“Whether it is Tesla and BYD, which are fighting in full swing on the global new energy championship, or “Wei Xiaoli” who just rushed to the 10,000 mark in November, they are all fans of lithium batteries. Currently, lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium batteries occupy the vast majority of the market. However, pain points such as battery life and safety of lithium batteries still exist, and their status is not solid. If the lithium battery technology fails to make further breakthroughs, the development of electric vehicles will encounter a bottleneck.
“
Whether it is Tesla and BYD, which are fighting in full swing on the global new energy championship, or “Wei Xiaoli” who just rushed to the 10,000 mark in November, they are all fans of lithium batteries. Currently, lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium batteries occupy the vast majority of the market. However, pain points such as battery life and safety of lithium batteries still exist, and their status is not solid. If the lithium battery technology fails to make further breakthroughs, the development of electric vehicles will encounter a bottleneck.
Lithium-ion batteries were first commercialized in 1991. At present, liquid lithium-ion batteries have become the most widely used technical route in the field of new energy vehicles, but technological progress has been relatively slow. In recent years, solid-state batteries have been considered to continue to consolidate the position of lithium-ion batteries. Different from the lithium-ion batteries commonly used today, solid-state batteries are batteries that use solid electrodes and solid electrolytes, replacing the electrolyte of the previous lithium batteries, and greatly improving the energy density of lithium batteries.
Power batteries have been hailed as the “heart” of electric vehicles. Breakthrough solid-state battery technology has been developed to solve problems such as cruising range and safety that hinder the widespread promotion of electric vehicles. Whoever masters this technology first will compete in the future. Have a greater right to speak in the middle. In order to accelerate the transformation of electrification, multinational car giants such as Nissan, Toyota, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz have deployed in the field of solid-state batteries. The number of players on this track continues to increase. Recently, it has been reported that technology companies such as Xiaomi and Huawei have also begun to enter the game. Although solid-state batteries are gradually gaining ground in the automotive industry, because their commercial mass production is difficult to achieve in the short term, this technical route is still controversial.
The solid-state battery boom hits
Recently, Nissan Motor Company released the “Nissan Motor 2030 Vision” and plans to invest 2 trillion yen (112.84 billion yuan at the exchange rate of the day) in the next 5 years to accelerate the deployment of electric drive products and technological innovation. What has attracted much attention is that Nissan also announced the timetable for mass production of solid-state batteries, and will launch electric models equipped with original all-solid-state batteries (ASSB) by fiscal year 2028. With the application of breakthrough all-solid-state battery technology, it will greatly promote Nissan to face different market segments and launch more and more powerful electric models. At the same time, the all-solid-state battery can shorten the charging time to one-third of the original.
Nissan continues to be committed to the research and development of lithium-ion battery technology while introducing cobalt-free technology, and is expected to reduce battery costs by 65% by fiscal year 2028. According to the plan, by fiscal year 2028, all-solid-state batteries can reduce the cost of battery packs to US$75 per kilowatt-hour. At the same time, through continuous innovation, the cost will be further reduced to US$65 per kilowatt-hour in the future to realize electric vehicles and fuel. Cost parity of the model.
It is worth noting that AESC, a battery company under Nissan Motor, was acquired by the Chinese company Envision Group in 2019. At present, the first phase of Yuanjing AESC Wuxi Power Battery Plant has been put into production. How will Nissan’s solid-state battery project advance? The relevant person in charge of Nissan Motor said in an interview with a reporter from China Business News that solid-state batteries are jointly developed by Nissan’s internal R&D department and external scientific research institutions, partners, and suppliers. A pilot plant is planned to be built in Yokohama, Japan in fiscal year 2024.
Not only Nissan, but many car companies have launched a fierce attack on solid-state batteries. Car companies and battery manufacturers have joined hands to overcome difficulties. Toyota is cooperating with Panasonic, Volkswagen has invested in QuantumScape, a US battery start-up, and Ford and BMW have invested in Solid Power. Solid Power’s all-solid-state battery theoretically can have a range of up to twice that of a lithium battery. BMW plans to start road testing of vehicles equipped with all-solid-state batteries before 2025 and go on sale before 2030. Following the collaboration with Hydro Quebec, Mercedes-Benz is now also co-developing solid-state batteries with Factorial Energy.
Factorial Energy is a solid electrolyte battery manufacturer headquartered in Massachusetts, USA. This six-year-old solid-state battery start-up is expanding its circle of friends. Following Hyundai and Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellatis, the world’s fourth-largest automobile company, have recently become its new strategic investment partners. After reaching a strategic cooperation with Factorial Energy, Mercedes-Benz said that it will accelerate the development of solid-state battery technology and jointly develop the long-awaited next-generation battery technology. The goal is to start testing battery prototypes in 2022, and at the same time carry a small number of Mercedes-Benz electric products with new battery products. The car will be on the road in the next five years. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares also believes that Factorial Energy’s solid-state batteries will accelerate the time to market for new electric vehicles. The company will launch the first solid-state battery technology electric vehicle in 2026 and transition to solid-state batteries in a more cost-effective manner. technology.
Domestic car companies and battery manufacturers are also accelerating the deployment of solid-state batteries. SAIC and GAC respectively led the financing of the E+ and E++ rounds of solid-state battery company Qingtao Development. Recently, another solid-state battery company received financing. Tianyan Check shows that Weilan New Energy has completed a C round of financing of about 500 million yuan. Investors include Xiaomi Group, Huawei Technologies, IDG Capital, Weilai Capital, and Yuntai Capital. The valuation of this round of financing guard Lanxin Energy reaches 50. 100 million yuan. However, companies such as Xiaomi and Huawei did not respond to this news.
At the beginning of this year, NIO released a 150kWh solid-state battery on NIO Day. The solid-state battery can achieve an ultra-high energy density of 360Wh/kg. The NIO ET7 sedan equipped with this battery pack will have a battery life of more than 1,000 kilometers. The product is scheduled to be launched in 2022. Delivery in the fourth quarter of the year. The industry speculates that the battery supplier may be Weilan New Energy. Weilai said in an interview with a reporter from China Business News that there is no new information to disclose for the time being.
NIO’s existing power battery supplier Ningde Times is also developing solid-state batteries. Regarding the rising upsurge of solid-state battery research and development, Ningde Times Chairman Zeng Yuqun said publicly this year that none of the solid-state batteries that can be built into cars within 3 to 5 years are all solid-state batteries. He mentioned that the mainstream line of batteries in the future is not necessarily ternary lithium or lithium iron phosphate. There are some new things in the Ningde era, but it is not convenient to talk to the outside world. Regarding the Ningde era’s research and development progress in solid-state batteries, the relevant person in charge of the company said in an interview with CBN that there is no new information to release.
Can solid-state batteries become the new leader?
Although the industry is eagerly looking forward to solid-state batteries, the current high cost and immature technology restrict the commercialization of solid-state batteries. After Weilai released the news of solid-state batteries on NIO Day, it once aroused many doubts.
Wu Hui, general manager of the research department of the Ivy Institute of Economic Research and dean of the China Battery Industry Research Institute, said in an interview with a reporter from China Business News that Weilai’s new car next year should be equipped with semi-solid batteries, but it is not known whether it can be realized. In the short term, solid-state batteries are still unable to be mass-produced for electric vehicles on a large scale. The compromise solution is a semi-solid battery, which reduces the amount of electrolyte used.
Wu Hui’s analysis pointed out that the current problems in the commercialization of solid-state batteries include: low ionic conductivity of solid electrolyte materials; large interface impedance between solid electrolytes and electrodes, poor interface compatibility, and the volume expansion of each material during charge and discharge. Shrinkage leads to easy separation of the interface; electrode materials that match the solid electrolyte need to be designed and constructed; the production cost of the battery is relatively high at this stage.
There is a saying in the industry that the cost of all-solid-state batteries is more than 4 times higher than that of current lithium batteries. Wu Hui believes that because there is no mass production, it is impossible to compare costs, but the cost of these semi-solid batteries is now more than 1 yuan/WH, and the cost of liquid lithium battery cells is about 0.7~0.8 yuan/WH (in terms of Three yuan-based). The mass production time of all solid-state batteries may be around 2030.
Aiming at the three major industry pain points of new energy vehicle battery life, safety, and charging, various battery technologies are emerging one after another. In order to have a greater right to speak, some domestic and foreign auto companies not only cooperated with battery suppliers in joint ventures, but also personally participated in the market. Auto companies such as Volkswagen and Tesla have self-developed battery technology and built battery factories.
In an interview with China Business News and other media recently, GAC Chairman Zeng Qinghong said that the global automotive industry has already started a battle for battery talents. The core talents are dug over. Through independent research and development over the past few years, the company’s technologies such as super-speed batteries and sponge silicon negative plate batteries have been realized.
The GAC AION LX Plus, which was unveiled at the Guangzhou Auto Show last month, is equipped for the first time with the exclusive self-developed sponge silicon negative electrode battery technology, and the CLTC has a comprehensive cruising range of up to 1,008 kilometers. This technology makes the silicon negative electrode sheet inside the battery soft and elastic like a sponge, so that the expansion and contraction of silicon during charging and discharging are limited and buffered. At the same time, it also absorbs water like a sponge, allowing the silicon negative electrode to take advantage of the large capacity and store it. More energy. Through this technology, it is possible to reduce the volume of the liquid lithium-ion battery cell by 20% and the weight by 14%. In the future, the volume and weight will be further reduced and reduced by more than half. Although breakthroughs have been made in battery life, whether the sponge silicon negative electrode cell technology can be popularized in the field of electric vehicles has yet to be tested by the market.
At present, the involution of electric vehicles and battery technology is becoming more and more serious. While car companies continue to challenge the difficult liquid lithium battery technology, they must also consider the mainstream technology route in the future. In order to increase future bargaining chips, some car companies have adopted diversified battery paths. Zeng Qinghong said that GAC Group will accelerate the development of hydrogen fuel cells and solid-state batteries in the future. In the future, GAC will definitely develop solid-state batteries. This requires not only energy density, but also the problem of non-heating, and power, efficiency, and energy must be considered, including its smaller size. Now that the design is basically in progress, the technical route should be no problem.
In an interview with a reporter from China Business News, a director of the technology center of a new energy vehicle company said that solid-state batteries must achieve material breakthroughs. At present, there is no obvious progress in this area, and it may take ten years to achieve. Judging from the current development trend, hydrogen fuel cells are more suitable for use in the commercial vehicle field due to their larger size, while the main technical route and development direction of new energy passenger vehicles are mainly based on lithium batteries, and solid-state batteries are more likely to be equipped. .
Hydrogen fuel cells and solid-state batteries belong to different technical routes. There may be many variables in the process of lithium-ion batteries transforming from liquid to solid. Power batteries are entering the “Spring and Autumn and Warring States” period of various technical routes. If hydrogen fuel cells get a major technological breakthrough first or other new battery technologies come out halfway, will they pose a threat to the future of solid-state batteries?
Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicles Association of 100, recently said that materials must be accumulated and the solid-state batteries will be put into large-scale commercial applications between 2025 and 2030. He pointed out that lithium-ion batteries will last a long time. The upper limit of the specific energy of the current generation of lithium-ion batteries is about 300 watt-hours per kilogram. In 2025, the first-generation all-solid-state battery with a specific energy roughly equivalent to that of the existing liquid electrolyte lithium-ion battery will appear. After 2030, there will be a second generation of all-solid-state batteries using new positive and negative materials. The specific energy will increase to 500 watt-hours per kilogram. There will also be high specific energy lithium-sulfur batteries and metal-air batteries. Nano-ion batteries have now appeared, but the performance of all aspects cannot meet the requirements of high-performance cars.
“From the perspective of the sustainable development of the battery industry, it is estimated that existing lithium-ion batteries, including solid-liquid hybrid lithium-ion batteries, will still be absolutely dominant before 2030. The industrialization of the first-generation all-solid-state batteries accounts for close to 1% of the market. The time point may be around 2030. After 2035, a new generation of solid-state batteries, potassium, magnesium, sodium, lithium-sulfur and other types of batteries will enter the market. By 2050, liquid lithium-ion batteries may be reduced to about 20% .” Ouyang Minggao thinks so.
Whether it is Tesla and BYD, which are fighting in full swing on the global new energy championship, or “Wei Xiaoli” who just rushed to the 10,000 mark in November, they are all fans of lithium batteries. Currently, lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium batteries occupy the vast majority of the market. However, pain points such as battery life and safety of lithium batteries still exist, and their status is not solid. If the lithium battery technology fails to make further breakthroughs, the development of electric vehicles will encounter a bottleneck.
Lithium-ion batteries were first commercialized in 1991. At present, liquid lithium-ion batteries have become the most widely used technical route in the field of new energy vehicles, but technological progress has been relatively slow. In recent years, solid-state batteries have been considered to continue to consolidate the position of lithium-ion batteries. Different from the lithium-ion batteries commonly used today, solid-state batteries are batteries that use solid electrodes and solid electrolytes, replacing the electrolyte of the previous lithium batteries, and greatly improving the energy density of lithium batteries.
Power batteries have been hailed as the “heart” of electric vehicles. Breakthrough solid-state battery technology has been developed to solve problems such as cruising range and safety that hinder the widespread promotion of electric vehicles. Whoever masters this technology first will compete in the future. Have a greater right to speak in the middle. In order to accelerate the transformation of electrification, multinational car giants such as Nissan, Toyota, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz have deployed in the field of solid-state batteries. The number of players on this track continues to increase. Recently, it has been reported that technology companies such as Xiaomi and Huawei have also begun to enter the game. Although solid-state batteries are gradually gaining ground in the automotive industry, because their commercial mass production is difficult to achieve in the short term, this technical route is still controversial.
The solid-state battery boom hits
Recently, Nissan Motor Company released the “Nissan Motor 2030 Vision” and plans to invest 2 trillion yen (112.84 billion yuan at the exchange rate of the day) in the next 5 years to accelerate the deployment of electric drive products and technological innovation. What has attracted much attention is that Nissan also announced the timetable for mass production of solid-state batteries, and will launch electric models equipped with original all-solid-state batteries (ASSB) by fiscal year 2028. With the application of breakthrough all-solid-state battery technology, it will greatly promote Nissan to face different market segments and launch more and more powerful electric models. At the same time, the all-solid-state battery can shorten the charging time to one-third of the original.
Nissan continues to be committed to the research and development of lithium-ion battery technology while introducing cobalt-free technology, and is expected to reduce battery costs by 65% by fiscal year 2028. According to the plan, by fiscal year 2028, all-solid-state batteries can reduce the cost of battery packs to US$75 per kilowatt-hour. At the same time, through continuous innovation, the cost will be further reduced to US$65 per kilowatt-hour in the future to realize electric vehicles and fuel. Cost parity of the model.
It is worth noting that AESC, a battery company under Nissan Motor, was acquired by the Chinese company Envision Group in 2019. At present, the first phase of Yuanjing AESC Wuxi Power Battery Plant has been put into production. How will Nissan’s solid-state battery project advance? The relevant person in charge of Nissan Motor said in an interview with a reporter from China Business News that solid-state batteries are jointly developed by Nissan’s internal R&D department and external scientific research institutions, partners, and suppliers. A pilot plant is planned to be built in Yokohama, Japan in fiscal year 2024.
Not only Nissan, but many car companies have launched a fierce attack on solid-state batteries. Car companies and battery manufacturers have joined hands to overcome difficulties. Toyota is cooperating with Panasonic, Volkswagen has invested in QuantumScape, a US battery start-up, and Ford and BMW have invested in Solid Power. Solid Power’s all-solid-state battery theoretically can have a range of up to twice that of a lithium battery. BMW plans to start road testing of vehicles equipped with all-solid-state batteries before 2025 and go on sale before 2030. Following the collaboration with Hydro Quebec, Mercedes-Benz is now also co-developing solid-state batteries with Factorial Energy.
Factorial Energy is a solid electrolyte battery manufacturer headquartered in Massachusetts, USA. This six-year-old solid-state battery start-up is expanding its circle of friends. Following Hyundai and Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellatis, the world’s fourth-largest automobile company, have recently become its new strategic investment partners. After reaching a strategic cooperation with Factorial Energy, Mercedes-Benz said that it will accelerate the development of solid-state battery technology and jointly develop the long-awaited next-generation battery technology. The goal is to start testing battery prototypes in 2022, and at the same time carry a small number of Mercedes-Benz electric products with new battery products. The car will be on the road in the next five years. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares also believes that Factorial Energy’s solid-state batteries will accelerate the time to market for new electric vehicles. The company will launch the first solid-state battery technology electric vehicle in 2026 and transition to solid-state batteries in a more cost-effective manner. technology.
Domestic car companies and battery manufacturers are also accelerating the deployment of solid-state batteries. SAIC and GAC respectively led the financing of the E+ and E++ rounds of solid-state battery company Qingtao Development. Recently, another solid-state battery company received financing. Tianyan Check shows that Weilan New Energy has completed a C round of financing of about 500 million yuan. Investors include Xiaomi Group, Huawei Technologies, IDG Capital, Weilai Capital, and Yuntai Capital. The valuation of this round of financing guard Lanxin Energy reaches 50. 100 million yuan. However, companies such as Xiaomi and Huawei did not respond to this news.
At the beginning of this year, NIO released a 150kWh solid-state battery on NIO Day. The solid-state battery can achieve an ultra-high energy density of 360Wh/kg. The NIO ET7 sedan equipped with this battery pack will have a battery life of more than 1,000 kilometers. The product is scheduled to be launched in 2022. Delivery in the fourth quarter of the year. The industry speculates that the battery supplier may be Weilan New Energy. Weilai said in an interview with a reporter from China Business News that there is no new information to disclose for the time being.
NIO’s existing power battery supplier Ningde Times is also developing solid-state batteries. Regarding the rising upsurge of solid-state battery research and development, Ningde Times Chairman Zeng Yuqun said publicly this year that none of the solid-state batteries that can be built into cars within 3 to 5 years are all solid-state batteries. He mentioned that the mainstream line of batteries in the future is not necessarily ternary lithium or lithium iron phosphate. There are some new things in the Ningde era, but it is not convenient to talk to the outside world. Regarding the Ningde era’s research and development progress in solid-state batteries, the relevant person in charge of the company said in an interview with CBN that there is no new information to release.
Can solid-state batteries become the new leader?
Although the industry is eagerly looking forward to solid-state batteries, the current high cost and immature technology restrict the commercialization of solid-state batteries. After Weilai released the news of solid-state batteries on NIO Day, it once aroused many doubts.
Wu Hui, general manager of the research department of the Ivy Institute of Economic Research and dean of the China Battery Industry Research Institute, said in an interview with a reporter from China Business News that Weilai’s new car next year should be equipped with semi-solid batteries, but it is not known whether it can be realized. In the short term, solid-state batteries are still unable to be mass-produced for electric vehicles on a large scale. The compromise solution is a semi-solid battery, which reduces the amount of electrolyte used.
Wu Hui’s analysis pointed out that the current problems in the commercialization of solid-state batteries include: low ionic conductivity of solid electrolyte materials; large interface impedance between solid electrolytes and electrodes, poor interface compatibility, and the volume expansion of each material during charge and discharge. Shrinkage leads to easy separation of the interface; electrode materials that match the solid electrolyte need to be designed and constructed; the production cost of the battery is relatively high at this stage.
There is a saying in the industry that the cost of all-solid-state batteries is more than 4 times higher than that of current lithium batteries. Wu Hui believes that because there is no mass production, it is impossible to compare costs, but the cost of these semi-solid batteries is now more than 1 yuan/WH, and the cost of liquid lithium battery cells is about 0.7~0.8 yuan/WH (in terms of Three yuan-based). The mass production time of all solid-state batteries may be around 2030.
Aiming at the three major industry pain points of new energy vehicle battery life, safety, and charging, various battery technologies are emerging one after another. In order to have a greater right to speak, some domestic and foreign auto companies not only cooperated with battery suppliers in joint ventures, but also personally participated in the market. Auto companies such as Volkswagen and Tesla have self-developed battery technology and built battery factories.
In an interview with China Business News and other media recently, GAC Chairman Zeng Qinghong said that the global automotive industry has already started a battle for battery talents. The core talents are dug over. Through independent research and development over the past few years, the company’s technologies such as super-speed batteries and sponge silicon negative plate batteries have been realized.
The GAC AION LX Plus, which was unveiled at the Guangzhou Auto Show last month, is equipped for the first time with the exclusive self-developed sponge silicon negative electrode battery technology, and the CLTC has a comprehensive cruising range of up to 1,008 kilometers. This technology makes the silicon negative electrode sheet inside the battery soft and elastic like a sponge, so that the expansion and contraction of silicon during charging and discharging are limited and buffered. At the same time, it also absorbs water like a sponge, allowing the silicon negative electrode to take advantage of the large capacity and store it. More energy. Through this technology, it is possible to reduce the volume of the liquid lithium-ion battery cell by 20% and the weight by 14%. In the future, the volume and weight will be further reduced and reduced by more than half. Although breakthroughs have been made in battery life, whether the sponge silicon negative electrode cell technology can be popularized in the field of electric vehicles has yet to be tested by the market.
At present, the involution of electric vehicles and battery technology is becoming more and more serious. While car companies continue to challenge the difficult liquid lithium battery technology, they must also consider the mainstream technology route in the future. In order to increase future bargaining chips, some car companies have adopted diversified battery paths. Zeng Qinghong said that GAC Group will accelerate the development of hydrogen fuel cells and solid-state batteries in the future. In the future, GAC will definitely develop solid-state batteries. This requires not only energy density, but also the problem of non-heating, and power, efficiency, and energy must be considered, including its smaller size. Now that the design is basically in progress, the technical route should be no problem.
In an interview with a reporter from China Business News, a director of the technology center of a new energy vehicle company said that solid-state batteries must achieve material breakthroughs. At present, there is no obvious progress in this area, and it may take ten years to achieve. Judging from the current development trend, hydrogen fuel cells are more suitable for use in the commercial vehicle field due to their larger size, while the main technical route and development direction of new energy passenger vehicles are mainly based on lithium batteries, and solid-state batteries are more likely to be equipped. .
Hydrogen fuel cells and solid-state batteries belong to different technical routes. There may be many variables in the process of lithium-ion batteries transforming from liquid to solid. Power batteries are entering the “Spring and Autumn and Warring States” period of various technical routes. If hydrogen fuel cells get a major technological breakthrough first or other new battery technologies come out halfway, will they pose a threat to the future of solid-state batteries?
Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicles Association of 100, recently said that materials must be accumulated and the solid-state batteries will be put into large-scale commercial applications between 2025 and 2030. He pointed out that lithium-ion batteries will last a long time. The upper limit of the specific energy of the current generation of lithium-ion batteries is about 300 watt-hours per kilogram. In 2025, the first-generation all-solid-state battery with a specific energy roughly equivalent to that of the existing liquid electrolyte lithium-ion battery will appear. After 2030, there will be a second generation of all-solid-state batteries using new positive and negative materials. The specific energy will increase to 500 watt-hours per kilogram. There will also be high specific energy lithium-sulfur batteries and metal-air batteries. Nano-ion batteries have now appeared, but the performance of all aspects cannot meet the requirements of high-performance cars.
“From the perspective of the sustainable development of the battery industry, it is estimated that existing lithium-ion batteries, including solid-liquid hybrid lithium-ion batteries, will still be absolutely dominant before 2030. The industrialization of the first-generation all-solid-state batteries accounts for close to 1% of the market. The time point may be around 2030. After 2035, a new generation of solid-state batteries, potassium, magnesium, sodium, lithium-sulfur and other types of batteries will enter the market. By 2050, liquid lithium-ion batteries may be reduced to about 20% .” Ouyang Minggao thinks so.
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