BYD breaks ground on its first sodium-ion EV battery plant

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The world's largest EV maker, BYD, broke ground on its first sodium-ion battery plant this week. BYD is investing USD1.4 billion (RMB 10 billion) with 30 GWh planned annual capacity.

You likely heard that BYD just topped Tesla in overall EV volume to become the largest electric car maker globally. However, BYD is also a top global battery manufacturer.

Although lithium-ion is currently the primary battery in vehicles, companies are developing new chemistries to unlock lower prices, more range, faster charging, and less raw material use.

BYD's Blade Battery powers other automakers' EVs, including Tesla, Hyundai, Toyota, and Ford, to name a few. The Blade Battery is an LFP battery designed and built by BYD's FinDreams.

FinDreams began building BYD's Blade Battery in 2020. Last Jun, the unit created its own joint venture with Huaihai Holding Group to expand into sodium-ion batteries.

The company aims to be the world's largest supplier of sodium battery systems. Huaihai said it began exploring sodium batteries years ago after seeing their economic value.

Sodium-ion batteries offer a cheaper alternative to lithium but have a lower energy density. The batteries are most useful in low-cost small cars or two-wheelers that don't need the higher energy density.

FinDreams and Huaihai agreed to build the first BYD sodium-ion battery plant in Xuzhou in Nov.

The plant is not the first collaboration between the companies. BYD and Huaihai partnered a year earlier, in Nov 2022, to build a plant for Blade battery production. Construction began last Jan and early production is planned for Mar.

Rumours surfaced in 2022 that BYD would begin sodium-ion battery production in 2023, with the Seagull being the first EV to receive the new tech. However, BYDs Seagull was launched in Apr with an LFP Blade Battery.

The news comes after JAC Group's YiWei, a new EV brand backed by Volkswagen, began building its first sodium-ion battery-powered EV. The first model rolled off the production line last week, and deliveries are expected to begin this month.

Chairman of Yiwei Tech, Xia Shunli, said sodium-ion batteries will be "a low-cost solution that promotes the popularization of mass electric vehicles to masses.”

Battery giant CATL also revealed in Apr that Chery Auto's iCar brand will be the first to use its sodium-ion batteries.

Lithium is the best element to use since the ions are small and light. This means they can be packed tightly inside the electrodes and move quickly, producing batteries capable of charging in as little as 20 minutes.

But in a close second place is sodium. It benefits from being 1,000 times more abundant on Earth than lithium.

The key material for making sodium-ion batteries, sodium carbonate (or soda ash), can either be found in rocks and salt lake brines or it can be made in factories from limestone and salt. Both of these minerals are widely accessible and practically inexhaustible.

Recent innovations mean that sodium batteries are beginning to rival some lithium-ion systems, in particular, those which use lithium iron phosphate cathodes, known in the industry as LFP. Although LFP-containing batteries cannot store energy as densely as the best-in-class technology, these batteries are of growing importance as they are typically around 20% cheaper.

Recent analysis has shown that the latest sodium-ion battery packs can even undercut the cost of LFP batteries thanks to their cheaper raw materials.

Sodium-ion technology can deliver low-cost EVs with sufficient range to suit commuters and city drivers in particular.

Two Chinese manufacturers, HiNa and JAC group, have announced a sodium-powered model capable of a 250 km range, reportedly selling for around USD10,000 in China.

Sodium-ion batteries are less flammable that lithium-ion batteries.

Mixing sodium ions and lithium ions can result in a battery having a range up to 500 km.

BYD breaks ground on its first sodium-ion EV battery plant

How sodium-ion batteries could make electric cars cheaper