41.2 billion solid-state battery project settled in France!

On August 3, ProLogium announced that the European Commission approved the French government’s funding of 1.5 billion euros to ProLogium. The funding will be used for the solid-state battery factory built by Huineng Technology in Dunkirk, northern France. It will be provided directly in the form of a grant and will cover research and development projects until the end of 2029.

At this point, Huineng Technology’s investment plan for the first solid-state battery super factory outside Asia can be said to have been truly implemented, and it has only been three months since the announcement of the investment and construction plan.

French solid-state battery factory investment reaches 41.2 billion yuan

On May 13, Huineng Technology officially announced that it will invest 5.2 billion euros (currently approximately RMB 41.16 billion) to build a new overseas solid-state battery super factory in Dunkirk, France. Moreover, on that day, French President Macron and five ministers including the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Interior attended the press conference in person and delivered speeches, which shows that the French government attaches great importance to Huineng's solid-state battery implementation plan.

Based on this situation, the French government's funding for Huineng naturally progressed quite smoothly, and in just three months, it received a subsidy accounting for nearly one-third of the investment amount.

It is reported that the super factory has a planned capacity of 48 GWh and will start construction in 2024. Mass production is expected to begin at the end of 2026. It will become Huineng Technology's second factory after Taiwan, China, and its largest factory.

Currently, Huineng Technology's G1 factory in Taoyuan, Taiwan, has an annual production capacity of 40GWh, which is mainly used in consumer electronics and wearable electronic products; the G2 factory will produce solid-state power batteries for electric vehicles , and the factory's first large-scale The demonstration production line will be put into operation at the end of 2023.

Have a strong customer base

Information shows that Hui Technology was founded in 2006 and focuses on the development of next-generation batteries. Its products include silicon anode solid-state batteries, metal lithium anode solid-state batteries, and solid-state batteries based on bipolar (BiPolar) technology, and plans to span the future digital The next-generation battery technology development blueprint.

Huineng Technology is the first company in the world to mass-produce solid-state lithium ceramic batteries. It has already been mass-produced and shipped, and can be used in mobile phone accessories, wearable devices and other fields. At the same time, solid-state batteries for new energy vehicles have also been successfully developed. Its proprietary technology covers more than 650 (applied and granted) patents worldwide, has shipped nearly 8,000 solid-state battery sample cells to international automotive OEMs for testing and module development, and has a high level of product maturity.

Therefore, Huineng Technology also has a strong customer base.

On February 25, 2021, Huineng Technology announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Vinfast, Vietnam’s first local automobile brand.

The two parties will establish a joint venture, which will have priority purchasing rights for Huineng's solid-state batteries and be authorized by Huineng's patented solid-state battery pack packaging technology MAB (Multi-Axis Bipolar+).

On July 6, 2022, VinFast announced an investment of tens of millions of dollars in Huineng Technology, and the two parties signed a memorandum of understanding and formulated a strategic cooperation arrangement. According to the strategic cooperation arrangement, Huineng plans to provide solid-state batteries to VinFast starting in 2024 to support its next-generation product line.

In the future, Huineng and Vinfast may also establish a joint venture solid-state battery factory in Vietnam.

Entering 2022, Huineng Technology’s foreign cooperation process will accelerate.

On January 27, Huineng Technology and Mercedes-Benz deepened their cooperation in the development of solid-state battery technology. Not only did the two parties sign a technical cooperation agreement to develop solid-state batteries for electric vehicles, but Mercedes-Benz will invest millions of euros in Huineng and will have a seat on the board of directors of Huineng Technology.

The first Mercedes-Benz test vehicles equipped with the jointly developed solid-state batteries will be launched in the next few years and will gradually be installed in a series of passenger cars over the next five years .

On March 8, Huineng Technology announced that it had jointly developed and launched the world's first solid-state lithium ceramic battery prototype for two-wheel battery swapping with Gogoro, the world's leading battery swap technology and electric motorcycle manufacturer, which can be used with Gogoro's batteries. Switching network and two-wheeler integration.

On June 24, it signed a memorandum of understanding with FEV, the world's leading engineering service provider, to cooperate in the development of solid-state battery systems.

On October 28, it signed a memorandum of understanding with French battery manufacturer ACC (Automotive Cells Company) to cooperate in the development of solid-state batteries for electric vehicles. Stellantis Group, Mercedes-Benz and diversified energy company Total are the three largest shareholders of ACC, each holding one-third of the shares.

On July 25 this year, Huineng signed a memorandum of understanding with Mahler, a century-old automotive supplier, to develop the first thermal management system customized for Huineng’s next-generation solid-state batteries. This collaboration will help launch commercially viable solid-state battery solutions that improve safety, energy density and longevity.

In addition , Huineng Technology has also laid out its raw material supply chain. On May 13 last year, Huineng Technology signed a cooperation agreement with POSCO Holdings. Huineng Technology received investment from Posco Holdings and established a long-term strategic partnership. The two parties will cooperate to develop and manufacture negative electrode, positive electrode and solid electrolyte materials that meet the requirements of Huineng Technology's exclusive solid-state batteries. Based on the results of material development, the two parties will work together towards a priority supply agreement.

Preparing for an IPO

In March last year, Huineng Technology disclosed its IPO plan and was considering listing overseas in the next two years (2022-2023). At the same time, another round of financing will be conducted before the IPO, and the financing amount will exceed the US$326 million in financing obtained in 2021 (investors include Primavera Capital Group, SoftBank China Venture Capital Company, etc.) to expand production capacity.

In May this year, Bloomberg reported that Huineng Technology was seeking to raise up to $300 million at a valuation of nearly $2 billion, with backers including Mercedes-Benz and VinFast, sources familiar with the matter said. It is reported that these funds will be used for the company’s capital expenditure plan in 2024.

However, financing details such as size and valuation may change as relevant discussions are still ongoing.

At present, overseas factory building plans have begun to be gradually implemented, and huge amounts of funding have been obtained. The results of a new round of financing may be unveiled soon. The IPO process of Huineng Technology will also be accelerated, but it is basically determined that it will be listed later than 2022-2023. .

Summarize

In the past three months, there has been a lot of news about solid-state battery products and investments. Among them, Qingtao Energy received an additional investment of 2.7 billion yuan from SAIC on May 26, and Weilan New Energy delivered 360Wh/kg lithium battery cells to NIO on June 30. In early July, Toyota announced that it could reduce the weight of solid-state batteries. , volume and cost have been halved. These three major news have added fire to the solid-state battery track.

Although the industry is booming and semi-solid-state batteries have been/will be put on the market, they are still in the development stage. According to the plans of major layout countries such as China, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union, 2030 is an important node for the commercialization of solid-state batteries. Before that, there is a critical seven-year period of competition to determine who can take the lead in large-scale mass production of vehicle-grade vehicles. An all-solid-state battery is quite exciting.