The official website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently announced the 372nd batch of "Road motor vehicle manufacturers and product Announcements", which appeared two models equipped with sodium ion batteries, respectively, Chery Automobile's Chery brand NEQ7000BEVJH11L pure electric model, and Jiangling Automobile's Yizhi brand JX7001ESMBEV pure electric model, This may mean that the mass production of sodium battery cars is imminent.

Although the current model of the public does not further disclose the specific parameters of the sodium battery, the public information shows that the models of the two cars are small and miniature models.

Compared with the current mainstream lithium battery vehicles, sodium-ion battery models have a low energy density, but sodium-ion battery models have a strong cost advantage, and with the maturity of sodium battery technology, in the next few years, the model may become the choice of small and micro new energy vehicles below 100,000 yuan.

Chery New Energy announced the model for the A00 class pure electric car, the top speed of 100 kilometers per hour, the use of sodium ion batteries from the Ningde era. The Jiangling New Energy model is A0 pure electric car, belonging to the Yichi brand, the top speed of the model is also 100 kilometers per hour, the use of sodium ion batteries from Funeng technology.

The A00 class and the A0 class are classified according to the wheelbase of the vehicle, and both are also known as minicars and small cars. The total mass of the Chery sodium battery car is 1064kg, and the total mass of the Jiangling sodium battery car is 1380kg, and the rated number of passengers (including the driver) of the two cars is 4 people.

Zhang Xiang said that the current sodium-ion battery energy density is low, the power is small, so the weight of the vehicle is not too heavy, otherwise it will affect the driving range.

Although the specific data of sodium batteries carried by the two car companies have not been further disclosed, the sodium battery technology of the relevant cooperative battery factory has been released previously.

On the eve of this year's Shanghai Auto Show, the sodium-ion battery brewing for many years in the Ningde era was officially released, and Chery announced the first landing Chery model, and Chery will jointly launch the battery brand "ENER-Q" in the Ningde Era.

As early as 2021, Ningde Era took the lead in releasing the first generation of sodium-ion batteries, when the cell single energy density reached 160Wh/kg, which was the highest level in the world at that time.

Jiang Li, deputy general manager and secretary of the Board of directors of Ningde Times, previously said publicly that the first generation of sodia-ion batteries that the company has released can be applied to a variety of transportation electrification scenarios (including two-wheeled vehicles), and can flexibly adapt to the application needs of the whole scenario in the field of energy storage. The company's sodium-ion batteries will be industrialized in 2023, and will continue to upgrade product performance.

Funeng Technology has also announced the sodium electric cooperation with Jiangling Group, the company said that it is expected to achieve mass production in the second half of this year, and in the docking of domestic well-known A00 vehicle customers and other two-wheeler customers. Related product parameters and indicators show that the energy density of the sodium ion soft pack power battery has been increased to 155Wh/kg. In addition, the second generation of sodium-ion batteries is in the pilot stage, and the energy density is increased by more than 10% compared with the first generation.

In the past two years, China's new energy vehicle market has achieved rapid growth, with annual sales increasing from 1.367 million in 2020 to 6.887 million in 2022, and has accounted for more than a quarter of the total number of new vehicles. However, the development of new energy vehicles in China still has the problem of imbalance and inadequacy, such as the influence of low temperature adaptability of power batteries, insufficient charging and replacement facilities and other factors, the promotion and application of new energy vehicles in Northeast and Northwest regions are relatively lagging behind, and the rural market has not been fully tapped.

Experts believe that in this context, sodium battery vehicles with cold resistance and price advantages may usher in better prospects.

Public information shows that the energy density of the first generation sodium-ion battery cell in the Ningde era is 160Wh/kg; Charging at room temperature for 15 minutes, the power can reach more than 80%; In the -20 low temperature environment, the discharge retention rate is more than 90%. The system integration rate can reach more than 80%; Thermal stability far exceeds the national standard. The energy density of the next generation of sodium-ion batteries is more than 200Wh/kg. The energy density of the sodium-ion soft pack power battery has been increased to 155Wh/kg, the cycle life of 100% discharge depth is more than 2000 times, and the capacity retention rate is still more than 90% under the condition of -20 low temperature.

In this regard, Zhang Xiang said that from the current announcement of sodium-ion battery models, to meet the requirements of the vehicle specification level, but it should be noted that the current sodium-ion electric vehicles can adapt to complex commercial scenarios, upstream suppliers can meet the mass production needs, but also need to verify the market.

Mo Ke, chief analyst of true lithium research, told the Securities Daily reporter that the positioning of sodium battery vehicles by car companies should be based on small mini-cars. This kind of car has two major characteristics, one is to commute, driving distance is not far, the battery pack is not big, low energy density of sodium electricity is more suitable; Second, sodium batteries can theoretically be cheaper than lithium, and the intelligent requirements of mini-cars are not high, and the battery energy density is not too high, and sodium batteries are also suitable. "Sodium electric in the electric vehicle market should be the main focus of minicar, as long as the theoretical cheap into reality, will usher in a better prospect."