CATL Launches Multi-Core Era in Renewable Energy with First Super Technology Day

On April 21, 2025, CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited) held its inaugural Super Technology Day, unveiling three groundbreaking power battery products: the Sodium New Passenger Vehicle Power Battery, the Xiaoyao Dual-Core Battery, and the second-generation Shenxing Super Charging Battery, along with a new energy storage product—the Sodium New 24V Heavy Truck Integrated Battery. This event marks the beginning of a multi-core era in the new energy industry, characterized by disruptive innovations that push technical boundaries.

The Sodium New Battery is the world’s first large-scale production sodium-ion battery, breaking down resource barriers and solidifying the foundation of new energy. The Xiaoyao Dual-Core Battery introduces a novel design that crosses chemical systems, overcoming the limitations of single-path technologies to meet users’ customization needs. The second-generation Shenxing Super Charging Battery boasts a peak charging rate of 12C, setting a new global record for rapid charging.

The Sodium New Battery significantly improves performance, establishing a solid foundation for new energy. It is the first sodium-ion battery to be mass-produced, utilizing sodium’s inherent safety and abundant supply to reduce dependence on lithium resources. This transition paves the way for energy utilization to evolve from reliance on a single resource to achieving energy freedom. The Sodium New Battery consists of two products: the Sodium New Passenger Vehicle Power Battery and the Sodium New 24V Heavy Truck Integrated Battery, both capable of operating in extreme temperatures from -40°C to 70°C. The Sodium New Passenger Vehicle Battery maintains 90% usable capacity even at -40°C, ensuring that vehicle performance remains largely unaffected in severe cold conditions.

With an energy density of 175Wh/kg, the Sodium New Passenger Vehicle Battery ranks as the highest among sodium batteries globally, performing comparably to lithium iron phosphate batteries. It supports peak charging rates of 5C and offers a range of 500 kilometers, achieving over 10,000 cycles while significantly lowering maintenance costs. In terms of safety, the Sodium New Battery eliminates factors that can trigger thermal runaway, representing a leap from “passive defense” to “intrinsic safety.”

The Sodium New 24V Heavy Truck Integrated Battery has a lifespan exceeding eight years and reduces the total lifecycle cost by 61% compared to traditional lead-acid batteries. It features deep discharge capabilities, one-button starting in -40°C conditions, and reliability after being idle for a year, making it a more efficient, environmentally friendly, and economical choice than lead-acid batteries. This innovation is set to usher in a new era for commercial vehicles, promoting a “lead-free, battery-synchronized” future.

CATL’s major breakthroughs in sodium-ion battery performance address the challenges of operating in extreme cold, marking a critical advancement for battery applications in various environments. Consequently, the Xiaoyao Dual-Core Battery was developed. The Xiaoyao Dual-Core Battery incorporates CATL’s dual-core architecture and self-generating negative electrode technology, featuring two independent energy zones with five key functions: high-pressure dual-core, low-pressure dual-core, structural dual-core, thermal management dual-core, and thermal runaway safety protection dual-core. This design ensures continuity, stability, and safety in power output.

The “self-generating negative electrode technology” represents a transformative advancement that enhances the volumetric energy density of batteries by 60% and the gravimetric energy density by 50%. This allows for more energy to be packed into the same battery space, supporting longer driving ranges. This technology can be adapted to various material systems, reaching energy densities of over 1000Wh/L when combined with ternary systems.

The Xiaoyao Dual-Core Battery also introduces the “Electric Electric Range Extender” technology, intelligently managing the distribution strategy of the two energy zones based on driving conditions and user habits. The main energy zone can adapt to different chemical systems to meet everyday driving needs, while the range-extending energy zone can utilize high-energy-density self-generating negative electrode technology to provide additional capacity for long-distance travel.

Three dual-core solutions across chemical systems were showcased:

• Sodium-Iron Dual-Core Battery: Combines the Sodium New Battery with lithium iron phosphate self-generating negative electrode batteries, leveraging the low-temperature performance of the Sodium New Battery for an exceptional experience.
• Iron-Iron Dual-Core Battery: Merges the second-generation Shenxing Super Charging Battery with lithium iron phosphate self-generating negative electrode batteries, achieving over 1000 kilometers of pure electric range on models with a wheelbase of nearly three meters, with commuting costs as low as 0.1 yuan per kilometer.
• Ternary Iron/Dual Ternary Dual-Core Battery: Combines ternary batteries with lithium iron phosphate self-generating negative electrode batteries, allowing for peak charging rates of up to 12C and delivering over 1 megawatt of power, even when the charge drops to 20%, providing over 600KW of output. The upgraded version, the Xiaoyao “Dual Ternary” Dual-Core Battery, enables electric range exceeding 1500 kilometers on vehicles with a three-meter wheelbase.

CATL’s Xiaoyao Dual-Core Battery is centered around user needs, allowing different chemical systems to complement each other effectively. This innovation overcomes the limitations of single chemical systems, making customized battery performance feasible across various cost ranges and application scenarios. The transition from dual-core to multi-core architecture is not limited to the new energy passenger vehicle sector; it will also be implemented across electric buses, heavy trucks, aircraft, ships, and industrial applications, accelerating the industrialization of new energy across all scenarios. Furthermore, it will expedite the application of cutting-edge technologies such as solid-state batteries.

The second-generation Shenxing Super Charging Battery sets a new global benchmark for super charging performance. Launched in 2023, it initiated a super charging era for all. The second-generation Shenxing Super Charging Battery is the world’s first lithium iron phosphate battery to offer both 800 kilometers of range and a peak super charging speed of 12C, achieving a peak charging power of 1.3 megawatts, allowing for 2.5 kilometers of range to be added in just one second.

In low-temperature conditions of -10°C, this battery can charge from 5% to 80% in just 15 minutes, improving current industry standards by 100%. Additionally, the second-generation Shenxing Super Charging Battery provides robust power across all temperature ranges and states of charge: even in a depleted state, it can still deliver 830kW of output; in harsh -10°C conditions, it meets acceleration demands for 100 kilometers easily.

The essence of multi-core batteries signifies a shift from “parameter-driven” to “demand-driven” stages in power battery development. By continually exploring and breaking through technological boundaries, CATL has ushered in a multi-core era in the new energy industry—truly centered around the user, marking “Your Era.”