BYD

BYD Co., Ltd. — founded in 1995 in Shenzhen, Guangdong by Wang Chuanfu — is the world's second-largest battery manufacturer and the largest electric vehicle producer by units sold. Its sodium-ion program, while less publicly headlined than CATL's, is arguably more ambitious in raw manufacturing terms: the company broke ground on a 30 GWh sodium-ion gigafactory in Xining, Qinghai in early 2024, and the facility commenced operations in July 2025, operated as a joint venture with Huaihai Holding Group. A separate 30 GWh sodium facility in Xuzhou began construction in January 2024 as well. BYD's sodium-ion chemistry centers on NFPP — sodium iron fluorophosphate — a polyanion-based cathode that differs fundamentally from CATL's layered oxide approach. NFPP offers outstanding cycle stability and inherent thermal safety at some cost to energy density. BYD's current commercial sodium cells are rated at approximately 160 Wh/kg in blade-format architecture adapted from its lithium iron phosphate line. The headline figure from February 2026 is a cycle-life breakthrough: BYD announced its third-generation sodium-ion platform has crossed 10,000 cycles to 80 percent capacity retention while maintaining cold-weather performance down to -40 degrees Celsius — more than three times the cycle life of standard LFP EV batteries. For grid storage, BYD's MC Cube-SIB product targets 2-to-8-hour utility-scale applications at 1,200V nominal voltage. The Seagull (Dolphin Surf in Europe) entry-level EV platform is a likely candidate for sodium-ion integration as the technology matures. BYD's vertical integration — it manufactures its own cathode, anode, electrolyte, separator, and cells — positions it to absorb sodium-ion at scale without dependence on third-party component supply chains that constrain smaller producers.