The electric vehicle boom has given birth to the development of different technologies for power batteries. Under the current supply situation of power batteries with liquid electrolyte as the mainstream, there is another technical force. There are already testers who have "laid the foreshadowing" and are bound to participate in the next step. in the race to the next generation of battery technology. Speaking of which, everyone is not unfamiliar, that is, the solid-state battery technology that has been hot in recent years.
Unlike liquid electrolyte lithium batteries, solid-state batteries are batteries that use solid electrodes and solid electrolytes. From the perspective of development stage, solid-state batteries will go through the research and development process from semi-solid-state batteries with solid-liquid mixed electrolytes to all-solid-state batteries.
What we have learned so far is that all-solid-state batteries have the advantages of higher energy density, smaller size, and better fast charging performance. Vehicles equipped with all-solid-state batteries will also have longer mileage and faster charging. Therefore, the technical route of solid-state batteries has been valued by the industry, and many leading companies have officially announced "bet".
Recently, the collective efforts of the three Japanese giants to develop solid-state batteries have attracted much attention.
On April 12, Honda announced its solid-state battery promotion plan, “It will invest about 43 billion yen (about 2.13 billion yuan) to build an all-solid-state battery demonstration production line, which will be launched in the spring of 2024 and will be applied to the batteries launched after 2025. in the model."
Toyota plans to achieve small-scale mass production of all-solid-state batteries by 2025, first on hybrid models; by 2030, it plans to achieve mass-production of all-solid-state batteries.
Nissan said in its "Nissan Motor 2030 Vision" released in November last year that it plans to build a solid-state battery pilot plant in Yokohama in 2024, and will launch an electric model equipped with an all-solid-state battery in 2028. Nissan has unveiled a prototype production plant for its stacked all-solid-state battery (ASSB).
In addition to the company's announcement of the timetable, according to the latest news, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will provide about 151 billion yen (about 7.49 billion yuan) to Nissan and Honda to support the development of all-solid-state batteries by these two companies.
At present, in the research and development of solid-state batteries, Japan has formed a preliminary pattern of car companies leading and participating in research and development, and financial support at the national level.
In the face of the influx of Japanese car companies, Korean companies are not to be outdone.
Hyundai plans to trial production of electric vehicles equipped with solid-state batteries in 2025, partial mass production in 2027, and full mass production around 2030.
In addition to car companies, South Korean top battery companies have also expressed their opinions. Among them, LG New Energy plans to achieve mass production of polymer-based all-solid-state batteries by 2026, and mass production of more advanced sulfide-based all-solid-state batteries by 2030. A solid-state battery R&D base will be set up in Germany this year as part of its mass production plan.
Samsung SDI is also seizing new technology opportunities. On April 14, it announced that the all-solid-state battery trial production line in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea has started.
SK On set up a research center in December last year for the research and development of silicon anodes, high-nickel cathodes, metal lithium and other technologies, and will establish a trial production line designed for soft-pack batteries in the center, which will also be used for testing solid-state batteries. It is expected to be put into operation in the first half of 2022.
It is worth noting that some upstream material companies have also followed up. Posco announced that it has started the construction of a solid electrolyte plant in South Korea, which will have an annual production capacity of 24 tons of solid electrolyte after production, and will cooperate with battery companies to develop solid-state batteries for electric vehicles.
It can be seen that, unlike Japan, Korean battery and material companies are more active.
In fact, not only Japanese and South Korean companies, but also leading battery and vehicle companies from more countries have joined the research and development queue based on their optimism about cutting-edge technologies, setting off a global upsurge in solid-state battery research and development.
Porsche announced in March this year to cooperate with Quantumscape to develop an electric version of the 911 model, which is planned to be equipped with solid-state batteries; Mercedes-Benz and Huineng Technology will spend nearly 100 million euros to bet on solid-state batteries; and earlier, BMW, Ford and other car companies have also stated that they plan to implement solid-state batteries in vehicles within 2022 and conduct actual working conditions tests.
The active layout of many leading companies in the industry chain has brought a signal to the industry: the battle for the next generation of power battery technology after 2025 has quietly kicked off.
However, there are many participants who have made great efforts to advance, and there are also enterprises that retreat in spite of difficulties.
Fisker, an American electric vehicle start-up, said at the end of last year that it would abandon the research and development of solid-state batteries. Henrik Fisker, founder of Fisker, believes that "solid-state battery technology is when you think you have completed 90%, almost reaching the goal, and then realize that the remaining 10% is much more difficult than the previous 90%, so We chose to give up because it really couldn’t be implemented.” In fact, Fisker has been researching and developing solid-state batteries for several years before, and originally planned to install solid-state batteries on one of its new cars.
As Henrik Fiske said, it is very difficult to break through the bottleneck of solid-state battery technology, and it also needs to achieve high safety indicators. The head of Nissan's solid-state battery development said not long ago, "Solid-state batteries have twice the energy density of current lithium batteries, and are like a more dangerous potential 'bomb'. If a major accident occurs, solid-state batteries may be more catastrophic than current batteries. sex."
Therefore, although the vision of solid-state batteries is beautiful, it is difficult to achieve it in one step. After weighing the pros and cons, all companies are basically in the research and development stage of semi-solid-state batteries and make technical reserves for all-solid-state batteries. In this field, Chinese enterprises started not too late.
Companies including Funeng Technology, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Huineng Technology, Ganfeng Lithium Battery, Qingtao Energy, Weilan New Energy and other companies have already laid out the development of solid-state/semi-solid-state batteries, and cooperated with some car companies in research and development.
In January 2021, NIO released a 150kWh solid-state battery pack, which can achieve an energy density of 360Wh/kg, and is scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2022.
In terms of domestic battery companies, it is understood that Guoxuan Hi-Tech has developed semi-solid battery products with an energy density greater than 360Wh/kg, which have been recognized by car companies.
In January this year, Funeng Technology's first-generation semi-solid battery (energy density of 330Wh/kg) has received good feedback from car companies that sent samples. The energy density research and development target in the next stage will be increased to 400Wh/kg.
In the same month, the first batch of 50 Dongfeng E70 electric vehicles equipped with Ganfeng's first-generation semi-solid batteries were delivered. At present, Ganfeng Lithium Battery is developing the second-generation semi-solid battery. The positive electrode will use high nickel ternary, and the negative electrode will contain metallic lithium. The energy density of the product is targeted to exceed 350Wh/kg.
In February this year, Qingtao Energy invested 5 billion yuan in the solid-state battery project in Kunshan, with a planned production capacity of 10GWh.
In addition, before Hui Neng Technology received nearly 100 million euros of investment from Mercedes-Benz, it has cooperated with NIO, AIWAYS, and Enovate in the field of solid-state batteries.
Driven by the needs of car companies and battery companies, material companies have also taken action. It is reported that Tianci Materials has patented layouts on solid/semi-solid electrolytes; Rongbai Technology said that its high-nickel ternary materials can be used in semi-solid batteries, and have participated in the collaborative development of downstream battery companies.
Benefiting from the cluster advantages of the battery industry chain, my country is dominated by the research and development of battery companies, and the linkage pattern between upstream material companies and downstream car companies has initially formed.
The industry generally believes that the practical application prospects of solid-state batteries are around 2030. SNE Research expects the global all-solid-state battery market to reach 30 GWh by 2025 and 160.1 GWh by 2030.
It can be seen that the mass production of solid-state batteries still has a long way to go, and the competitive landscape has not yet formed. According to incomplete statistics, at present, more than 30 companies around the world have carried out the initial layout of solid-state battery technology and production lines, and all want to build their own "technical barriers". Breakers need to solve a series of problems such as the iteration of solid electrolyte materials, or will occupy the first-mover advantage of industrialization.
