China’s JAC-backed Yiwei 3 of Germany’s VW is the first electric car on the market using a sodium-ion battery.
The unknown company in the automotive scene of Europe Yiwei belongs to JAC Group and is an upstart electric vehicle brand with a China-based “field of action” backed by VW.
The latter owns the 50% of the parent company Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Holdings of JAC – the other 50% is state-owned – having invested €1bn in it by 2021. The German carmaker has also taken control of the existing EV consortium with a stake 75%.
Concerning the Yiwei 3is a small, all-electric city car, which is the first to be widely available using it cylindrical type sodium ion battery NaCR32140 by HiNa Battery, a Beijing-based technology company with close ties to the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The battery in question is similar to the battery Blade by BYD, which is used in Toyota, Kia and Ford electric vehicles. It can also be compared to CTP technology (cell-to-pack) της CATL.
The automaker also revealed the Nowhere E10X, a model with a different name than the Yiwei 3, also powered by a sodium ion battery, which has a capacity of 25 kWh and energy density 120 Wh/kg. With 3C to 4C charging, the electric hatchback could be recharged from 10% to 80% in 20 minutes, while a full charge the autonomy amounts to 250 km
Although sodium ion batteries have lower energy density compared to lithium-ion batteries, they offer several advantages. According to JAC, they have better performance at low ambient temperatures, higher charging speed, longer lifespan and increased endurance with time.
The most important thing is that the batteries use cheaper raw materials, which will potentially allow the price of electric cars to decrease.
“Sodium-ion batteries will become an important battery type, complementary to LFP batteries and a low-cost solution that promotes the spread of electric vehicles”Yiwei Tech president Xia Shunli said.