Could Chinese companies produce revolutionary solid state batteries by 2024?
Solid state batteries are the tantalizing next frontier of electric vehicle batteries, and a wide range of battery, auto, and even internet companies are talking about manufacturing them, but the hype seems premature.
Chinese companies are investing in solid state battery technology, which promises to pack enough power into small enough batteries to power cars to drive at least 1,000 km (621 miles), and drone taxis to ferry you from the airport to your hotel on your next business trip.
The first company that can get solid state battery technology to work will immediately be catapulted into the top ranks of the world’s most valuable enterprises. That company might be from China, based on a slew of recent announcements and press releases from China in the past month about solid state and semi solid state batteries:
- At this year’s Guangzhou Auto Show, which took place from December 30 to January 8, Dongfeng Motor 东风汽车 said that by 2024, it would mass produce a solid state battery that would give cars a range of 1,000 km (621 miles).
- China’s leading battery manufacturers, CATL 宁德时代 and CALB 中创新航, have announced production lines for solid state batteries, which are expected to be on the market by 2030.
- TikTok parent ByteDance 字节跳动 recently announced a partnership with a team at the Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences led by Professor Wú Fán 吴凡 (who was born in 1989) to develop a solid state battery prototype.
- In March 2021, smartphone giant Xiaomi 小米 announced that it would be building cars, set to be mass produced in 2024. Xiaomi has invested in WeLion New Energy Technology 卫蓝新能源, one of China’s leading solid state battery startups.
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Not just in China
Outside China, there is promising news about solid state technology too.
The U.S. company QuantumScape (whose investors include Volkswagen Group), announced on December 22 that it had produced a prototype solid state battery. Volkswagen Group stated in 2021 that it expected solid state batteries to be in use by 2025, while Hyundai Motor and BMW have announced plans to mass produce solid state batteries by 2030. Toyota, which holds the most patents related to solid state battery technology, likewise aims to achieve mass production by 2030.
In May 2021, scientists Xin Li and Luohan Ye of Harvard University, published an article in the journal Nature about their new design for a solid state battery that can be reused 10,000 times and charged in a mere 3 minutes. In the same month, NASA announced progress with the development of a solid state battery with an energy density of 500 Wh/kg.
What are solid state batteries?
Like conventional lithium-ion batteries that power phones and electric cars, solid state batteries consist of four basic elements:
- A positive (anode) electrode;
- A negative (cathode) electrode;
- An electrolyte layer (which separates the anode and the cathode);
- A microporous separator.
To produce electricity, lithium-ion batteries move lithium ions from the anode to the cathode electrodes via the liquid electrolyte layer. This is where solid state batteries have one crucial difference: as opposed to “liquid” batteries, the electrolyte layer is made of solid ceramic material, which should make the batteries safer and faster to charge, and give them a higher energy density.
The current upper limit of the energy density of conventional lithium-ion batteries is 300-350 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg), while solid state batteries are expected to reach 500 Wh/kg. In addition, solid state batteries could have a carbon footprint about 24% smaller than conventional batteries, and although they will use up to 35% more lithium than current lithium-ion batteries, they will use far less graphite and cobalt.
State of the art is not yet solid
The solid state battery is a lucrative prospect for battery and electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers. Yet so far, there’s been a lot of talk and not a lot of solid evidence that anyone can make them work.
No company has actually produced a solid sample of a solid state battery; the best we have so far are semi-solid state batteries, an intermediate technology in which the materials and packaging technology are almost identical to liquid batteries.
The takeaway: We’re not there yet
Solid state batteries will be a revolutionary development in the battery and EV industry. A whole range of Chinese companies are in the race to mass produce the first commercial version, but despite all the talk of breakthroughs and new designs, solid state batteries may still be years away.
