Chinese battery giant CATL has launched a hybrid battery that uses both lithium ion and sodium chemistries that is already being used in production vehicles.
The CATL Freevoy Super Hybrid Battery Is the world’s first battery with both sodium and lithium to provide over 400 kilometers of range and 4C fast charging in 10 minutes.
The Freevoy battery uses a surface modification technology for the lithium ion cathode material, coupled with a high-voltage electrolyte formulation, to create a nano protective layer. This effectively minimizes side reactions within the active layer. The integration of high-activity, excited-state particles into the cathode material significantly enhances transport efficiency of lithium ions within the material.
The battery includes CATL’s sodium-ion technology for low temperature operation down to -40 deg C without needing to heat up the battery pack and charging down to -30 degC. The company started working on the sodium technology in 2021..
The sodium and lithium ion cells are used in an AB architecture in a defined ratio and arrangement, with mixed, serial, and parallel connections to enhance low-temperature range by 5%.
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The sodium-ion battery is the benchmark for the state of charge (SOC) for monitoring of the AB battery system to assist in calibrating the lithium-ion battery’s charge level. This improves the system control precision by 30%, adding over 10 kilometers to the pure electric range..
CATL has developed a full temperature range accurate BMS technology with zonal management for distinct chemical systems, mitigating issues like inaccurate charge prediction or reduced power performance in harsh high and low temperature environments.
A high-precision state of charge (SOC) model for the whole battery can be used by a battery management system (BMS), increasing the SOC control accuracy by 40% and the overall pure electric utilization rate by more than 10%. This allows the range over 400km.
Model data analysis on the charge-discharge polarization characteristics of the battery, accurately predict the future discharge capacity of the battery, creating a multi-level power prediction and control strategy for the battery, which improves the power performance of the hybrid vehicles by 20%.
CATL has also used its 4C ultra-fast charging technology in the Freevoy, achieving over 280 kilometers of range on 10 minutes of charging from 20% to 80%.
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The Freevoy battery can be used for what CATL calls extended range EVs (EREVs) and plug in hybrids (PHEVs), providing over 280 kilometers of range on 10 minutes of charging. The battery has already been used on numerous models of various brands in China, including Li Auto, AVATR, DEEPAL, CHANGAN NEVO, and NETA. By 2025, 30 hybrid vehicle models from brands including Geely, Chery, GAC, and VOYAH are scheduled to be launched and delivered using the hybrid sodium battery technology.
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