The second-generation solid-state battery of Taiwanese enterprises has achieved mass production, and it can be charged to 80% in 12 minutes

Solid-state battery technology, is the mainland lagging behind?

The so-called solid-state battery mainly refers to the battery that uses solid electrolyte materials. It is recognized as the next generation of battery technology because of its higher safety, longer cycle life, higher energy density, and wider temperature adaptability. Therefore, when the industrial application of solid-state batteries can be realized has always been the focus of attention inside and outside the industry.

At the China All-Solid-State Battery Innovation and Development Summit Forum held last month, Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at Tsinghua University, said in an interview with the media that all-solid-state batteries may be industrialized around 2030.

However, also last month, Huineng Technology from Taiwan Province of the mainland announced that it would set up the world's first gigabit solid-state lithium ceramic battery factory. Mass deliveries are planned this year, with a design capacity of 2GWh and batteries for 26,000 electric vehicles. But only 0.5GWh can be achieved this year.

As soon as this news came out, many people were anxious, feeling that the battery manufacturers in the mainland were going to lag behind again.

As we all know, in the current mainstream lithium-ion battery field, Chinese manufacturers have a high right to speak, among the world's top ten power battery companies, six are from China, and there are two insurmountable mountains of CATL and BYD.

So according to this technical route, it is impossible for European, American, Japanese and South Korean companies to achieve overtaking, because we have the strongest lithium battery industry chain in the world, so change the way of thinking, for example, in the direction of solid-state batteries, to achieve overtaking, it has also become a new choice. For example, Japan is making every effort to promote solid-state batteries, including Nissan, Toyota and other Japanese car companies have also laid out. For example, among the top 5 patent applications for all-solid-state batteries, 4 are from Japan and 1 is from South Korea, of which Toyota ranks first with more than 1,000 patent applications. At present, the mainland is lagging behind in terms of the number of patents, which also needs to be paid attention to.

Founded in 2006, Huineng Technology has invented the world's first solid-state lithium ceramic battery. So this time, Huineng Technology plans to mass-produce its second-generation solid-state battery, also called "large-area lithium ceramic battery" (LLCB), which adopts a rectangular shape and has more energy storage medium, which can achieve higher energy density. It is claimed that the energy density is twice that of conventional lithium-ion cylindrical batteries. As a result, it can be charged to 80% in 12 minutes and has a range of up to 1,000 kilometers on a full charge.

At present, Huineng Technology is making efforts to build production capacity, including the planned construction of two factories in Taiwan Province, G1 and G2, the former is expected to have a production capacity of 40GWh, mainly for consumer electronics and wearable electronics, and the latter focuses on the production of automotive power batteries, which is the factory mentioned at the beginning of the plan for mass production by the end of the year.

In addition, as early as July 2020, Huineng Technology set up a headquarters and global industrial base project in Lin'an District, Hangzhou, with a total investment of 38 billion yuan. and invest 5.2 billion euros, or about 41.16 billion yuan, in Dunkirk, France, to build a solid-state battery gigafactory with a planned production capacity of 48GWh, which is expected to start construction in 2024 and mass production by the end of 2026.

In addition, Huineng Technology disclosed its IPO plan as early as March 2022, and completed a round of financing of up to US$326 million, equivalent to RMB 2.085 billion, in October last year, with investors including Danfeng Capital, Primavera Capital, SoftBank China, etc. Earlier, Huineng Technology also received investment from FAW. In other words, both capital and automobile manufacturers are very optimistic about this solid-state battery product.

Previously, Samsung SDI had announced that it would develop large-scale all-solid-state battery cells and prototype all-solid-state battery cells by 2025, and start mass production in 2027. Two are also from South Korea, one is SK On, which plans to deliver solid-state batteries by 2025, and the other is LG Energy Solution, which plans to mass-produce solid-state batteries in 2026. To achieve industrial application, the time is about exactly 2030.

So through the above information, I have to admit that Huineng Technology has taken the lead in the field of solid-state batteries, but there is no need to be arrogant:

1. According to the technology development path, power battery technology will roughly go through liquid batteries, semi-solid-state batteries and all-solid-state batteries.

Traditional lithium-ion batteries are liquid batteries, and as I've said many times about semi-solid-state batteries, we already have production models. In other words, the mainland is walking in a down-to-earth manner and has achieved a leading position in the field of liquid batteries and semi-solid-state batteries. According to the inertia of technological development, all-solid-state batteries should also be a matter of course.

2. Technology is important, but the industrial chain is even more important. From the production of raw materials and substrates, battery cells and battery packaging, battery production and application to battery recycling, Continental has the most complete industrial chain in the world, which will be the foundation for the sustainable development and evolution of solid-state batteries, and it is an existence that no one can surpass.

3. It will take 20-30 years for all-solid-state batteries to replace 50% of the market share of liquid lithium-ion batteries, so even if it is mass-produced now, it will not have a subversive impact on the industry in a short period of time, and there is no need to panic.

4. From the perspective of performance, charging to 80% in 12 minutes is not far ahead. At present, Huawei's fully liquid-cooled supercharging can achieve a maximum of 100 kWh charging in 10 minutes, which is still an ordinary lithium battery.

5. Mainland manufacturers, including battery companies such as CATL, China Innovation Airlines, Ganfeng Lithium, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, and Funeng Technology, as well as automobile companies such as GAC Aion and Changan Automobile, have all made layouts in the field of solid-state batteries.

For example, CATL announced its R&D roadmap for sulfide solid-state batteries as early as 2016. In May last year, CATL completed the first batch of solid-state battery samples and is expected to achieve mass production by 2030. For another example, SAIC Motor also said that it will launch solid-state lithium batteries for commercial applications in 2025. GAC Aion's new solid-state electrolyte, solid-solid interface modification and other technologies are being developed at an accelerated pace, and it plans to achieve all-solid-state loading in 2025.

In addition, last year, Qingtao Energy announced that the first-generation solid-state battery has completed the loading test, with a maximum range of 1,083 kilometers and a 10-minute charging range of 400 kilometers, which will be mass-produced in 2024 on new cars of the Zhiji brand.

Maybe there isn't much explosive news right now, but I think there must be a reason for this, which may be related to cost, market demand and development strategy. For example, there is no need to replace power batteries on a large scale, and the second is to gradually penetrate, a certain model, different models, high-end products equipped with solid-state batteries, or some high-end models use solid-state batteries, etc. Therefore, this should not be a simple technical problem, because I don't believe that the technology of the mainland battery manufacturers is not good.

In short, all-solid-state batteries have achieved mass production, and the new energy vehicle industry has ushered in a new development pattern. For users, they can completely say goodbye to the anxiety of the journey and no longer have to worry about power loss in low temperatures, which will also contribute to the further development of the electric vehicle industry. Of course, the pattern of the global new energy vehicle industry will also change. It is foreseeable that the competition in the field of solid-state batteries will be very fierce in the future. But I also believe that in this track, it will be the world of Chinese manufacturers, because we not only have a strong industrial chain, but also the largest demand market.