Battery maker Hina Battery unveiled three sodium-ion battery cell products and announced a partnership with Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp (JAC), which has made one of its models the first to carry sodium-ion batteries.

Hina Battery and Sehol -- a joint venture brand between JAC and Volkswagen Anhui -- have jointly built a test vehicle with sodium-ion batteries based on the latter's Sehol E10X model.

The test vehicle has a battery pack with a capacity of 25 kWh and an energy density of 120 Wh/kg. The model has a range of 252 km and supports fast charging of 3C to 4C. The battery pack uses cells with an energy density of 140 Wh/kg.

For comparison, the regular version of the Sehol E10X has two pack capacities, 19.7 kWh and 31.4 kWh, with a range of 200 km and 302 km, respectively. The higher capacity pack has an energy density of 141 Wh/kg.

The Sehol E10X is currently available in seven versions with a guide price range of RMB 46,900 to RMB 76,400.

"We judge that the application of sodium-ion batteries in the new energy vehicle market will start with the A00-class EVs, which is why we chose a model like the Sehol E10X for our installation trials," a post on Sehol's official WeChat account quoted an executive from the company as saying.

The sodium-ion battery technology and performance could be used in mid- to large-sized EVs as it matures further, the executive said.

The partnership with Hina Battery is a significant exploration, and Sehol will continue to monitor the application of sodium-ion batteries in the future and launch related products at the right time, the executive said.