The concept of solid-state batteries suddenly exploded, and the media broke the news that solid-state batteries can easily achieve a range of 1,000 kilometers, and many manufacturers have also disclosed the latest progress.
On the evening of April 8, Zhiji Automobile released the "super smart car" Zhiji L6, equipped with the industry's first ultra-fast charging solid-state battery, 900V ultra-fast charging, 1000 km range, and 400km range in 12 minutes.
On April 10, the Qingdao Energy Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that the sulfide all-solid-state battery tandem process was realized, which broke through the last difficulty of the sulfide all-solid-state battery and made a key breakthrough in the core technology.
On April 12, GAC Group released its all-solid-state battery technology, which will be mass-produced in 2026 and installed on the Haobo brand, with an energy density of 400Wh/kg
In the secondary market, the stock prices of many concept companies are also soaring.
In fact, as early as 2018, the slogan of "phasing out fuel vehicles" was shouted, and many countries have also set a timetable for phasing out fuel vehicles: the European Union said that it will no longer sell fuel vehicles in 2028 and ban all fuel vehicles in 2040. The United Kingdom and France have said they will ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2040, and India has said it will ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2030
The US state of California has just announced an ambitious move to ban the sale of fuel after 2035. automobiles, increasing the proportion of zero-emission vehicle sales to 100%, becoming the first state in the United States to announce a complete embrace of new energy vehicles.
Continental's phase-out of ICE vehicles will be implemented in phases, with a ban on the sale of fuel-powered light commercial vehicles in 2025 and a ban on the sale of GAS-powered passenger vehicles in 2035. Different cities also have different timetables, and the first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen plan relatively early, while other cities plan relatively late.
However, until now, fuel vehicles are still firmly sitting on the leading throne.
In the top ten sales list, only BYD is a new energy vehicle, with sales of 3.02 million units, only about 1/3 of the first Toyota, and the gap is still obvious.
The reason for this is that the battery technology is not up to par and cannot achieve the expected effect of use.
On the one hand, the battery itself has insufficient battery life and slow charging speed, resulting in the owner not daring to go far at all, for fear of dying at high speed. On the other hand, battery range has dropped sharply in winter.
The Tesla Model 3 has a range of 420 kilometers when fully charged in winter, but in reality it can only run about 240 kilometers. The battery also takes 50% longer to charge than usual, but the actual charge is much less than usual.
The 606km cruising range officially displayed by the BYD Han EV is only 230km in winter, which is equivalent to a 3.5% discount.
Therefore, new energy vehicle companies put the heavy responsibility on the solid-state battery, many voices believe that the solid-state battery can easily achieve a range of 1000 kilometers, plus super fast charging, you can directly scrap the fuel vehicle.
Domestic companies have worked hard enough, and the number of patent applications for key technologies of solid-state batteries in the world is 20,798, and China has 7,640, accounting for 36.7%, ranking first in the world in terms of growth rate in the past five years.
Solid-state battery technology is very difficult
Solid-state battery, as the name suggests, its positive electrode, negative electrode and electrolyte are solid-state, this change can greatly improve the energy density and safety of the battery, stronger than the traditional liquid battery, not easy to leak, not easy to flammable and explosive.
However, it is technically difficult, and there are great challenges in terms of power performance, circularity, material development, cell manufacturing, system design, and recycling.
Conductivity: The electrolyte and electrode materials of the battery should have good conductivity, so that ions and electrons can pass through quickly, so that they can be charged and discharged quickly.
However, there is still a big gap between the conductivity of solid-state materials and liquid batteries. How to improve the conductivity has become the key to restricting the development of solid-state batteries.
Stability: The electrolyte and electrode materials of solid-state batteries are required to have good chemical stability and structural stability, and to ensure the stability of long-term use.
However, in fact, the electrolytes and electrode materials that have been mastered so far are very prone to structural and chemical changes during the charging and discharging process. How to solve this problem has become a key project in scientific research.
Fast charging: How to achieve a battery life of hundreds of kilometers in a few minutes, a full charge in 10 minutes, a run of thousands of kilometers, and tens of thousands of times of charging and discharging are also difficult problems.
Each item is a mountain when taken out individually, and when put together, it is a continuous mountain.
At present, the solid-state batteries launched by manufacturers are "semi-solid" at best, that is, solid-state and liquid hybrid batteries, of course, this is just a transition.
Japanese manufacturers are focusing on sulfide solid-state batteries, and domestic manufacturers are focusing on oxides, and it is still uncertain who will win.
Domestic experts believe that sulfur is a combustible, and even if a solid-state battery can be made, it may not be able to pass the test in terms of safety.
Cost may become the biggest obstacle for solid-state batteries
Compared with technology, mass production is more difficult.
Industry insiders bluntly said: solid-state battery technology is only one aspect, and it will definitely be made if you are determined to gnaw, but the cost is too high, the amount of precious metals is several times that of liquid batteries, and the lowest price will be about ten times that of lithium iron phosphate.
Such a price is obviously unacceptable to consumers, and some netizens left a message saying: The price can be considered if the price remains unchanged, and the price increase is not to be discussed.
Japan's Toyota and Panasonic solid-state battery test data are very good, but they still say that the mass production time is five years later, because the cost is too high to achieve commercialization.
Domestic battery manufacturers, CATL and BYD, have more advantages in the industrial chain, and the labor cost is much lower than that of Japanese companies, but they can take the lead in commercialization.
In the future, because of the cost problem, solid-state batteries may be the first to be applied to electronic products, such as smart phones, tablets, and power banks, after all, the price of automotive power batteries is too high.
According to a report by Bright Life, the cost of NIO's 150kWh semi-solid-state battery has more than doubled to a staggering 300,000 yuan. And that's just the price of a semi-solid-state battery, and if it's an all-solid-state battery, the cost will only be higher.
The starting price of a car equipped with an all-solid-state battery is more than 500,000, and the configuration is a little better to one million, and ordinary consumers directly miss it.
According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales volume of new energy vehicles between 150,000 and 200,000 yuan is the highest, accounting for 24.6%, followed by 350,000-400,000 yuan, accounting for 16.9%. More than 500,000 is basically a niche market.
The niche market is unable to promote the upgrading and iteration of solid-state batteries, let alone popularization, and liquid batteries are subject to charging, battery life, and safety, which shows that new energy vehicles still have a long way to go to replace fuel vehicles.
Write to the end
Judging from the progress of solid-state batteries, it takes at least 5 years or even a "decade" for new energy vehicles to achieve the endurance and safety level of fuel vehicles.
A thing that is only possible to land after many years is now being hyped by car companies, and the purpose behind it is obvious.
In many areas, especially in high latitudes, the weather is cold, and the range of electric vehicles is seriously reduced, and even shutdowns are not uncommon.
At this time, blindly advocating solid-state batteries, using concepts and packaging to win consumers, but the final use effect is lower than expected, which will cause adverse effects.
If consumers lose confidence, there will be a crisis for the entire new energy vehicle industry.
At present, Japan, Europe, and South Korea are sharpening their knives and rushing towards "solid-state batteries". Toyota, Panasonic, Kyoto University, and RIKEN are jointly aiming to reduce the cost of solid-state batteries by 30% by 2030, BMW is partnering with Solid Power to mass-produce solid-state batteries by 2026, and Samsung and SK are also jointly developing solid-state batteries.
Domestic manufacturers should calm down, down-to-earth research and development, do not rush for quick success, only think about selling products, but pay attention to product quality, improve the industrial chain, improve performance, safety, reduce costs, why worry about no market at that time?
I'm a science and technology master, if you like it, give it a like!