CATL launched a new sodium-ion battery pack aimed at light commercial vehicles, pitching it as a step towards wider take-up of the chemistry in 2026.
The pack formed part of CATL’s new Tectrans II (Tianxing in China) commercial-vehicle battery line, unveiled at an event on Thursday, according to CnEVPost.
The low-temperature variant used sodium-ion cells and was described by CATL as the industry’s first mass-produced sodium battery for light commercial vehicles, engineered for harsh winter conditions.
The pack carried 45kWh of capacity and targeted applications such as small vans and micro trucks, CnEVPost reported.
CATL said the pack could still be plugged in and charged at -30°C, and that at -40°C it retained 90% of usable capacity.
Alongside the sodium option, CATL rolled out several lithium-based variants under the same Tectrans II umbrella.
One ultra-fast charging version was said to charge from 20% to 80% in 30 minutes at -15°C. Another high-temperature ultra-fast charging version was claimed to add 60% range in 18 minutes, with cell life reaching 5,000 cycles at 45°C.
For operators chasing maximum distance between stops, CATL also introduced a long-range version with pack capacity of up to 253kWh, with a claimed 800km range.
Battery swapping was also on the menu. CATL introduced swap-compatible packs including the #20 (42kWh), #25 (56kWh) and #35 (81kWh) blocks.
CATL previously told suppliers in late December that sodium and lithium batteries were likely to develop in parallel, and that sodium packs would see broader deployment across swapping, passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and energy storage in 2026.
