Solid-State Battery Market Heats Up as Companies Disclose Progress
Recently, the solid-state battery industry has been flooded with positive news as various companies along the产业链 have disclosed their latest progress in the field. For instance, GAC Group indicated on November 8th through an interactive platform that the company has initially established a full-process manufacturing technique for all-solid-state batteries, expecting to equip vehicles by 2026, specifically on the Haobo models.
"From the recent announcements of R&D outcomes and mass production schedules by various companies, solid-state battery technology is gradually moving from the laboratory to practical applications. This is not only a technological breakthrough but also an important driving force for the industry upgrade in the new energy sector. With the advantages of high safety and high energy density, solid-state batteries are considered by the industry as a key point of competition in the next generation of battery technology," said Cao Che, Chief Investment Officer of Aiven Strategy, in an interview with the Securities Daily.
"Solid-state batteries continue to be a market focus, with many companies deeply involved in this field, and this year, China has seen continuous new results in the field of solid-state battery research and development. This reflects the importance and development potential of solid-state battery technology in the battery industry," said Zhang Xuefeng, a financial commentator and expert at the Communication Planet APP, in an interview with the Securities Daily.
In addition to GAC Group, on November 7th, Tai Lan New Energy and Changan Automobile jointly released a solid-state lithium battery technology without a separator. It is reported that this is the industry's first technological breakthrough to "eliminate the separator," that is, to remove the battery separator and use a composite solid electrolyte layer of the positive and negative plates to replace the separator function.
"The separator-free technology can be applied to both semi-solid and all-solid batteries," said Gao Xiang, Chairman and CTO of Tai Lan New Energy. Removing the separator is just the first step. Under the concept of "reduction manufacturing," Tai Lan New Energy proposes a "4-3-2-1" technical route: on the basis of the four main materials of traditional liquid lithium batteries, the first step is to remove the separator and part of the electrolyte; the second step is to completely remove the electrolyte; the third step is to remove the negative electrode, making the path from semi-solid to all-solid clearer.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) has increased its R&D investment in all-solid-state batteries this year, expanding its R&D team to over 1000 people.
XW-Dana said that the company's first generation of semi-solid batteries has been developed. The second generation of semi-solid battery cell samples have begun pilot testing. The third generation of polymer composite all-solid-state batteries has completed laboratory verification and is expected to complete product development by 2025. The fourth generation of all-solid-state batteries is still under development, with the laboratory sample expected to be completed by 2027.
Changan Automobile expects to achieve vehicle verification of all-solid-state batteries by 2027 and mass production and vehicle installation by 2030. Nandu Power also said that solid-state batteries are expected to be accepted in the fourth quarter.
Applications continue to expand. Journalists have found that in addition to CATL, lithium battery leading companies including EVE Energy, Central Aero Engine, Guoxuan High-Tech, and Farasis Energy have all expressed their intention to cooperate in the field of low-altitude flight batteries to seize the market opportunity.
"In addition to the automotive field, the low-altitude economy is gradually becoming an important landing scenario for solid-state batteries," said Zhang Xiaorong, a researcher at the Depth Technology Research Institute.
CITIC Construction Investment said that by 2025, the global market space for all types of solid-state batteries is expected to reach tens of GWh to hundreds of GWh, a scale of tens of billions of yuan. Oriental Securities released a research report stating that all-solid-state batteries are expected to be first applied in consumer electronics, aerospace, and high-end electric vehicle markets in the early stage, with a penetration rate of 2% in power batteries and 10% in consumer electronics batteries by 2030.
"Driven by market demand and policy support, the solid-state battery industry has ushered in an unprecedented development opportunity. With the rapid growth of application demands in emerging industries, solid-state batteries, with their unique advantages, will gradually become the darling of the market. From a macro policy level, the development of solid-state batteries has been elevated to a national strategic level," said Zhang Xiaorong in an interview with the Securities Daily.
Zhu Keli, founding dean of the National Research Institute for New Economics, told the Securities Daily that from a market demand perspective, consumers have increasingly high requirements for the driving range, charging speed, and safety performance of electric vehicles, and solid-state batteries are the ideal choice to meet these needs. Therefore, many lithium battery companies have invested in the research and development of solid-state batteries to gain a competitive edge in future market competition.
According to incomplete statistics by reporters, since mid-September of this year, many places including Beijing, Zhengzhou, and Qingyuan have issued policies related to the field of solid-state batteries. For example, the People's Government Office of Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province, issued the "Qingyuan Low-Altitude Economy High-Quality Development Three-Year Action Plan (2024-2026)" on November 6th, proposing to promote the commercialization of aviation solid-state batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, and sustainable aviation fuel, and to drive the application and operation scenarios of future low-altitude industries, relying on universities, research institutes, and leading enterprises to carry out frontier leading technology and disruptive technology layout.
The biggest difficulty in the industrialization of solid-state batteries lies in technology and cost. Technically, the production process of solid-state batteries is complex, requiring solutions to material selection, electrolyte stability, interface resistance, and other issues. In terms of cost, due to the complex production process, high material costs, and relatively small production scale, the cost of solid-state batteries is much higher than that of liquid electrolyte batteries. It is expected that policy support and breakthroughs in corporate research and development will accelerate the industrialization of the solid-state battery industry.
