Qi Xiaoling, a reporter from China Industry News
In the current era of vigorous development of the new energy vehicle industry, battery technology, as the core driving force, has always been the focus of industry attention. All-solid-state batteries, as a highly promising new battery technology, are gradually coming into the public eye and are regarded as the key to solving the two major pain points of range and safety in new energy vehicles. They are expected to become one of the focuses of the "second half" of global power battery competition.
Compared with traditional liquid lithium-ion batteries, all-solid-state batteries are regarded as the "ultimate goal" of the next generation of power batteries due to their high energy density, high safety and other characteristics. The global new energy vehicle industry chain is accelerating its layout. Traditional automotive powers such as Japan and South Korea are attempting to achieve a "lane change overtaking" through solid-state batteries. As a leader in the fields of new energy vehicles and power batteries, how China can break through technological bottlenecks and accelerate the industrialization process has become a topic of concern in the industry.
Recently, at the Second China All-Solid-State Battery Innovation and Development Summit Forum, many industry experts and enterprise representatives jointly discussed the current development status and future trends of all-solid-state batteries, and sent out an exciting signal: all-solid-state batteries are expected to achieve small-scale mass production in 2027. However, the realization of this goal has not been smooth sailing. On the road to mass production, all-solid-state batteries still face many technical difficulties and problems, which urgently need to be jointly overcome by all parties in the industry.
The mass production time is approaching and the prospects are highly anticipated
All-solid-state batteries are expected to achieve small-scale mass production in 2027. Companies like BYD and CATL are actively making plans, demonstrating the rising popularity of all-solid-state batteries in the industry and also showing their firm steps towards mass production.
Miao Wei, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, deputy director of the Economic Committee and former minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out at the summit forum that, judging from the current global research and development progress of solid-state batteries, although the mass production technology and process still need to mature, it is expected to achieve small-scale production around 2027.
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the chairman of the China All-Solid-State Battery Industry-University-Research Collaborative Innovation Platform, Ouyang Minggao, has clearly defined the development path. He emphasized that currently, the focus should be on the technical route with sulfide electrolytes as the main electrolyte, matching high-nickel ternary cathodes and silicon-carbon anodes, with performance goals of an energy density of 400 watt-hours per kilogram and a cycle life of over 1,000 times. Ensure that small batches of sedans are installed in vehicles by 2027 and large-scale production is achieved by 2030. This clear plan provides a specific direction for the research and development and production of all-solid-state batteries, giving enterprises and research institutions a more definite goal in technological breakthroughs.
Many enterprises have also successively announced their mass production plans. Sun Huajun, CTO of BYD Lithium Battery Co., LTD., disclosed that BYD plans to start batch demonstration and vehicle application around 2027 and is expected to achieve large-scale mass production around 2030.
Catl is mainly focusing on the sulfide route and is currently conducting trial production of 20-ampere-hour samples, with small-scale production expected in 2027. The choice of different technical routes reflects an enterprises own technological advantages, strategic planning and judgment of market demand. The proactive layout of these enterprises demonstrates the continuous rise in the popularity of all-solid-state batteries in the industrial sector and also shows people their firm steps towards mass production.
However, the goal of small-scale mass production in 2027 is not within reach. All-solid-state batteries still face many severe challenges in terms of technology, process and cost. These challenges are like numerous obstacles, standing in the way for all-solid-state batteries to move towards large-scale commercial application.
The technical bottleneck remains to be broken through and the cost remains high
The technological maturity, production process and high cost of solid-state batteries are the three major obstacles hindering their large-scale mass production. Among them, the cost issue is a major "roadblock" for the large-scale commercial application of all-solid-state batteries.
Miao Wei said that, on the whole, it will take two to three years for all-solid-state batteries to enter mass production. Previously, most of the solid-state batteries that some enterprises announced had been mass-produced and installed in vehicles were semi-solid-state batteries.
Miao Wei emphasized that the technological maturity, production process and high cost of solid-state batteries are the three major obstacles hindering their large-scale mass production.
The cost issue is a major "roadblock" for the large-scale commercial application of all-solid-state batteries. In terms of material costs, some high-priced rare metals such as zirconium and germanium may be used in the electrolytes of all-solid-state batteries. The scarcity and high cost of these rare metals keep the material costs of all-solid-state batteries at a high level.
Take sulfide electrolytes as an example. Their preparation process requires the use of raw materials such as lithium and sulfur. The prices of these raw materials fluctuate greatly, and with the increase in market demand, there is a further upward trend in prices.
Relevant data shows that without large-scale mass production, the material cost of all-solid-state batteries is approximately 1.5 to 2.5 yuan per watt-hour. In contrast, the current cost of a single liquid lithium-ion battery is roughly 0.5 yuan per watt-hour. This means that the material cost of a 100-degree all-solid-state battery pack alone could be as high as 150,000 to 250,000 yuan, several times that of a liquid battery pack. Such high material costs undoubtedly greatly increase the production cost of all-solid-state batteries, making them lack a price advantage in market competition. Therefore, for a considerable period of time, liquid batteries and solid-state batteries are likely to coexist in the market rather than replace each other. Miao Wei said.
The production technology of all-solid-state batteries has extremely high requirements, involving complex conditions such as high temperature and high pressure. This not only increases equipment investment but also significantly raises the production difficulty. Compared with the production process of traditional liquid batteries, the production process of all-solid-state batteries is more complex, requiring higher precision and stricter environmental control.
The preparation process of sulfide electrolytes needs to be carried out in a strictly anhydrous and oxygen-free environment to prevent sulfides from reacting with moisture and oxygen in the air, which could affect the performance of the electrolyte. This requires the provision of dedicated glove boxes and other equipment, which increases the investment cost of production equipment.
Miao Wei cautioned, "The fact that needs to be clarified is that semi-solid batteries still fall within the category of liquid batteries and cannot be confused with solid-state batteries." It is by no means the case that liquid batteries can evolve into solid-state batteries as the amount of electrolyte decreases. These are completely different concepts. He believes that, judging from the current global research and development progress of solid-state batteries, the technology and process of solid-state batteries are not yet mature. Generally speaking, small-scale production will not be achieved until around 2027, and it will take even longer to reach large-scale mass production.
Facing numerous technical challenges, enterprises and research institutions need to increase investment in research and development, conduct in-depth studies on various technical routes, and explore new materials and processes in order to break through the existing technological bottlenecks. According to Sun Huajun, BYD initiated the research and development of all-solid-state batteries as early as 2013. Through stages such as exploring technical routes and verifying feasibility, it has continuously invested resources in technological breakthroughs. Up to now, the company has achieved remarkable results in materials, electrodes and battery cells, laying a solid foundation for the industrialization of all-solid-state batteries. Increasing investment in research and development can also promote the rapid iteration of technology. Through continuous investment in research and development, enterprises and research institutions can constantly optimize material performance, improve processes, and enhance key performance indicators such as energy density, cycle life, and safety of all-solid-state batteries. This not only helps enhance the competitiveness of all-solid-state batteries in the market, but also promotes technological progress in the entire industry and accelerates the industrialization process of all-solid-state batteries.
The government should also introduce relevant policies to offer support such as R&D subsidies and tax incentives, and encourage enterprises and research institutions to increase their investment in R&D. Strengthen the formulation and supervision of industry standards, standardize market order, and create a favorable policy environment for the development of all-solid-state batteries. In January 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Peoples Bank of China, the National Financial Supervision and Administration Commission, and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of the Energy Electronics Industry", proposing to develop safe and economical new energy storage batteries, strengthen technological research and development for the industrialization of new energy storage batteries, and promote the large-scale application of advanced energy storage technologies and products. Accelerate the research and development of solid-state batteries and strengthen the research on the standard system of solid-state batteries. The introduction of this policy provides a clear guiding direction for the research and development and industrialization of all-solid-state batteries, and also offers policy support and guarantee for enterprises and research institutions.
Cooperation among industry, academia and research institutions is also an important way to accelerate the transformation and application of technologies. Universities and research institutions have profound capabilities in basic research and can provide theoretical support and technical reserves for the development of all-solid-state batteries. Enterprises have an advantage in industrial application and can quickly transform scientific research achievements into actual products. Through cooperation among industry, academia and research institutions, complementary advantages can be achieved, accelerating the technological innovation and industrialization process of all-solid-state batteries.
Wang Deping, chief scientist of FAW Group and director of the National Key Laboratory of High-End Automotive Integration and Control of the R&D Institute, suggested that the industry should accelerate the formulation of standards, the layout of intellectual property rights and industrial collaboration, actively participate in the formulation of international standards, and continuously achieve a virtuous cycle of the entire industrial upgrading through breakthroughs in key technologies and cross-field engineering technology research and development. Continue to maintain Chinas leading position in power batteries.
"China Workers Review
AI+ Solid-State Battery
How can China take the lead in the intelligent race of the new energy revolution
At a time when the global new energy vehicle industry is confronted with range anxiety and safety bottlenecks, an energy storage revolution driven by artificial intelligence is quietly rewriting the rules of competition. Chinas scientific research strength has leveraged AI technology to push the development of solid-state batteries into the "overtaking lane". In this transformation, the open-source practice of the domestic large model DeepSeek not only reveals a new path for technological breakthroughs but also highlights Chinas unique innovative advantages in the new energy revolution.
Solid-state batteries have long been trapped in the "impossible triangle" of energy density, cycle life and manufacturing cost. The traditional R&D model faces huge challenges in material screening, interface optimization, process verification and other links. Take electrolyte development as an example. Researchers need to screen among candidate materials on the scale of 10 to 23, which is equivalent to searching for a specific grain of sand in the Pacific Ocean.
Traditional battery research and development relies on the "trial and error method" and the linear mode of "experimental verification + simulation", which takes a lot of time in material selection, formula optimization and other links, is inefficient and requires expensive high-end instruments. For the research and development of battery materials based on artificial intelligence, an automated laboratory can be established, with robots conducting high-throughput experiments and generating experimental data continuously for 24 hours. Artificial intelligence processes the experimental spectra and extracts technical parameters, which are then input into the simulation platform for calculation and optimization design. If the plan is not satisfactory, it will be automatically iterated. Feasible plans will directly enter the preparation stage, forming an efficient R&D closed loop. "Literature is read by AI, reports are written by AI, models are calculated by AI, and designs are done by AI." The latest practice by the team led by Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor at Tsinghua University, Ouyang Minggao, has confirmed this breakthrough: by integrating AI prediction with an automated experimental platform, the research and development cycle of solid electrolytes has been shortened from 18 months to 45 days, and the research and development cost has been reduced by 83%. This closed-loop model of "computational design - intelligent synthesis - automatic verification" is reshaping the research and development paradigm of materials science.
Professor Zhang Qiangs team from Tsinghua University, leveraging an AI high-throughput computing platform, screened out 250,000 electrolyte candidate materials in just 1/300 of the time required by traditional methods. Behind this efficiency leap lies the deep integration of generative AI and molecular dynamics simulation. What is more worthy of attention is that the domestic open-source large model DeepSeek has increased the semantic understanding accuracy of the material database to 92% by building a professional domain knowledge graph, enabling the machine to independently generate suggestions for material synthesis paths.
In the race of AI-enabled hard technology, DeepSeeks open-source strategy holds strategic significance. Unlike the "generalization" feature of general large models, BatteryGPT, a vertical model developed for materials science, has demonstrated a 95% accuracy rate in professional tasks such as interface reaction prediction by introducing a physical-constrained neural network architecture. The entry of such "professional players" is triggering changes.
Open-source platforms have lowered the threshold for small and medium-sized enterprises to access AI research and development. A start-up company utilized the DeepSeek-Math model to optimize the lattice structure of cathode materials, completing a research and development project that traditionally required an investment of 50 million yuan with just 2 million yuan. This kind of "computing power equality" is changing the competitive landscape of the industry. The "data silos" in traditional scientific research are being broken down. The battery knowledge federation system built by DeepSeek enables enterprises to share experimental data while protecting data privacy, thereby increasing the overall R&D efficiency of the industry by 40%. The formation of this "competitive and cooperative ecosystem" marks the shift of industrial innovation from zero-sum games to symbiotic evolution. The research team is transforming towards a "human-machine collaboration" model. The "AI+ Materials" cross-disciplinary team formed by CATL has tripled the collaborative efficiency between data scientists and electrochemical experts. This human capital reconstruction is giving rise to a new generation of "super researchers".
Byds intelligent process optimization system, by leveraging reinforcement learning algorithms, has increased the electrode coating yield from 88% to 99.5%. Even more revolutionary is that the AI-driven digital twin system has shortened the trial production cycle by 60%, which means that the time to market for new products has been significantly advanced. Nios newly released "AI-BMS" system achieves a battery life prediction error of less than 3% through transfer learning, which directly leads to a 15% increase in the residual value rate of used cars. When AI begins to redefine the full life cycle value of batteries, the business logic of new energy vehicles is undergoing fundamental changes.
However, in this AI-driven carnival, we still need to be vigilant against the illusion of a "technological utopia". Ouyang Minggao pointed out that although DeepSeek performed outstandingly in battery knowledge Q&A and battery document mining. However, in the application of innovative all-solid-state battery design, it only has the ability to summarize and lacks the ability to innovate. Therefore, we cannot rely solely on DeepSeek; it is also necessary to further develop large models in vertical fields.
Although the DeepSeek open-source model has lowered the technical threshold, the industry still lacks a unified data standard. The high-precision electrolyte data of a leading enterprise contains over 2,000 patent barriers. This kind of "data feudalism" may slow down the overall technological progress.
There is still a 12% deviation between the lithium metal deposition morphology predicted by AI and the experimental results, indicating that pure data-driven approaches have theoretical limitations. As Professor Zhang Qiang said, "We need to develop the third-generation AI model that integrates the first principles."
Standing at the critical point of the new energy revolution, the integration of AI and solid-state batteries is opening up a greater space for imagination. In this transformation, Chinas unique advantages have gradually emerged: a complete lithium battery industrial chain, the worlds largest new energy vehicle market, a top-notch reserve of AI talents, and a technological ecosystem built by open-source platforms such as DeepSeek.
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finances prediction, by 2030, AI-driven research and development will advance the commercialization process of solid-state batteries by 3 to 5 years, and China is expected to capture 60% of the global market share. This is not only a victory in technological competition, but also indicates that in the global energy landscape of the zero-carbon era, China is transforming from a follower of rules to a standard setter. When AI meets solid-state batteries, what we see is not only the future of new energy vehicles, but also a strategic choice for a country to achieve industrial upgrading through scientific and technological innovation. In this once-in-a-century energy revolution, Chinas "intelligent breakthrough" has only just begun.
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