The two companies announced a 60 GWh supply agreement on Monday, marking a crucial step in the commercialization of sodium-ion battery technology.
By ESS news
Battery manufacturing heavyweight CATL has secured the world’s largest order for sodium-ion batteries from Chinese systems integrator HyperStrong. On April 27, the two companies announced a three-year partnership with a total order volume of 60 GWh.
“This collaboration means that CATL has successfully overcome challenges across the entire mass production chain of sodium-ion batteries and achieved large-scale supply capabilities. As the largest sodium-ion battery order to date globally, this marks the beginning of a new phase in the commercialization of sodium-ion technology,” CATL said in a press release.
Since 2016, CATL has invested nearly CNY 10 billion (approximately US$1.5 billion) in sodium ion research and development. The company says it has significantly improved energy density through morphology control and surface modification. On the manufacturing side, it claims to have solved the key mass production challenges in hard carbon anode production (such as foaming and moisture control) using technologies such as Angstrom-level pore size tuning, surface molecular water locking and adaptive dynamic forming, aimed at ensuring batch-to-batch consistency at scale.
Most recently, CATL unveiled a new sodium-ion battery for energy storage at ESIE 2026 in Beijing on April 1. A key design feature is platform compatibility with CATL’s existing 587 Ah lithium storage cell. The sodium ion cell uses the same housing dimensions, which the company says enables high compatibility between system design, production lines and supply chains, reducing switching costs for customers.
The cell is described as a large format product of over 300 Ah, with an energy density of approximately 160 Wh/kg, a system energy efficiency of 97%, a lifespan of over 15,000 cycles at 80% capacity retention and an operating temperature range of -40 C to 70 C.
In terms of applications, CATL’s new product focuses on utility-scale 2- to 8-hour storage, shared storage, renewable energy hubs and data center energy storage.
The chemistry uses a long cycle hard carbon anode and a layered oxide composite cathode. CATL also highlights its safety performance, stating that the battery showed no thermal runaway in nail penetration, crush and overload tests. The design is cobalt and nickel free and uses aluminum foil instead of copper foil, which the company says helps reduce material costs.
Until now, sodium ion technology has taken a back seat as lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery prices have steadily declined to around $50/kWh at the cell level. However, market conditions have changed recently. In the past six months Regular 314 Ah LFP storage cells have increased by approximately 20% since Octoberas the supply of lithium decreases and demand increases. Against this backdrop, the size of the latest supply agreement signals sodium ion’s move into early mass production – an important step towards realizing its potential cost advantage over LFP, which could reach 30-40%.
The deal is part of an existing partnership between CATL and HyperStrong, which was announced last November an agreement for the supply of batteries of 200 GWh from 2026 to 2028. At the time, the companies did not disclose the technology mix behind the deal, so the 60 GWh announced Monday may already be included within that framework.
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