Global battery manufacturer, CATL, is adding sodium-ion batteries to its offerings. It previously restricted its range to lithium-based cells, but this is changing. CATL will be supplying both battery types for electric vehicles. CATL’s dual battery pack will help ensure that both types are interchangeable.
CATL’s Dual Battery Pack For Cold Climates
China is a vast territory. It borders on subtropical Vietnam to the south, and the frozen wastes of Mongolia to the north. This means that lithium-ion battery performance will thrive in the south, but virtually collapse in the far north.
Take the northern industrial hub of Xinjiang for example, Car News China suggests. There, winter temperatures regularly fall well below freezing, severely restricting the performance of lithium-iron phosphate batteries:
- It can take twice as long to charge these batteries in winter.
- While driving range capacity can almost halve down to 40%.
CATL’s dual battery pack will make it possible for the manufacturer to offer both sodium-ion and lithium-ion chemistry in otherwise identical vehicles.This opens impressive opportunities for logistics fleets, heavy mining operations, grid energy storage, and battery-swapping services.
- Operators can swap batteries using CATL’s dual battery pack.
- This will eliminate winter bottlenecks, resulting in financial losses.
CATL’s One Shell, Two Cells Strategy
More information became available at a recent trade show. The CATL option includes a standard battery enclosure, able to accommodate either lithium-ion or sodium-ion battery cells interchangeably.
This means that either battery option has the identical proportions.This eliminates the need to engineer two different vehicle chassis and associated accessories. The potential savings are impressive.
Battery swapping networks can exchange electric vehicle batteries for winter and summer solutions. This will enable uninterrupted customer operation, while still benefiting from lithium-ion’s superior energy during summer.
This provides another excellent reason why CATL is continuing making both battery chemistries.
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