BYD

If CATL is betting on scale, BYD is betting on manufacturing speed — it broke ground on a 30 GWh sodium-ion gigafactory in Xining in early 2024 and had it running by July 2025, with a second 30 GWh facility following in Xuzhou. The chemistry behind it, an NFPP cathode, trades a little energy density for real thermal safety and cycle stability: the third-generation platform announced February 2026 surpasses 10,000 cycles to 80% retention at -40°C, more than triple what standard LFP manages, while cells in blade format still hit roughly 160 Wh/kg. The MC Cube-SIB extends that into utility storage, targeting 2-8 hour discharge windows at 1,200V.