What lithium-ion took decades to achieve, China's sodium-ion battery sector is attempting to compress into a handful of years. Driven by an abundance of raw material, hard-won manufacturing expertise, and an urgency to reduce dependence on volatile lithium markets, Chinese enterprises have moved sodium-ion technology from laboratory curiosity to commercial reality faster than most observers anticipated. The result is an industry now standing at a pivotal inflection point — proven at scale domestically, and beginning its push into international markets.

Part I: The Global Export Push — Pipelines and Early Deployments

The Milestone That Changed Everything

On April 27, 2026, CATL and China's largest battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator HyperStrong announced a three-year, 60 GWh sodium-ion supply agreement — the largest order of its kind ever placed. The volume is striking in context: it equals roughly half of all the energy storage batteries CATL shipped across the entirety of 2025. The companies described it as proof that CATL has "overcome challenges across the full mass-production chain" for sodium-ion technology, specifically solving manufacturing hurdles around energy density, cell foaming, and moisture control during production.

The deal builds on a broader framework signed in November 2025, under which HyperStrong committed to procuring at least 200 GWh of batteries from CATL between 2026 and 2028. HyperStrong, while primarily active in China, has been expanding globally — making this pipeline directly relevant to overseas deployment. Industry observers have called the agreement a potential inflection point, comparable to the moment lithium iron phosphate (LFP) technology crossed from early adoption into mainstream deployment.

CATL has since announced plans to invest CNY 5 billion (approximately USD 735 million) to build 40 GWh of new sodium-ion production capacity in Fujian province, a move that would dramatically expand its ability to fulfil both domestic and international commitments.

HiNa Battery: The Pioneer with a German Foothold

While CATL commands the headlines, Beijing-based HiNa Battery Technology has arguably done more than any other company to prove sodium-ion in real-world conditions. Founded in 2017 and operating the world's first GWh-scale sodium-ion production line in Fuyang, HiNa reached an important milestone in international deployment when it supplied a 1.1 MWh sodium-ion BESS system to Germany — one of the first Chinese sodium-ion exports to reach European shores in operational form.

The German project represents a proof of concept for overseas acceptance of Chinese sodium-ion hardware, demonstrating that systems can meet the certification and integration requirements of demanding European grid operators. HiNa has four product lines in mass production, two specifically designed for stationary storage, and its export ambitions are backed by a track record of delivering the world's largest operating sodium-ion projects on home soil.

BYD: The MC Cube-SIB and Its International Intent

BYD, the world's largest EV manufacturer, entered the sodium-ion BESS market with its MC Cube-SIB product — a containerised system using the company's proprietary Long Blade Battery cell architecture. The R&D cells achieved 200Ah capacity, with a voltage range of 800V–1400V and over 10,000 demonstrated cycle life. A 2.3 MWh first-phase demonstration system passed acceptance testing in 2025 and has since been operating stably, connected to the grid.

BYD's UK and Ireland energy storage division was among the first to publicise the product internationally, signalling a clear intent to position it for European and broader overseas markets. The company began construction of a dedicated 30 GWh sodium-ion factory in Xuzhou, China in January 2024 — a USD 1.4 billion investment that will underpin future export volumes. Company executives have projected that sodium-ion cells will reach cost parity with LFP batteries, potentially opening price-sensitive markets from Southeast Asia to Latin America.

Hithium: Purpose-Built for Long Duration and Data Centres

Hithium, a specialist BESS manufacturer, launched its sodium-ion cell — the N162Ah — in December 2024, claiming it as the world's first sodium-ion cell specifically engineered for utility-scale applications. The cell carries a sodium iron ortho-pyrophosphate cathode, a cycle life exceeding 20,000 cycles, and an operating temperature range of −40°C to 60°C, designed explicitly for long duration energy storage (LDES). Hithium is targeting the AI data centre backup market internationally, an application segment where the chemistry's superior deep-discharge capabilities and thermal resilience offer genuine advantages over lithium alternatives.

Envision Energy: Late Entry, Fast Acceleration

Wind turbine and energy solutions giant Envision entered the sodium-ion manufacturing space in early 2026, announcing at ESIE 2026 that its first sodium-ion cells had come off the production line in March. With 180Ah capacity and a cycle life of at least 20,000 cycles, Envision's initial offering targets AI data centre backup and extreme-temperature storage environments — application areas with growing international procurement demand. Given Envision's established global project footprint across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, its entry into sodium-ion significantly expands the international pipeline.

The Export Outlook

The trajectory is clear, even if the timeline carries uncertainty. China is projected to account for over 90% of global sodium-ion production capacity by 2030, with the market expanding from approximately 10 GWh in 2025 to an estimated 292 GWh by 2034. For overseas buyers, Chinese sodium-ion products are increasingly available not just as cell-level components, but as integrated containerised BESS systems ready for grid connection. Notably, China's export controls introduced in November 2025 — which tightened restrictions on high-performance lithium-ion technology and materials — do not currently extend to sodium-ion, making the chemistry an increasingly strategic export proposition for Chinese manufacturers.

Part II: Domestic Projects — The Proving Ground

China's sodium-ion BESS deployment at home has been aggressive and deliberately structured to push scale boundaries, validate hybrid integration strategies, and accumulate the operational data needed to underwrite international sales.

Hubei Province, 100 MW / 200 MWh (HiNa Battery, 2024): The flagship reference project. Operated by state-owned Datang Group and supplied by HiNa Battery, this station in Qianjiang came online in mid-2024 as the world's largest pure sodium-ion BESS. The 50 MW first phase entered operation in July 2024, with the second phase completing the full 100 MW / 200 MWh installation. The project is projected to avoid approximately 13,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually.

Qiubei County, Yunnan, 200 MW / 400 MWh hybrid (HiNa Battery): A lithium-sodium hybrid station incorporating 40 MWh of sodium-ion battery capacity alongside lithium-ion, demonstrating the viability of mixed-chemistry architectures for large-scale grid applications. The project validates a commercially important deployment pattern: using sodium-ion for applications where cold-temperature performance or safety is paramount, while retaining lithium-ion where energy density is the priority.

China Southern Power Grid, Guangxi, 10 MWh: An early demonstration project by China Southern Power Grid in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, among the first utility-scale sodium-ion BESS operated by a major state grid company.

Shanxi Province, multiple MW-scale deployments (HiNa Battery): A series of smaller projects demonstrating sodium-ion across varied grid conditions in northern China, a region characterised by cold winters that stress lithium-ion performance.

CATL's Changan Nevo A06 (February 2026): While not a stationary storage project, CATL and Changan's unveiling of the world's first mass-production passenger vehicle equipped with sodium-ion batteries marked the technology's crossover into the mobility sector. Customer deliveries are scheduled for mid-2026.

Collectively, these domestic projects have generated a body of operational data covering grid stability, thermal management in cold climates, cycle degradation, and hybrid integration — evidence that overseas buyers and grid operators will scrutinise closely before committing to large procurement agreements.

Part III: Why Sodium-Ion Now — The Technology Advantage

Sodium-ion batteries have been discussed for decades. What has changed is not the chemistry itself, but the manufacturing maturity, supply chain depth, and the widening gap between sodium-ion's strengths and the specific weaknesses of incumbent lithium-based technologies.

Cost and Material Security

Sodium is approximately 500 to 1,000 times more abundant in the Earth's crust than lithium and can be extracted from seawater. At 2026 prices, sodium raw material costs sit around USD 600 per tonne, against more than USD 20,000 per tonne for lithium carbonate. This differential underpins projections that sodium-ion battery costs will approach LFP parity by the end of 2026 and could reach as low as USD 0.04/kWh — comparable to LFP's current cost floor. Critically, sodium-ion batteries can use aluminium for the anode current collector rather than copper, which is required in lithium-ion cells, further reducing both material costs and exposure to copper supply chain disruptions.

Cold-Temperature Performance

CATL's Naxtra sodium-ion battery achieves 90% energy retention at −40°C and a discharge power in extreme cold nearly three times that of an equivalent LFP battery. For grid storage applications in northern China, Canada, Scandinavia, or Central Asia — and for EV applications where cold-weather range anxiety has constrained adoption — this represents a decisive performance advantage over existing lithium technologies.

Safety and Transport

Sodium-ion cells carry a substantially lower thermal runaway risk than lithium-ion alternatives. CATL's latest BESS-focused sodium-ion cell passed nail penetration, crush, and overcharge safety tests without thermal runaway — a standard that lithium-ion cells cannot consistently meet. More practically, sodium-ion batteries can be discharged to 0V and restarted without performance damage, whereas lithium-ion systems must be transported in a partially charged state to avoid fire risk. For large-scale international shipping of BESS containers, this translates to reduced freight insurance costs, simplified logistics, and easier customs compliance in markets with strict regulations on lithium battery transport.

Cycle Life and Deep Discharge

Hithium's N162Ah cell demonstrates over 20,000 cycles with 94.2% capacity retention after 4,000 cycles at standard conditions. CATL's new BESS-focused cell offers 15,000+ cycles with 80% retention — specifications that, for applications prioritising longevity over energy density (shared storage, grid balancing, AI data centre backup), represent a compelling total cost of ownership case against lithium alternatives. Sodium-ion's tolerance for 100% depth of discharge, without the calendar degradation that LFP experiences at full discharge, adds further operational flexibility.

Form Factor Compatibility

Perhaps the most strategically underappreciated advantage is CATL's design decision to engineer its new sodium-ion BESS cell with identical physical dimensions to its existing 587 Ah lithium storage cell. Energy storage integrators can deploy sodium-ion hardware into existing system designs, manufacturing lines, and supply chains with minimal retooling. This dramatically lowers the barrier to adoption for international buyers who have already standardised on CATL's lithium-ion BESS architecture.

Looking Ahead

The sodium-ion story in China is no longer a technology narrative — it has become a commercialisation and scaling narrative. The 60 GWh CATL-HyperStrong agreement, CATL's CNY 5 billion capacity expansion, BYD's 30 GWh factory, and HiNa's proven export pipeline to Europe together form the outlines of an industry preparing for the same global market penetration that Chinese lithium-ion achieved in the previous decade.

Whether sodium-ion displaces LFP at scale — as CATL Chairman Robin Zeng has predicted, estimating a 30–40% share of the battery market — or carves out a durable niche in cold-climate storage, long-duration applications, and price-sensitive EV segments, the technology is now past the point where its commercial viability can be seriously questioned. The remaining variables are execution speed, international buyer confidence, and the pace at which operating project data accumulates outside China's borders.

Both are accelerating.

Sources: Energy-Storage.news, Electrek, pv magazine, MIT Technology Review, IEA, CleanTechnica, CarNewsChina, China Energy Storage Alliance (CESA), IndexBox