Earlier this week, the world’s biggest battery maker, CATL, announced its latest battery which can be charged at speeds which will add 520 km of charge in just 5 minutes.
Another key announcement made by CATL is that mass production of low-cost Nextra Sodium Ion battery cells are expected to be available before the end of this year.
According to the battery giant, mass production of these new types of battery packs which are suited to EVs and plug-in hybrids, will begin in December.
The breakthrough here is the higher energy density than even those of most current Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries, coming in at 175 Wh/kg.
That’s above the roughly 150 Wh/kg seen in many mass produced LFP batteries.
These new Sodium Ion batteries will be able to deliver up to 500 km of range on a single charge. At the same time, they’ll support ultra-fast charging speeds, on par with some of the fastest charging LFP batteries from 2 years ago.
According to CATL, the new batteries will also be able to see 10,000 cycles of charging and discharging without major degradation.
On top of that, safety has also been improved with CATL highlighting the additional safety tests it’s been able to undertake to showcase how durable these latest packs are.
On Sodium Ion battery packs, these include the following tests which didn’t cause the pack to catch on fire:
- Nail penetration test
- Drill penetration test
- Compression test
- Saw cut test
Another major concern with battery technology is how it performs in very cold climates. This new pack has great performance, highlighted by 30-80% charging in just half an hour while the temperature stays at -30 Celcius.
Even at very low state of charge in extremely cold climates, the Sodium Ion batteries can deliver enough power to easily drive at highway speeds of up to 120 km/h, noting many Australian highways are limited to 110 km/h.
This battery is also expected to be used in trucking applications where it would provide power to starter motors, traditionally powered by 24 V lead acid batteries.
It’s also expected to last up to 8 years in those applications, reducing significant costs during its operation.
CATL is continuing to take a multi chemistry approach with Sodium Ion being the latest technology to go into mass production later this year.
At the same time, it’s latest generation of the Shenxing LFP batteries will also see key improvements.
These can be charged at speeds of up to 1,300 kW while providing 800 km of range, making them some of the fastest charging EV batteries.
With so much new battery technologies coming to market in 2025, the path to cheaper, faster charging and safer EVs continues to widen, helping more drivers make the switch to cleaner cars sooner.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.