CATL Makes Big Announcement on Sodium Batteries for 2026
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Sodium-ion battery development has been a major story in 2025, as Chris Arcus has been especially eager to highlight and explain. In 2026, I think it could be the biggest battery topic. Battery giant CATL, the largest battery producer in the world, is leaning into the topic and made a notable statement this week on what we can expect in the new year. However, at the same time, it’s keen to point out that the future of the battery industry is a mixture of lithium and sodium batteries.
The key figure CATL mentioned this week is that its sodium-ion batteries, which have gotten up to 175 Wh/kg of energy density, could be used in normal passenger electric vehicles providing 500 km (311 miles) of range in 2026. That’s the current sweet spot of what’s expected in a new electric car. Naturally, this announcement doesn’t mention price, but even if the company is referring to more premium cars that can garner higher gross margin and eat early development costs, this is still indication that the mass-market target is on the horizon.
This announcement came at a supplier conference in Ningde, Fujian, China, yesterday according to Chinese media outlets.
CATL intends to sell sodium-ion batteries into all sorts of industry segments — passenger EVs, commercial EVs, and stationary energy storage systems. Included in that are batteries used in battery swapping systems, which is an area Chris Arcus has also focused on.
Naturally, CATL doesn’t want to or expect to make its many lithium-ion battery production lines and market offerings obsolete, and certainly no time soon! Different chemistries come with different benefits, especially at this stage of development. Therefore, CATL is pitching a “dual-star” market in which “sodium and lithium batteries shine brightly together.”
CATL’s new Naxtra sodium-ion division launched passenger EV and commercial EV products in 2025, with the core focus in terms of benefits over lithium-ion batteries being operation in extreme temperatures (extreme heat as well as extreme cold). Longer term, though, sodium-ion batteries are expected to bring general cost savings as well as greener credentials (lower carbon emissions). Sodium-based batteries are also expected to provide safety benefits over lithium-based batteries.
We’ll see what 2026 has in store for sodium-ion batteries, from CATL and others, but it’s exciting to finally be transitioning from lab/research-focused stories about sodium-ion batteries (which we’ve been covering for more than a decade) to market-focused stories about them, especially when the news is coming from global battery leader CATL. I think we can count on more stories from Chris on this soon, as well as from other writers on the CleanTechnica team. Feel free to share any cool stories you spot on the emerging battery technology with the CleanTechnica writer team as well.
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