Science and Technology Innovation丨Changan Automobile bets on solid-state batteries, and the route of emerging companies is optimistic
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Chongqing Tailan New Energy Co., Ltd. recently successfully completed a strategic round B financing of several hundred million yuan. This round of financing was jointly invested by Anhe Fund under Changan Automobile and multiple funds under China North Industries Group Corporation.
The successful completion of this round of financing will accelerate the production process of Tailan's new energy production line, bring support from automobile manufacturers to the company, and lay a customer foundation for the industrial application of Tailan's semi-solid and all-solid-state products.
Prior to this, Tailan New Energy had successfully completed five rounds of financing, with investors including Legend Capital, Liangjiang Capital, CICC Capital, China Merchants Venture Capital, Guoding Capital and Zhengqi Holdings and many other well-known investment institutions.
Since its establishment in 2018, Tailan New Energy has been focusing on the research and development and industrialization of new solid-state lithium batteries and key lithium battery material technologies.
The company's core R&D team has been committed to the research and development of key solid-state battery technologies since 2011.
In terms of capacity layout, Tailan New Energy has established a production base in Chongqing. The current 0.2GWh production line is close to full capacity operation, and the capacity under construction is 12GWh. It can add 2GWh of capacity at the fastest speed within the year.
Tailan New Energy
has launched three generations of solid-state battery products: the first generation of semi-solid-state battery products has a liquid electrolyte content of 5%-10%;
The content of liquid electrolyte in the second-generation quasi-solid-state battery products has dropped to less than 5%;
The third-generation all-solid-state batteries will contain no liquid electrolytes at all. Currently, Tailan Research Institute is working hard to promote the development of its commercialization path.
Tailan New Energy has successfully developed a 4C ultra-fast charging semi-solid-state battery, and was the first in the world to release an automotive-grade ultra-high energy density of 720Wh/kg and a single cell capacity of 120Ah.
It is expected that in the fourth quarter of 2024, Tailan New Energy's Phase II project of Chongqing production and manufacturing base with a total investment of 1 billion yuan will be officially put into operation.
Changan Automobile is optimistic about its product line and bets on solid-state batteries
The lead investor in this round is Changan Automobile, a leading enterprise in Chongqing's automobile industry. At the same time, several funds under the China North Industries Group Corporation also participated in this round of financing.
Given that China North Industries Group Corporation is the parent company of Changan Automobile, this news can undoubtedly be seen as Changan Automobile's clear support and bet on Tailan New Energy.
For Tailan New Energy, Changan Automobile, as the first automobile company to express recognition and invest actual financial support, is of great significance to the mass production of its future key products.
Similarly, for Changan Automobile, Tailan New Energy is also its first investment in the field of solid-state batteries. The strategic intention behind this move is very obvious.
Changan Automobile's investment in Tailan New Energy follows the cooperation between SAIC and Qingtao, and NIO and Weilan, further accelerating the industrialization and application of solid-state battery technology in the domestic automobile industry.
Tailan New Energy has chosen the oxide route which currently has the greatest potential for mass production. This route has excellent thermal stability, a wide voltage window and stable chemical properties.
However, its internal impedance is large and the interface isolation phenomenon leads to poor performance.
In response to the problem of high oxide impedance, Tailan New Energy claims that it has independently developed lithium-oxygen-polymer composite materials, which effectively solves the problem.
Judging from the fact that Tailan New Energy’s multiple patent applications focus on “improving the air stability of the electrolyte”, the main electrolyte used is most likely LLZO, that is, lithium lanthanum zirconium oxide.
This is a new type of electrolyte material with high ionic conductivity and high electrochemical stability. It is not easy to react with the positive electrode material and the lithium metal negative electrode, thus improving the problem of lithium dendrite precipitation.
Tailan New Energy's independently developed high-performance oxide electrolytes and corresponding interface softening technology constitute its core competitiveness, and it has proposed targeted solutions to the core pain points of the solid-state battery route with the greatest mass production potential.
In addition, another key factor that Changan Automobile is optimistic about is Tailan New Energy's production and manufacturing technology.
Currently, Tailan has the capacity to mass-produce oxide semi-solid batteries, the "liquid content" of which is roughly between 5% and 10%.
More than 80% of the processes in the entire production line are derived from the mature technology of liquid lithium battery production lines. The cost of semi-solid products is already comparable to that of liquid batteries, and there is potential for further reduction.
As for solid-state batteries that contain no liquid electrolyte at all, they are expected to be mass-produced in 2026.
Changan Automobile will also focus on the development of new electrolyte materials and key processes for semi-solid and solid-state batteries, and develop advanced solid-state batteries based on vehicle application needs.
It is planned to gradually promote mass production and application from 2025. The weight energy density is expected to reach 350-500Wh/kg, and the volume energy density is expected to reach 750-1000Wh/L, and it is expected to be fully popularized in 2030.
Changan Automobile plans to launch eight self-developed battery cells covering liquid, semi-solid and solid states by 2030, forming a battery production capacity of 50-80GWh.
Many automakers have established partnerships with battery manufacturers
At present, Qingtao Energy, a domestic solid-state battery company, has reached a deep strategic cooperation with SAIC Group. Last year, they jointly invested to establish SAIC Qingtao , focusing on the technology iteration path of "semi-solid-quasi-solid-full solid-state". The semi-solid-state battery of Zhiji L6 was developed and produced by this company.
In May this year, SAIC Group and Qingtao Energy signed an agreement on capital increase and share expansion. SAIC Group will make additional investments and become the largest institutional investor of Qingtao Energy.
In addition to independent research and development, Chery Automobile has also carried out cooperative projects related to semi-solid-state batteries with Guoxuan High-tech.
Anwa New Energy, a company jointly held by both parties, is smoothly advancing its semi-solid-state battery project and producing semi-solid-state battery products with an energy density of 300-340Wh/kg.
Volkswagen has teamed up with QuantumScape and has invested in it twice, becoming the company's largest shareholder.
In March this year, Volkswagen's PowerCo completed endurance tests using QuantumScape's solid-state batteries, proving that the solid-state batteries it produced can achieve an ultra-long life of 500,000 kilometers.
In September this year, Mercedes-Benz and Factorial announced that they would jointly develop solid-state batteries, and the product will be named Solstice.
If the battery can be successfully mass-produced, the range of electric vehicles will be 80% higher than the current level, and the energy density of single cells will be increased to 450Wh/kg.
Hyundai Motor and Samsung have teamed up to develop solid-state batteries. Samsung SDI and LG Energy Solution in South Korea are both suppliers of Hyundai electric vehicles.
Ending:
The industry's expectation for the industrialization of all-solid-state batteries is set at 2035.
Before that, semi-solid and liquid batteries will coexist in the market; after that, all-solid-state batteries will join the competition.
The three forms of lithium battery products will show different growth trends in different time periods.
In order to achieve mass production of all-solid-state batteries, it is necessary to overcome multiple challenges such as ionic conductivity, processability, safety, positive and negative electrode matching, stability and cost in order to compete head-on with liquid and semi-solid batteries.
Therefore, the focus at this stage is, on the one hand, to promote the application of semi-solid-state batteries in the automotive field, and on the other hand, to accumulate strength for the research and development of all-solid-state batteries.
Some reference materials: Smart Car Reference: "Changan bets hundreds of millions on solid-state batteries: energy density exceeds 4680 batteries by 3 times", 36Kr Pro: "Changan Automobile acquires stake in solid-state battery company Tailan New Energy, completing a round B financing of hundreds of millions of yuan", NE Times New Energy: "Tailan New Energy: Creating another possibility for semi-solid state", China Electronics News: "All-solid-state batteries: still halfway to commercialization", Financial Breakfast: "Solid-state batteries, calm after the carnival?", Qidian Solid-state Battery: "Three major automakers announce solid-state battery plans"
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