JAC Motors, the Chinese automaker that is part of the Volkswagen group, is set to launch the first production electric vehicle (EV) with a lithium-free sodium-ion battery under its new Yiwei brand. Although sodium-ion battery technology is less dense than lithium-ion, it has lower cost, better manufacturability and cold weather performance. Sales of the JAC Yiwei EV hatchback will begin in January.

Yiwei is a new brand for JAC established in 2023. Volkswagen has a 75% stake in (and management control of) JAC and owns 50% of JAC’s parent company, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Holdings (JAG). The Chinese government owns the other half, creating one of the most surprising pairings in the automotive industry, Engadget reports.

The Yiwei EV appears to be a rebranded version of the Sehol E10X hatchback (pictured above) that was announced earlier this year. Sehol claims a range of 252 km, a capacity of 25 kW * h, a HiNa NaCR32140 cell with an energy density of 120 W * h / kg.

In April at the Shanghai Auto Show, JAC unveiled a stand-alone electric car called the Yiwei 3. That model hit the market in June with an LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery, with the promise that a sodium-ion variant would follow.

The new Yiwei EV will use cylindrical sodium-ion cells from HiNA Battery. JAC assembles the batteries into a UE (Unitized Encapsulation) modular cell structure similar to CATL’s CTP (cell-to-pack) and BYD’s Blade. Such a structure provides greater stability and performance.