The era of solid-state batteries is accelerating

Compared with lithium batteries and autonomous driving technology, the next technology that may have a disruptive impact on the electric vehicle industry is solid-state battery technology. The most forward-looking technology in this battery field is currently experiencing some breakthroughs. Chinese automakers are expected to once again stand at the forefront of global battery technology and lead the new direction of the development of the global electric vehicle industry.

On May 24, SAIC Group stated at the "SAIC Group's New Energy Technology Launch Conference towards the New Decade" that SAIC's all-solid-state batteries will be installed on a large scale in SAIC's own brands in 2025 and will be put into mass production in 2026.

SAIC's all-solid-state battery will be launched in 2026

As one of SAIC Group's new generation of technology bases, it has broken down its solid-state battery strategy into three steps to be implemented step by step.

In the first stage, the liquid content of the battery product is 10%. The liquid content of traditional liquid lithium batteries is about 20%, so the solid-state battery in the first stage is strictly speaking a semi-solid-state battery. The light-year battery currently installed on the Zhiji L6 ( parameters | inquiry ) is a semi-solid-state battery. Although it is only a semi-solid-state battery, its battery energy density exceeds 300Wh/kg, and its cruising range has exceeded 1,000 kilometers.

In the second phase, the liquid content of the battery product is 5%. It is expected that this battery product will be installed on a large scale next year, mainly deployed in Zhiji and other pure electric and hybrid models under SAIC.

In the third stage, the liquid content of the product is reduced to 0, that is, an all-solid-state battery. This all-solid-state battery product will be mass-produced in 2026, and the first all-solid-state battery mass production line of SAIC will start construction in the third quarter of this year, and is expected to be completed and put into production in the second half of 2025.

The planned capacity of the first phase of the plant is 0.5GWh, and the energy density of the first-phase products produced can reach more than 400Wh/kg, more than double that of ordinary power batteries. The energy density of the batteries in the second phase will exceed 500Wh/kg.

All-solid-state batteries are the future of the lithium battery industry

Compared with current lithium-ion batteries, all-solid-state batteries have very obvious advantages in energy density and safety.

The energy density of traditional liquid lithium batteries is about 300 watt-hours per kilogram. To break through further, it may be necessary to change the physical and chemical structure of lithium batteries, which is difficult to do. The energy density of all-solid-state batteries is expected to reach 500 watt-hours per kilogram, which can better overcome the problem of electric vehicle range anxiety.

The range of Zhiji L6, which uses semi-solid-state batteries, has exceeded 1,000 kilometers. The range of future models using all-solid-state batteries will be even more worth looking forward to.

The reason why solid-state batteries can significantly increase energy density is mainly because the chemical properties of solid-state batteries are more stable, which greatly expands the operating temperature range of the battery. In this way, solid-state batteries can use higher-capacity positive and negative electrode materials, allowing them to store more electricity in a smaller battery.

Compared with the insufficient range caused by insufficient energy density, people's current concerns about electric vehicles are more about safety. Currently, lithium batteries using liquid electrolytes have the risk of fire, whether they are punctured internally or squeezed externally. Solid-state batteries use solid electrolytes, which eliminates the risk of battery spontaneous combustion from the root.

However, solid-state batteries also face their own problems, which is that the cost is much higher than that of traditional liquid lithium-ion batteries. This cost mainly comes from two aspects. On the one hand, the new production line and related equipment needed to manufacture solid-state batteries need to be put into production. This cost can be gradually diluted by expanding production in the later stage.

On the other hand, the manufacturing efficiency and yield of solid-state batteries themselves will also cause their costs to rise significantly. Previously, NIO first deployed 150kWh semi-solid-state batteries in its models, and the cost was estimated to be as high as 250,000 yuan. Now, buying a BBA commuter car on the market may cost less than 250,000 yuan. Not to mention that the cost of all-solid-state batteries is even higher.

For this battery, NIO also adopts a business model of only renting and not selling. Therefore, for SAIC, while gradually reducing the liquid content and increasing the energy density, reducing costs is the top priority.

Whoever produces first will have the leading power

In addition to SAIC, GAC Aion and CATL have also released information about solid-state batteries.

In April this year, GAC Group announced that its all-solid-state batteries will be mass-produced and installed in vehicles in 2026. The all-solid-state battery developed by GAC uses 100% solid electrolyte, with an energy density of more than 350Wh/kg. After 150 cycles, the battery capacity can be maintained at more than 90%.

Also at the end of April, CATL announced its progress in the field of solid-state batteries. CATL Chief Scientist Wu Kai announced that if technology and manufacturing maturity are used as the evaluation system (scored from 1 to 9), CATL's all-solid-state battery research and development is currently at a level of 4 points.

Through continuous process improvement, CATL's solid-state battery technology and manufacturing maturity will reach 7-8 points in 2027, and the solid-state battery project will be able to advance to small-scale production. However, CATL also admits that at the current level, its mass production still faces cost issues.

As for overseas markets, solid-state batteries are one of the important research directions for car companies and battery companies. Akio Toyoda, who has always been "resistant" to electric vehicles, invested a lot of resources in the field of solid-state batteries during his tenure as Toyota's president.

In 2023, Toyota officially announced that it would be able to launch electric vehicles equipped with solid-state batteries on the market as early as 2027. By then, the relevant models will not only have a range of about 1,000 kilometers, but also have the ability to charge quickly, increasing the vehicle's power from 10% to 80% in 10 minutes.

After that, Toyota will also challenge the 1,200-kilometer range of electric vehicles by continuously optimizing solid-state batteries. Nissan and Honda have also announced plans to launch models equipped with all-solid-state batteries in the market in 2028 and 2030.

Korean battery companies Samsung SDI, SK On, and LG Energy Solution, which compete with Chinese electric vehicle companies in the field of traditional lithium-ion batteries, also have their own commercialization plans for all-solid-state batteries.

In the field of solid-state batteries, Japan is the country with the largest number of patents in the world. However, the challenge of solid-state batteries is not just the number of patents, but who can be the first to achieve commercial production. The difficulty of this challenge itself far exceeds the research and development of solid-state batteries.

This requires solving the problem of production capacity/yield, ensuring that the rhythm of battery production can match the rhythm of vehicle production, and not letting vehicle production wait for batteries; and solving the cost problem. Otherwise, given the current cost of NIO's semi-solid-state batteries, electric vehicles equipped with all-solid-state batteries will be out of reach.

But now, with SAIC and GAC Aion both publicly releasing their own all-solid-state battery commercialization plans, it has also proved that China's battery industry is already prepared in this new field, making people more looking forward to the fact that domestic products will once again overtake Japanese and global solid-state battery-related companies on another track.