final mass production state and specific technical route have not been determined," the staff said.

When asked about the biggest demand bottleneck for sodium-ion batteries in downstream applications, the staff said, "It's still cost. The market is too competitive, and everyone is still pursuing lower costs. Sodium-ion batteries need to be cheaper than lithium-ion batteries to be market feasible."

From an industry perspective, when lithium prices peaked at 600,000 yuan/mt in 2022, sodium-ion batteries experienced a "surge" in development. However, with the recent sharp decline in lithium prices, the cost advantage of sodium-ion batteries over lithium-ion batteries has rapidly diminished, and the pace of industrialization has slowed. From the current situation, downstream applications have become clearer, but the scale of industrialization is still in the development stage.

In October last year, CATL released a new hybrid battery, once again opening up new application scenarios for sodium-ion batteries.

Second-generation Shenxing ultra-fast charging battery released, Zeng Yuqun envisions the "multi-core era."

In addition to sodium-ion batteries, CATL's "Super Technology Day" today also unveiled the second-generation Shenxing ultra-fast charging battery, the world's first LFP battery with both an 800 km ultra-long driving range and a peak charging rate of 12C. The 12C peak charging power exceeds 1.3 MW, enabling a 520 km driving range with just 5 minutes of charging.

According to CATL's disclosed data, by the end of 2024, the Shenxing ultra-fast charging battery has been implemented in 39 models from 16 automakers. Notably, last year, CATL executives repeatedly mentioned at earnings conferences that premium products like the Shenxing battery have boosted the company's gross margin. This year, the penetration rate of new products like the Shenxing battery in the company's product lineup is expected to increase from 30% to 70-80%, but whether it will continue to boost gross margin will depend on market conditions.

The third new product is the Xiaoyao dual-core battery, which combines CATL's dual-core architecture with its self-generated anode material technology. According to Gao Huan, the dual-core architecture design is inspired by the function of dual-engine aircraft, and the self-generated anode technology does not use traditional graphite anodes but allows metal elements to accumulate on the current collector, increasing the battery's volumetric energy density by 60%.

The Xiaoyao dual-core battery, which combines the dual-core architecture with self-generated anode technology, includes the "sodium-iron" dual-core battery, composed of the NaXin battery and LFP self-generated anode battery, with a driving range of 700 km; the "iron-iron" dual-core battery, composed of the second-generation Shenxing ultra-fast charging battery and LFP self-generated anode technology, with a pure electric driving range of 1,000 km; and the "ternary-iron/dual-ternary" dual-core battery, composed of the ternary system and LFP self-generated anode battery, with the dual-ternary combination system offering a maximum pure electric driving range of 1,500 km.

Since the battery-swapping ecosystem conference in December last year, CATL Chairman Zeng Yuqun has once again appeared at CATL's promotional event and delivered a speech.

Zeng Yuqun stated at today's event that the breakthrough in the sodium-ion battery system is significant, opening up resource boundaries, and the maturity of sodium-ion batteries accelerates the arrival of the "multi-core era." The application of multi-core technology means accelerating the industrialization of new energy across all scenarios, not limited to the passenger vehicle sector discussed today, but also extending to electric buses, heavy-duty trucks, aircraft, ships, and industrial and commercial fields, while also greatly advancing the application of cutting-edge technologies like solid-state batteries.

"The essence of the multi-core era means that CATL will transition the power battery industry from a parameter-driven stage to a demand-led stage," Zeng Yuqun said.