CATL to Deliver First Sodium-Ion Batteries in September, Achieve GWh-Scale Shipments by Year-End

On June 22, at a new energy storage product launch event, Xu Jinmei, Chief Technology Officer of CATL’s Energy Storage Business Division and President of its Europe Region, announced that the company will begin delivering its first sodium-ion battery solutions to customers in the Chinese market in September 2024, with plans to achieve gigawatt-hour (GWh)-scale shipments by the end of 2026. Global market deliveries are scheduled to commence in June 2025. Xu stated that through optimized material structures and enhanced manufacturing consistency, CATL has significantly improved the yield of its sodium-ion battery energy storage products, achieving costs 10% to 20% lower than the industry average. Currently, all of the company’s mass-production lines are fully operational and running stably, providing robust manufacturing support for large-scale commercial deployment. Compared to lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries offer advantages including more abundant raw materials, lower cost, better low-temperature performance, higher safety, and minimal temperature rise during high-rate charging. Nevertheless, lithium-ion batteries remain the dominant technology in the industry today. In April this year, CATL announced that its “Na-Xin” branded sodium-ion batteries would enter large-scale mass production in Q4 2026, with simultaneous advancement into four key application areas: battery swapping, passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and energy storage. In the same month, CATL signed a strategic cooperation agreement with HiPower Innovation, securing a three-year order for 60 GWh of sodium-ion batteries—the largest sodium-ion battery order globally to date.