February 8, 2026
Ice, Ice Battery
The First Sodium-Ion Battery EV Is a Winter Range Monster
Fans hail a salt-powered winter beast, skeptics say ‘prove it’
TLDR: CATL and Changan’s sodium‑ion EV claims strong cold‑weather range with about 249 miles on paper. Commenters are split: some say this could replace today’s budget batteries, while others want independent tests and wonder how it handles scorching summer heat — potentially a big shift if the claims hold.
China’s CATL and Changan say the Nevo A06 will be the first sodium‑ion EV, with ~249 miles on the local test and a claimed 90% range at –40°F — basically a snowstorm superhero. The crowd went wild, then split. One camp cheered the “salt battery” as the budget EV’s new king, pointing to sodium’s lower cost and better cold behavior. Another camp pumped the brakes: “show me third‑party tests”, because paper specs melt fast in real driveways.
Top hot take: pkulak declared there’s no reason to stick with LFP (that’s lithium iron phosphate, the current go‑to cheap battery) if sodium matches its range and crushes winter. Skeptics like Flavius called the claims “almost too good,” while instagib asked the question everyone in Phoenix is thinking: what about desert heat? Cue memes of Salt Bae sprinkling electrons over a snowbound sedan and “winter range monster vs. summer mirage” jokes.
Nerds like letharion cut through the hype, quoting the two numbers that matter — ~249 miles and 175 Wh/kg energy density — and said thanks for keeping it simple. Meanwhile, lightedman envisioned satellites and high‑altitude tech loving sodium’s low‑temp swagger. CATL’s press release teased a “dual‑chemistry era”, but the comment section already crowned the winner…then immediately demanded receipts.
Key Points
- •CATL and Changan will launch the first mass-produced sodium-ion battery passenger EV, the Nevo A06, by mid-2026.
- •The Naxtra sodium-ion battery offers ~175 Wh/kg energy density, roughly on par with LFP and below nickel-rich chemistries.
- •Estimated range is ~400 km (249 miles) on the CLTC, aided by a cell-to-pack design.
- •Cold performance claims include >90% range retention at −40°C, triple the discharge power of LFP at −30°C, and stable power down to −50°C.
- •CATL projects future EV ranges up to 600 km and EREVs/hybrids up to 400 km as the sodium-ion supply chain matures; rollout to multiple Changan brands is planned.