The first electric car without lithium batteries

JAC Motors, a Chinese automaker backed by Volkswagen Group, is set to launch its first mass-produced electric vehicle using sodium-ion batteries, which are cheaper, more plentiful and perform better in cold weather, and are expected to make electric vehicles more accessible to the public.

According to CarNewsChina, the JAC Yiwei electric hatchback using sodium-ion batteries will start deliveries in early 2024.

Sodium-ion batteries are a new technology that offers many advantages over lithium-ion, as they are abundant and easily accessible. The main raw material for sodium-ion batteries is sodium carbonate, which can be found in rocks, brine, or produced in limestone and salt mining plants.

However, sodium-ion is three times heavier and larger than lithium-ion, so the electrodes in sodium-ion batteries must be thicker and heavier to hold the same amount of energy.

Yiwei is a new car brand launched by JAC in 2023. Volkswagen owns 75% of JAC and 50% of JAC's parent company, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Holdings (JAG). The Chinese government owns the other half of JAG.

Yiwei's electric car is a rebranded version of the Sehol E10X hatchback, which was announced earlier this year. The Sehol has a range of 252 km, a battery capacity of 25 kWh, an energy density of 120 Wh/kg, meaning the battery weighs about 208 kg, using HiNa NaCR32140 batteries.

When JAC revealed the emergence of the Yiwei brand in May, it said it would drop the Sehol label, changing it to JAC or Yiwei on all vehicle models.

The Yiwei electric vehicle uses cylindrical sodium-ion batteries from HiNA Battery. JAC assembles the batteries in a honeycomb structure called UE (Unitized Encapsulation), similar to CATL's CTP (cell-to-pack) batteries and BYD's Blade. This battery arrangement can provide better stability and performance.

In April, JAC introduced another electric vehicle called the Yiwei 3 at the Shanghai Auto Show. It was officially launched in June with a lithium LFP battery, and promised a sodium-ion battery variant would follow.