Car-grade solid-state batteries are coming!

Domestic and international markets are working together on solid-state battery technology, and the era of automotive-grade solid-state batteries is approaching faster than market expectations.

The international market is seeking solid-state batteries

Market data from Flush shows that on January 4, QS in the U.S. stock market jumped up at the opening, with the largest intraday increase reaching 53.42%, and the increase at the close still reached 43.08%.

Image source: Flush

The surge in QS has also led to a surge in solid-state battery concept stocks in the A-share market. For example, Jinlongyu (002882) hit the daily limit for two consecutive days on January 5 and January 8.

Image source: Flush

There are reasons behind QS's rise. According to media reports, Volkswagen recently announced that QS’s negative electrode-free/solid-state battery sample has passed a key durability test: the results show that it can achieve an ultra-long life of 500,000 kilometers with almost no battery life degradation .

PowerCo said the QS solid-state battery "achieved more than 1,000 charge cycles and maintained a capacity of over 95%." This is undoubtedly far beyond the industry standard (700 cycles and 20% maximum capacity loss). In addition, QS solid-state batteries meet or exceed test standards for fast charging, safety and self-discharge.

Frank Blome, CEO of PowerCo, said: "These test results are exciting and provide strong evidence of the potential of solid-state batteries. Ultimately, this technology may lead to batteries with long range , ultra-fast charging, and virtually no degradation. We are excited about the potential of solid-state batteries." We are confident about solid-state batteries and will work with our partner QS to promote mass production."

According to the data, QS was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in San Diego, California. It is a solid-state battery research and development company dedicated to creating scalable, high-energy-density solid-state batteries.

QS's solid-state battery technology is based on solid-state electrolytes and has higher energy density, longer life, faster charging speed and higher safety than traditional lithium-ion batteries . The company's solid-state battery technology has been tested and applied in electric vehicles , energy storage systems and other fields.

It is worth mentioning that as early as December 2022, QS delivered the first batch of 24-layer solid-state battery samples to partners including Volkswagen.

In addition to the recent eye-catching QS, there is also a lot of news about the progress of automotive-grade solid-state batteries released in overseas markets:

In November 2023, US solid-state battery technology developer Solid Power, Inc. announced in its third quarter financial report that the company had produced the first batch of solid-state battery A-1 samples and delivered them to BMW.

On October 23, 2023, Toyota Motor announced new progress in the all-solid-state battery project, saying that mass production of the next generation of solid-state automotive batteries is in sight. Toyota engineers said: "In terms of battery layer stacking speed, we can say that we are very close to the pace of mass production. In the future, Toyota will further increase production speed while ensuring quality."

When talking about solid-state batteries, Paul Vecchione, UK product manager of Toyota's Lexus, once said that Lexus may be the first to introduce solid-state batteries. He also hinted that the early application of solid-state batteries may appear in hybrid models.

On October 12, 2023, Toyota and Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Petroleum Company announced that they will cooperate in the mass production of all-solid-state batteries for pure electric vehicles , and work together on the research and development of solid-state electrolyte mass production technology and productivity improvement, striving for 2027 to 2028 This year brought all-solid-state batteries into the practical stage.

On May 13, 2023, 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. The super factory has a planned capacity of 48GWh and will start construction in 2024. Mass production is expected to begin at the end of 2026. The gigafactory will produce solid-state power batteries for electric vehicles ...

The domestic market is advancing steadily

The domestic market shows a good trend of developing together semi-solid-state batteries and solid-state batteries.

Let’s first look at the progress of all-solid-state batteries:

On December 25, 2023, Changan Automobile and Ganfeng Lithium Industry announced that the two parties will jointly develop solid-state batteries and expect to gradually mass-produce solid-state batteries starting in 2025.

On December 12, 2023, GAC Aian stated that in 2026, all-solid-state batteries will be mass-produced at the Inpai production line and will be the first to be installed on Haopin brand models.

On November 2, 2023, the launch conference of Shandong Jinqihang's 20GWh solid-state battery Leling production base project was held in Leling. The project has a total investment of 11.6 billion and will be constructed in two phases. It mainly produces key materials for solid electrolytes , battery cells, solid-state batteries, inverters and other products.

In late October 2023, Qingtao Energy signed an investment agreement with the Wuhai Municipal People's Government and Haibowan District People's Government of Inner Mongolia: Qingtao Energy will invest in the construction of a solid-state battery zero-carbon industrial park in Wuhai City, with a total project investment of 7 billion yuan. , will be constructed in three phases. Upon completion, it will have a zero-carbon production capacity of 50,000 tons of solid-state battery-specific cathode materials, as well as a low-carbon production capacity of 10GWh of solid-state battery cells and PACKs.

This is the second solid-state battery industry base launched by Qingtao Energy in 2023. In February this year, a power solid-state battery energy storage industry base was just signed in Pidu District, Chengdu. The Chengdu base has a total investment of 10 billion yuan and a planned production capacity of 15GWh. It is planned to be constructed in two phases. The first phase is located in Jingrong Town, Pidu District. The first production line has a designed production capacity of 1GWh and is about to enter the production stage.

On September 14, Ruixiao Technology’s sulfide all-solid electrolyte production base project was signed and settled in Longyou Economic Development Zone, Quzhou City. According to reports, the project has a total investment of 1.3 billion yuan to carry out large-scale production of sulfide-based all-solid electrolyte materials, and at the same time form standards in terms of production equipment and process flows. According to the project plan, it is expected to complete and reach the 100-ton all-solid electrolyte production capacity in 2025, and achieve the goal of annual production of 6,000 tons of all-solid electrolyte in 2028.

On September 7, Zhongke Solid Energy held a signing ceremony for the sulfide all-solid electrolyte production base project in Changzhou, Jiangsu. The first phase of the project has a total investment of 1 billion yuan to carry out mass production of all-solid sulfide electrolyte materials. It is expected to reach full production capacity in 2025-2026. In the same year, small trials of sulfide solid electrolyte membranes, raw materials, and all-solid battery cells will be launched. The total investment in the second phase is 5 billion yuan, and it is planned to build an all-solid-state battery industrial park before 2030. The supporting upstream and downstream industrial chains will form a market worth hundreds of billions...

Looking at semi-solid-state batteries, there are currently many domestic companies in mass production:

On June 30, 2023, the signing ceremony for the delivery of Weilan New Energy’s 360Wh/kg lithium battery cells and the unveiling ceremony of Weilan’s Yangtze River Delta R&D Center were held in Huzhou City. Yu Huigen, chairman of Weilan New Energy, said in his speech that the official delivery of 360Wh/kg lithium battery

In August 2023, Qingtao Energy completed the vehicle installation experiment of the first-generation semi-solid battery jointly developed with SAIC. The maximum cruising range of the test vehicle reached 1,083 kilometers. It will be mass-produced on the SAIC Zhiji Automobile Platform in 2024.

In November 2023, Funeng Technology announced that the Yuanhang Y6 equipped with its semi-solid battery was officially offline. The latter is a luxury new energy model under the Universiade Group. Funeng Technology also stated that semi-solid-state batteries have been implemented in many brand models.

In December 2023, Honeycomb Energy launched a square semi-solid battery, a new second-generation jelly battery, at the 4th Battery Day. The battery has now reached mass production status. Yang Hongxin, chairman of Honeycomb Energy, revealed that a tens of billions-level cooperation is being negotiated for new second-generation jelly battery products.

In addition, leading battery companies such as China Innovation Aviation, Guoxuan Hi-Tech , and Yiwei Lithium Energy have also entered the semi-solid battery track!

Summarize

In fact, solid-state batteries have been on the market for a long time, but they are not used for automotive power.

If car-grade solid-state batteries used in the automotive power market are mass-produced, it will undoubtedly usher in a new era.

The overseas market seems to be quite optimistic, and efforts are being made to directly develop automotive-grade all-solid-state batteries; the domestic market is more stable and practical. Currently, semi-solid-state batteries have been mass-produced and applied, and the next step is the launch of all-solid-state batteries.