Details will be announced later
The new JAC Yiwei rolled off the assembly line in China, becoming the world's first mass-produced electric vehicle equipped with a sodium-ion battery. Deliveries will begin in January 2024, as announced by JAC.
The Yiwei hatchback is equipped with a sodium-ion battery from Beijing HiNa Battery with JAC UE (Unitized Encapsulation) modular technology. Yiwei — a new electric vehicle brand of Anhui Jianghuai Automobile (JAC), founded in 2023. JAC's parent company, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Holdings (JAG), is 50% state-owned, with the remaining 50% owned by the Volkswagen Group. The German auto giant acquired its stake in 2020, taking a major step in investing in China's state-owned automaker. In July 2023, Volkswagen invested $700 million in another Chinese electric vehicle maker, Xpeng, and in exchange received almost 5% shares and access to the E/E Edward platform.
In February 2023, JAC announced that it had become the first automaker to install a lithium-free sodium-ion battery in an electric vehicle. This electric car was a Sehol E10X hatchback that could be charged from 10 to 80% in 20 minutes and had a range of 250 km.
Photos released today by JAC tell us that the new sodium ion electric car — This is a copy of Sehol E10X. JAC has not yet confirmed the official name of the new car under the Yiwei brand.
During the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2023, the company demonstrated its first car under the Yiwei brand, called Yiwei 3, equipped with a sodium-ion battery. However, the electric car was released in June, but with a classic LFP lithium battery. It was then promised that the Na+ variant would appear later.