The new battery column | Guoxuan/Fu Neng semi-solid-state battery industrialization to accelerate

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OEMs and battery companies are actively developing power batteries with higher energy density, and new generation battery technologies such as all-solid-state batteries, lithium metal batteries and lithium-sulfur batteries have become the focus of industry attention.

The demand for higher endurance and safer new energy vehicles is opening up channels for the industrialization of new batteries such as semi-solid/solid-state and lithium metal.

At the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum, solid-state battery company Weilan New Energy announced that it is cooperating with NIO to launch a hybrid solid-liquid electrolyte battery with a single charge endurance of 1000km based on the NIO ET7 model, with a battery pack capacity of 150KWh and an energy density of 360Wh/kg.

A mixed solid-liquid electrolyte battery is a battery form between a liquid lithium battery and an all-solid-state lithium battery, which is actually a semi-solid-state battery. It is reported that this semi-solid-state battery is expected to start mass production at the end of 2022 or the first half of 2023.

This means that Weilan New Energy will become a semi-solid-state battery supplier to NIO, and its battery factory in Zibo, Shandong Province, has started construction in February this year, with an investment of 10.2 billion yuan in the first phase of the project, and an annual battery production capacity of 20 GWh.

It is worth noting that Weilan New Energy is not the first battery company in China to realize the mass production and installation of semi-solid-state batteries.

In February this year, Dongfeng Motor's 50 Fengfengshen E70 equipped with Ganfeng lithium battery mixed solid-liquid electrolyte lithium battery was launched in Xinyu, Jiangxi, which means that the semi-solid-state battery developed by Ganfeng lithium battery has entered the commercialization stage.

In addition, battery companies including Hefei Guoxuan and Fu Neng Technology are also accelerating the mass production process of their semi-solid-state batteries.

Li Jian, chairman of Guoxuan Hi-Tech, said that the company has achieved a cruising range of more than 1,000 kilometers for the semi-solid-state battery equipped with high-end pure electric vehicles in China, which is double that of its first-generation model.

Fu Neng Technology said that the company's first generation of solid-liquid hybrid semi-solid-state batteries (energy density 330Wh/Kg) was sampled to OEM customers and received good feedback.

The consensus of the above-mentioned battery companies to develop mass-production semi-solid-state batteries is that the large-scale mass production of all-solid-state batteries is still facing many practical difficulties, coupled with the urgent need for high-safety, high-energy density power batteries for new energy vehicles, solid-liquid hybrid batteries can be used as a transition plan for the development of solid-state batteries to take the lead in commercialization.

However, in the industrialization track of high specific energy and high safety batteries, semi-solid-state batteries face competitors that are not limited to all-solid-state batteries.

At the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum, Hu Qichao, founder and CEO of SES, revealed that the production and testing of the first lithium metal battery A sample has been launched this month, and it is planned to be officially mass-produced in 2025.

At present, SES has signed "A-sample" (A sample) joint development agreements with OEMs such as General Motors, Honda, Hyundai and Kia.

SES is building a lithium-metal battery plant with a capacity of 1 GWh in Shanghai and plans to build a second lithium-metal battery production site in South Korea.

Amprius Company of the United States recently announced that it has produced the first batch of ultra-high energy density lithium batteries, which use silicon nanowire technology, energy density of 450Wh/kg (1150 Wh/L), is currently available in the highest energy density of lithium batteries.

Japan's ADEKA company announced the development of a new generation of lithium-sulfur battery prototypes, with an energy density of up to 500Wh/kg, about twice that of existing lithium-ion batteries.

On the whole, OEMs and battery companies are actively developing power batteries with higher energy density, and new generation battery technologies such as all-solid-state batteries, lithium metal batteries and lithium-sulfur batteries have become the focus of industry attention. However, from the perspective of industrialization, the above battery technology still needs to overcome multiple difficulties.

In this regard, Gaogong Lithium Battery sorted out the recent industrial dynamics of new battery technology, and see below:

Samsung SDI builds the first all-solid-state battery trial production line

Samsung SDI announced that its all-solid-state battery pilot production line in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, has broken ground and is named "S-Line".

It is reported that Samsung SDI is developing a solid-state battery based on sulfide electrolyte, and has obtained a design patent for sulfide electrolyte materials, which has now entered the stage of technical verification

Solid-state battery company Sparks will build a pilot plant for solid-state batteries

U.S. solid-state battery startup Sparks announced the establishment of a pilot facility in Livermore, Northern California, to begin developing and piloting the production of its patented solid-state battery technology.

In addition, Sparkz will build a super battery factory in West Virginia to commercialize its zero-cobalt batteries.

Porsche intends to work with Quantumscape to develop a solid-state battery model

Foreign media reported that Porsche is working with american solid-state battery company Quantumscape to integrate its solid-state battery into future Porsche electric vehicles, such as the electric 911.

Solid-state battery company Huineng Technology plans an IPO

Foreign media reported that Taiwan's solid-state battery company Huineng Technology is considering an IPO this year or next year.

Huineng Technology completed a $326 million financing round last October. The company plans to expand its production capacity in Asia, Europe and the United States between 2023 and 2025.

Blackstone Announces the Launch of 3D Printed Sodium-Ion Batteries

Swiss commodities company Blackstone Resources announced that its German battery division, Blackstone Technology, may bring 3D printed sodium-ion batteries to market starting in 2025.

To achieve this, Blackstone is investing 32 million euros in a pilot plant in Saxony for R&D and production.

Sodium-ion battery company Altris received a €9.6 million Series A funding round

Altris AB, a sodium-ion battery company based in Uppsala, Sweden, announced that it has raised €9.6 million in a Series A financing to expand the production of fennac (Prussian white), the cathode material for its sodium-ion batteries, to 2,000 tons, which can meet the production needs of 1GWh sodium-ion batteries.

India's Reliance Group acquires sodium-ion battery company Faradion

India's Reliance Group) bought The British sodium-ion battery company Faradion for $135 million. The company said it could use Faradion's sodium ion technology at its energy storage system plant in Jamnagar, India.