Changan Automobile officially launched its global sodium-ion battery strategy today at the “Changan SDA Intelligence Milestone Release & Sodium-Ion Battery Global Strategy Launch” event. The event also marked the global debut of the Changan Nevo (Qiyuan) A06, the world’s first mass-produced passenger vehicle powered by a sodium-ion battery.
The unveiled Changan Nevo A06 is equipped with a 45 kWh sodium-ion CATL Naxtra battery, promising an initial driving range exceeding 400 km on a single charge. It can be seen that this battery has the same capacity as the first sodium battery released by CATL for light commercial vehicles a few days ago.
At the core of this innovation is CATL’s Naxtra sodium-ion battery, integrated with its third-generation CTP (Cell-to-Pack) system integration technology. The battery boasts a cell energy density of up to 175 Wh/kg.
According to Changan, rigorous winter testing conducted in Yakeshi has confirmed the battery’s exceptional performance, meeting all user requirements for range, low-temperature resilience, safety, and discharge capabilities. Test data revealed that the vehicle’s discharge power at -30℃ is nearly three times higher than conventional lithium iron phosphate (LFP) models of the same capacity. Furthermore, the battery maintains over 90% capacity retention at -40℃ and can stably discharge even in extreme conditions as low as -50℃.
The Naxtra battery exceeds national standards. Under extreme abuse conditions, including multi-directional extrusion, electric drill penetration, and complete sawing while fully charged, the battery exhibited no smoke, no sensation, no fire, and no explosion, remarkably continuing to discharge normally even after being sawn through.
Changan Automobile announced that its brands, including Avatr, Deepal, Nevo and Uni, will progressively integrate CATL’s Naxtra sodium-ion batteries into their future models.
According to CATL, with the rapid development of the sodium-ion battery industry chain, pure electric ranges are projected to extend to 500 km or even 600 km, while extended-range hybrid vehicles could achieve over 300 km, potentially reaching 400 km.
Editor’s comment
The Changan Nevo A06 currently offers pure electric models with 510km and 630km ranges, both powered by lithium-ion batteries. Clearly, the newly launched sodium-ion battery model has a shorter range.
However, this range is measured under CLTC conditions, typically at 20-30 degrees Celsius. If the temperature drops to -20 to -30 degrees Celsius, the range of lithium-ion batteries is often significantly reduced, sometimes to only half of their CLTC-rated range. Under these frigid conditions, the 45kWh sodium-ion battery model is highly likely to deliver better performance than the 510km and 630km lithium-ion versions.
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