BYD, the famous Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, is always focussing on bringing innovations to the market. Currently, one of the brand’s biggest endeavours is to develop the first 2.3 MWh sodium ion battery pack to be used for grid-level energy storage. Here are the details

BYD announces sustainability-focused move

It is worth noting that BYD is currently the second largest battery manufacturer on the planet. This underlines how impressive the new technology under development could be. According to the manufacturer, the sodium ion battery is capable of meeting all the requirements of a grid-level battery energy storage system (BESS).

The new technology is called MC Cube-SIB ESS and is touted as ‘the world’s first high-performance sodium-ion battery’ focused on grid-level energy storage.

As explained by BYD’s Kai Wang, the battery is also built on BYD’s own Blade packaging architecture. With a capacity of 2.3 MWh, the 1200 V MC Cube can withstand a voltage range of 800 V-1400 V.

Since the raw material is very abundant, sodium-ion batteries are known to be much cheaper than other atai batteries. Let’s add that they also provide a longer service life and a higher discharge rate even when they are not hot.

Finally, these batteries are even considered safer than lithium-ion models, which can produce an uncontrollable thermal runaway in certain situations such as punctures, exposure to high temperatures, and even factory defects.

So what do you think about this move by BYD?