Sodium-ion batteries have officially graduated from lab curiosity to commercial product. CATL, the world’s largest battery maker, unveiled its TENER Sodium energy storage system in Munich on June 22 — billed as the world’s first field-validated sodium-ion battery energy storage solution, and backed by durability figures that would make most lithium packs blush.
The headline number is longevity: up to 15,000 charge cycles at 25°C while retaining 70 percent of capacity, translating to an expected service life of 25 to 30 years. The chemistry also shrugs off temperature extremes that punish lithium-ion — retaining over 92 percent of capacity at -20°C and sustaining more than 10,000 cycles at 45°C without extra insulation or forced cooling.
Safer by Chemistry
Safety is sodium’s other calling card. CATL says the TENER system reduces cell expansion force by 40 percent and gas generation by 35 percent compared with lithium equivalents, while thermal runaway surface temperatures peak around 200°C — roughly 60 percent lower than lithium-ion cells. For grid operators siting massive battery farms near communities, those margins matter enormously.
Deliveries in China begin in September, with cumulative shipments expected to reach 1 GWh by the end of 2026. International deliveries are scheduled to start in June 2027. The commercial groundwork is already substantial: in April, CATL and integrator HyperStrong signed a three-year, 60 GWh sodium-ion supply agreement — the largest such contract ever — signalling that gigawatt-hour-scale sodium deployment has arrived.
Sodium Comes for the Road, Too
The storage launch is one prong of CATL’s broader sodium push under its Naxtra brand. The company says it has solved the core manufacturing challenges for automotive sodium-ion cells, with mass production for EVs starting this year — including packs for Changan’s first commercial sodium-ion passenger vehicle — and future targets of around 600 km of range.
The strategic logic is compelling. Sodium is vastly more abundant than lithium, insulating battery makers from the price swings and geopolitics of lithium supply chains. Sodium cells cannot yet match lithium’s energy density, which is why stationary storage — where weight barely matters but cost, safety and lifespan are everything — is the beachhead.
If TENER Sodium performs in the field as advertised, the economics of grid storage could shift meaningfully within a few years — and the battery industry’s dependence on lithium will begin, slowly, to loosen.
Source: CarNewsChina
