Nio, Tesla Battery Supplier CATL To Launch Sodium-Ion Battery In July

China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd, which supplies batteries to EV customers, including Tesla, Inc. TSLA and NIO Inc. NIO, is gearing up to launch batteries with a new material.

What Happened: CATL will launch EV batteries made of sodium-ion around July, the company's founder and chairman Robin Zeng said at the company's shareholder meeting, CnEVPost reported.

With the innovation that would come with sodium-ion cell battery technology, the cost of batteries will also likely go up, Zeng reportedly said.

The sodium-ion battery CATL is planning to produce could roll out from its 21C Innovation Lab, in Ningde, Fujian province, which the company built in 2020 to focus on R&D of next-gen batteries, the report said.

Related Link: Tesla Battery Supplier CATL Says Working On New Tech That Could Increase EV Range To Over 500 Miles

Why It's Important: Lithium-ion batteries, which are used predominantly in EVs, have lithium as the electrode material. Lithium, though conferring high energy distribution, is handicapped due to limited availability, higher costs and environmental hazards involved in mining of this metal.

Relative to lithium, sodium is widely available and is relatively inexpensive but compares unfavorably from the perspective of performance and energy density. Research is underway to improve the performance of sodium-ion batteries.

Related Link: CATL Is Ready To Make Million-Mile Batteries For Electric Vehicles, Says Chinese Battery Giant's Chairman