Chinese carmaker delivers first NEV with sodium-ion battery

HEFEI, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese carmaker JAC Group on Friday announced the delivery of China's first mass-produced new electric vehicle (NEV) featuring a sodium-ion battery.

The model, under the brand of Yiwei, is equipped with sodium-ion cylindrical cells supplied by HiNa Battery Technology. The vehicle's battery pack has a capacity of 23.2 kWh, enabling a driving range of up to 230 km.

Compared with commonly used lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries offer advantages such as abundant raw material reserves, excellent low-temperature performance, higher conductivity, faster charging performance, potential for higher energy density, and safer transportation, said Liu Shulong, a technology supervisor with JAC Group.

Xia Shunli, deputy chief engineer of JAC Group, noted that the group plans to launch a sodium-ion battery vehicle with a 300-km range under the Yiwei brand in the second half of this year.