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JAC Motors, a Volkswagen-backed Chinese automaker, is set to launch the first mass-produced electric vehicle (EV) with a sodium-ion battery through its new Yiwei brand. Although sodium-ion battery tech has a lower density (and is less mature) than lithium-ion, its lower costs, more abundant supplies and superior cold-weather performance could help accelerate mass EV adoption. CarNewsChina reports that the JAC Yiwei EV hatchback deliveries will begin in January.

Yiwei is a new brand in 2023 for JAC. Volkswagen has a 75 percent stake in (and management control of) JAC and owns 50 percent of JAC’s parent company, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Holdings (JAG). The Chinese government owns the other half of JAG, making for one of the auto industry’s stranger pairings.

The Yiwei EV appears to be a rebranded version of the Sehol E10X hatchback (above), announced earlier this year. CarNewsChina describes the Sehol model as having a 252 km (157 miles) range with a 25 kWh capacity, 120 Wh / kg energy density, 3C to 4C charging, and a HiNa NaCR32140 cell. When JAC revealed the Yiwei brand in May, it said it would drop the Sehol label and rebrand all its vehicles to either JAC or Yiwei, leading us to this week’s EV reveal. JAC hasn’t yet said whether the Yiwei-branded model will keep the E10X moniker.

In April, JAC showcased a separate EV called the Yiwei 3 at the Shanghai Auto Show. That model launched in June with an LFP lithium battery, promising the sodium-ion variant would launch later.

The new Yiwei EV reportedly uses cylindrical sodium-ion cells from HiNA Battery. JAC assembles the batteries in the company’s modular UE (Unitized Encapsulation) honeycomb structure, similar to CATL’s CTP (cell-to-pack) and BYD’s Blade. The layout can provide for greater stability and performance.

The world’s biggest lithium producer, Australia has projected that lithium prices will decline by 42.7 percent in 2025 compared to 2023 due to rising supplies of battery metal, subdued Chinese demand and a lacklustre American electric vehicle (EV) market.

Rudairo Mapuranga

The world’s biggest lithium producer which mined about half of the world’s lithium in 2022 said the spot price of spodumene will fall to US$2,200 per tonne in 2025 from an average of US$3,840 per tonne in 2023.

According to a quarterly report by Australia’s Department of Industry, Science and Resources issued last month, lithium hydroxide, a refined version of the metal used in batteries, may decline to around $30,000 per tonne next year from an estimated average of $52,450 in 2023, the Department said.

Lithium carbonate, a precursor to the hydroxide, was 96,500 yuan per tonne on Thursday, down from about 170,000 yuan in September, according to Trading Economics.

“Prices are not expected to return to previous high levels such as during 2022 and early 2023 before 2025 due to the forecast surplus in supply,” the Department said. “Some higher-cost producers, such as lepidolite miners in China, have become unprofitable and cut production. However, most lithium producers will remain profitable at current prices and continue to produce.”

The lower spot lithium prices may make electric vehicles and batteries less expensive but they could also hamper investment to develop battery metal mining projects needed for the wider transition to cleaner energy. That could delay consumer acceptance, thwart attempts to limit climate change and increase costs in the long run.