Chery Rhino S solid-state battery with record energy density set to power 800-mile EV in 2027

After Toyota, CATL, and Samsung set 2027 as the year when they will start mass solid-state battery production to put vehicles powered by the solid electrolyte technology on the road, a new competitor has now appeared, threatening to one-up their efforts.

The biggest car exporter in China - Chery - which sold more than 1.2 million vehicles globally in the first half of the year alone, has now unveiled its own solid-state battery with polymerized electrolyte and manganese cathode.

The so-called Rhino S unit utilizes a novel polymer electrolyte, similar to the flexible solid-state battery prototype announced recently by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The polymerization improves ion conductivity and reduces transfer times, leading to higher energy density in the same footprint. The other secret is adding manganese to the cathode, similar to the battery that GM and LG developed for factory production in the US.

Thanks to the novel solid electrolyte and cathode material combo, the Rhino S battery has achieved a 600 Wh/kg energy density that approaches the theoretical limits of the current solid-state battery technology. Granted, the flexible solid-state battery with polymer electrolyte designed by CAS has exhibited the potential for up to 86% energy density increase compared to the solid-state batteries announced so far, but it is still in the lab and prototyping stage.

Chery, on the other hand, will start pilot production of its Rhino S solid-state battery cells with 600 Wh/kg energy density next year, and will begin installing it in vehicles in 2027. Since solid-state batteries are rather pricey to manufacture at low volume, juggernauts like CATL or Tesla's supplier Panasonic have pegged them more suitable for applications where volumetric density is of paramount importance, like drones or humanoid robots.

Toyota has also inferred that its first cars with solid-state battery will be premium vehicles under the Lexus brand, while pointing out that hybrid vehicles, of which Chery exports boatloads of, are another possible launch avenue. When it comes to current mass market EV battery technologies, Chery had little chance against established names like CATL or BYD, so it decided to act as a startup and bet its sizable R&D efforts on an upcoming technology like solid-state batteries instead.

Its Rhino S battery has been subjected to the extreme temperature and nail penetration tests already, and passed them with flying colors, paving the way for pilot production at Chery's Anwa New Energy Technology facilities slated for March. The first generation of solid-state batteries had energy density of 350 Wh/kg, while the likes of Samsung, Toyota, or CATL, have all stated a goal to achieve commercially viable solid-state batteries with 500 Wh/kg energy density by 2028.

China wants to lead the way to the next EV battery frontier, and has established a national task force to spearhead solid-state battery development. According to a new report in state media, those efforts are now jumping from the lab into real world applications. "Previously, a 100-kilogram battery could only support a maximum range of 500 kilometers, but now it is expected to exceed the 1,000-kilometer limit," reads the report.

Chery's Rhino S is a next generation solid-state battery with the highest density for a production-ready technology announced so far. With its 600 Wh/kg solid-state battery, Chery is now aiming to test 800-mile electric vehicles, which will go a long way towards eradicating range anxiety as solid-state batteries are inherently safer than current EV batteries and can charge much faster, too. The only pressing question is how will the first mass-produced electric vehicles with solid-state battery be priced when they land some time in 2027.