A common element found in table salt could be the key to powering the next wave of electric vehicle (EV) adoption in China.
Cars with sodium-ion batteries, an emerging technology, Sales are expected to begin in the country in mid-2026According to the manufacturer of the battery, Ningde, China-based company Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), and the manufacturer of the vehicle, Chongqing, China-based firm Changan Automobile.
Even though these EVs are unlikely to reach the US, the announcement from CATL – which, as the world’s largest EV battery maker, produces an estimated 40 percent of the global supply – gives an early indication of whether sodium-ion technology could eventually lower battery costs or improve EV performance in winter.
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CATL says the battery, called Naxtra, can operate stably at -50 degrees Celsius (-58 degrees Fahrenheit) – a feature that could address one of the biggest drawbacks of EVs: short range and slow charging due to deep cold. For anyone who has noticed a drop in their car’s range on a cold morning, this claim is hard to ignore.
“This could also benefit other cold regions, such as the United States, Canada and parts of Europe,” says battery researcher Liu Chenguang of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China. Minnesotans and Upstate New Yorkers, rejoice.
victory over cold
Most EVs in the world currently are powered by lithium-ion batteries, which are more powerful than sodium-ion batteries, but perform differently in cold weather than in hot conditions. In lower temperatures, many lithium-ion EVs provide less power and charge more slowly.
Batteries store and release energy by shuttling charged particles between electrodes through an electrolyte; Cold temperatures slow down those processes.
As the name suggests, sodium-ion batteries replace lithium with sodium, an abundant element found widely in salt.
Although sodium ions are larger, they form weaker bonds with the liquid electrolyte than lithium. Liu says this allows them to dissociate and move more easily than lithium ions, even when cold makes the electrolyte thick. “All ions move slower in cold weather, but sodium-based systems are often less affected, so they can have more power and capacity in the winter.”
CATL’s Nextra sodium-ion battery, showcased at the 2025 Beijing Expo, is designed to charge in temperatures down to -50 degrees C, or -58 degrees F.
Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images
CATL claims that at -30 °C (-22 °F), Nextra can provide about three times more discharge power than equivalent LFP, or lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which are the affordable, standard-grade batteries that dominate the Chinese EV market. The company says the battery can charge up to 90 percent when temperatures drop to -40 degrees Celsius (-40 degrees Fahrenheit) and can achieve “stable power delivery” at -50 degrees Celsius in test conditions.
Charging and discharging at -50 degrees Celsius is “scientifically possible, although extremely challenging,” says Kenil Rajpura, a materials scientist at Pandit Deendayal Energy University in India. Reaching that temperature depends on careful use of materials and pack design – including electrolytes that keep working in extreme cold, he says.
By comparison, many lithium-ion batteries struggle at those extremes. “At those temperatures, most lithium-ion batteries will deliver only a very small fraction of their original capacity unless the pack has an active heating system,” Liu explains.
Charging in the cold can also be risky for lithium-ion batteries because the ions cannot penetrate the anode fast enough, causing them to stick to the plate on the surface. Rajpura says this can damage the battery and, in the worst case, pose a safety hazard.
Still, according to Xing Lei, a US-based independent analyst of the Chinese auto industry, the figures CATL shared are the best results possible from controlled tests. They serve as reference points with which one should “take a grain of salt”, says Xing. How those EVs perform in the real world will depend on many factors, including how customers use them.
more energy storage
CATL has spent about 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) over the past decade and employed more than 300 employees developing sodium-ion batteries, according to the company.
CATL will put its first sodium-ion batteries into a Chery-built car in 2023. However, the range of those vehicles was only 170 kilometers and their sales were low. an analysis By Shenzhen-based Starting Point Research Institute.
The NEXTRA sodium-ion battery relies on abundant sodium instead of lithium to achieve superior winter performance.
Chan Long Hei/Bloomberg via Getty Images
But the newly announced model is expected to have a range of 400 kilometers on the China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle (CLTC), a laboratory test, thanks to the Nextra’s superior energy density. CLTC lab-testing figures often come in higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s range ratings, and drivers may see less range in the real world. The figure provided by CATL is up to 175 watt-hours per kilogram, which represents about 90 percent of the energy density of current LFP batteries.
Rajpura calls this number the “upper commercial limit” of current sodium-ion technology. Liu calls it “a strong number” that suggests sodium-ion batteries are becoming practical for short-range, city-focused cars.
CATL’s cell-to-pack system increases energy density by putting battery cells directly into a pack instead of first bundling them into separate modules, which cuts down on extra material and weight, says Chen Shan, an analyst at energy research company Rystad Energy.
While sodium is abundant, the young supply chain means manufacturing these batteries is currently about 30 percent more expensive than making comparable lithium-ion batteries in China, realistically pushing mass production until the end of this decade, Xing says.
If the car performs well at low temperatures without the premium cost, sodium-ion technology could gain a foothold in colder regions, says Fate Zhang, founder of CNEVpost, a Shanghai-based EV news outlet. “If not, it may remain a niche chemistry for now,” he says.
