At the Second Chinese National Conference on Na-ion Batteries on Feb 23rd, a five-seats passenger electric vehicle (EV) powered by Na-ion batteries (NIBs) was jointly demonstrated by HiNa Battery and JAC Group, unveiling the upcoming installation in quantity of NIBs in EVs. This marks a great step forward of commercialization of NIB into the EV market.
With total installed battery size of 25kWh, the demo car is powered by NIBs with energy density of over 140Wh/kg, supporting the driving range up to 250km per charge.
The scarcity and uneven distribution of Lithium (Li) resources significantly challenges the development of Li-ion batteries (LIBs). Due to the limited natural reserve and mining difficulties, 70% of Li resources used in China relies on import, posing a strangling threat to source materials supply for current battery industry. The surge of lithium carbonate price last year has made many battery manufacturers and downstream users face ever-rising cost pressure. Therefore, NIBs offering better cost-performance, high safety as well as excellent cycle performance, have been widely expected as the most promising alternative to LIBs, attracting more and more attention.
HiNa Battery Technologies Co., Ltd. was founded in 2017 focusing on innovation and commercialization of NIBs. Proud of the world-class research capabilities, the company has been perfecting NIBs with its patented technologies.
Prior to this EV demo car, HiNa Battery has pioneeringly put NIBs into various application trials during the past 6 years, including micro-EV, tour e-bus, residential ESS as well as 100kWh and MWh level ESS. In 2022, with the finished construction of the world’s first NIB materials mass production plant and GWh-level NIBs cell mass production plant by HiNa Batteries, the era of commercial use of NIBs has formally started.