On July 19, Caixin reported that the solid-state battery 'battle' is about to begin. On July 18, Sichuan's first solid-state battery innovation industrial park project was launched in Yibin, with a total investment of up to 9.5 billion yuan. It is reported that the project is invested and constructed by Sichuan New Energy Automobile Innovation Center and Chengdu Science and Technology Private Equity Fund, and is built in two phases.

"(The project) will officially begin in August." According to the Chongqing Yangtze River Industrial Park, the ongoing phase one of the project covers an area of 168 mu, with an investment of 3 billion yuan, mainly to build a 4GWh high-security battery production line and a 30MWh all-solid battery pilot line. After the project is put into production, it is expected to achieve an annual output value of 3.8 billion yuan.

As the Chinese government and enterprises increase their investment in the all-solid-state battery field, related technologies are constantly making breakthroughs. On July 16th, Ningde Times received a utility model patent authorization for a solid-state battery with patent application number CN202420873452.X, which includes a battery testing fixture and battery testing equipment that can be divided into two parts: clamping parts and pressing parts. The clamping parts can hold solid-state battery powder, while the pressing parts can copy the clamping parts for operation.

Almost at the same time that Ningde Times obtained the above-mentioned patent, Tesla also publicly released information on a solid-state battery patent. The patent showed that its R&D team used new materials to increase the battery cycle life by 10%. The principle is to add baking soda (sodium carbonate) to the rich manganese cathode material and improve the material structure and stability by doping metal ions, reducing dissolution and precipitation, and reducing voltage decay.

In addition to Tesla, Volkswagen announced on July 11 that it will significantly increase the output of the solid-state batteries developed with the US startup QuantumScape, with the goal of introducing this technology into more vehicles. It is reported that Volkswagen's battery department PowerCo has reached an agreement with QuantumScape to achieve industrial battery technology for QuantumScape's next-generation solid-state lithium metal. In addition, in early June this year, the US solid-state battery manufacturer Factorial announced that it will provide the next phase of solid-state battery B samples to its development partner Mercedes-Benz. 'This is the world’s first announced solid-state battery unit B sample offered to global automotive OEMs,' said Factorial.

"In the A-sample phase, Factorial delivered more than 1,000 x 100+Ah solid-state batteries to us." According to Mercedes-Benz, the company will apply the higher energy density B-sample solid-state battery to electric vehicle modules and battery packs for testing and optimization, with the goal of improving range and performance, reducing overall vehicle costs, and providing the ideal EV to customers.

Regarding mass production, on July 3, Xingwanda, a leading domestic battery company, revealed that it expects to reduce the cost of polymer system all-solid-state batteries to 2 yuan / Wh by 2026, which is close to the cost of semi-solid-state batteries. This is also the first time Xingwanda has publicly disclosed its progress in the field of all-solid-state batteries. On the same day, Ningde Times stated during research that the company is firmly committed to continuous investment in all-solid-state batteries and its technology is at the industry-leading level. It is expected to achieve small-scale production by 2027.

At the Future Auto Pioneer Conference held earlier this year, Liu Tao, co-CEO of Zhiqi Automobile, revealed that SAIC Group and Qingtao Energy's jointly developed light-year solid-state batteries are expected to begin mass production in October this year. Before that, Guangzhou Automobile Group stated that its independently developed all-solid-state battery technology will be mass-produced and installed in Guangzhou Haobo high-end models in 2026. The energy density will exceed 400 Wh/kg, and the cruising range will exceed 1000 kilometers. At the 2023 performance briefing of Changan Automobile, Changan Automobile's chairman Zhu Huarong stated that the group's semi-solid-state battery will be launched by the end of 2026.

The reporter has incomplete statistics. In addition to SAIC, Changan and GAC, car companies such as NIO, Sokon, and Nezha have also announced their plans for the production of semi-solid-state batteries. In terms of power battery manufacturers, Ningde Times, Qingtao Energy, Zhongchuang Innovation Navigation, Honeycomb Energy, Hui Energy Technology, Ganfeng Lithium Industry, EVE Energy, Gotion High-Tech, and Lishen Battery have all announced their plans for their own solid-state batteries to be installed in vehicles.

"Half-solid/state batteries are expected to become the main focus throughout the year, with significant expected marginal changes," according to China International Capital Corporation's research report. 2024 is expected to be the first year of semi-solid/solid-state battery installation, with NIO, SAIC, and GAC having released solid-state battery plans and partially implemented installation, and the remaining automakers expected to continue to follow suit. Furthermore, overseas battery manufacturers LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI are also accelerating their solid-state battery layouts, planning to mass-produce fully solid-state batteries from 2027-2028. In addition, the rise of low-altitude economy further strengthens the commercial logic of solid-state batteries, with mid-term new energy vehicle + eVTOL demand resonance, opening up the space of solid-state long-term market."