Hithium launches 4 MWh sodium-ion BESS with new 785Ah cell

From ESS News

Chinese battery maker Hithium held a product launch for its next sodium-ion energy storage solution, announcing the ∞Power N4.0MWh, a 4 MWh sodium-ion energy storage system equipped with the new high-capacity ∞Cell N785Ah sodium-ion battery, representing a huge step up in capacity that’s been achieved in less than two years.

In the launch, Hithium also announced that while its timeline is starting with utility-scale storage, it will expand from utility-scale storage into commercial and industrial and residential products, bringing more battery chemistry options to businesses and households.

Hithium said it plans to begin full-scale production and delivery in 2027 using its existing lithium-ion manufacturing lines, and will offer a 30-year designed service life. Its aim is to rapidly move sodium-ion technology from validation and pilot implementation toward large-scale deployment.

The ∞Cell N785Ah cell features a 20,000-cycle service life, supports 2- to 8- hour storage durations, and is “fully compatible” with Hithium’s 1,000 Ah lithium-ion manufacturing platform, including cell and system integration production lines, supporting the production scale-up.

“Energy storage technologies must overcome two barriers to achieve large-scale deployment: affordability and availability,” said Nazar Yi, chief technology officer for Hithium.

Hithium had previously launched the ∞Cell N162 Ah in December 2024, which it called the first sodium-ion battery specifically designed for utility-scale energy storage, and less than two years later, has stepped its cell structure to larger-format 785 Ah cells.

New 4 MWh sodium-based ESS

The ∞Power N4.0MWh’s sodium-ion architecture features a stacked-cell design which has reduced the station footprint by 30%, a dedicated BMS with SOC estimation accuracy of ≤2.5%, and compatibility with 800–1500V PCS. Compared with Hithium’s first generation sodium-ion ESS, the PCS rated-power utilization is more than 20% higher.

Hithium said a new thermal management approach was via a hybrid air-liquid cooling pairing, with what it described as a “24-hour comprehensive efficiency of over 88%”. Thermal management is further boosted with weather data being used to decide on the style of cooling, which can reduce auxiliary power consumption by 30% and standby auxiliary power consumption by 50%.

“30 years means 10,950 days of validation, a long-term commitment to our customers,” said Aileen Wang, director of Battery Research Institute.

Hithium also said it is targeting a quoted levelized cost of storage of a RMB 0.1 per kWh, or USD ~1.5 cents per kWh.

Livestream

The official launch event takes place at 4PM in China, or 10 AM CEST / 4 AM ET with a stream on YouTube. Pricing and exact availability were not detailed by the company.