China's new solid-state battery task force enlists BYD and CATL to keep it the EV leader

After a successful strategy to get at the forefront of the electric vehicle revolution, China now wants to become the leader in its next phase, the solid-state battery.

The government gathered more than 200 stakeholders from the industry, public sector, and academia to create the China All-Solid-State Battery Collaborative Innovation Platform (CASIP).

BYD and CATL to make solid-state batteries

China's solid-state battery initiative enlists the world's two largest EV battery companies CATL and BYD. The state wants to have a whole commercial supply chain up and running by 2030 as it wants to keep its current EV competitive advantage.

"China has been leading the world in new-energy vehicles because of its advanced battery technology," said the head of China EV100, a public-private partnership think tank that studies EV industrial policy. "We need to be prepared for the risk that all-solid-state battery technology could overturn [our lead]," added professor Ouyang Minggao during CASIP's inaugural ceremony at Tsinghua University.

China is afraid that it may fall behind Japan or others in solid-state battery research and commercialization. Japanese companies like Toyota are the world's largest holders of solid-state battery patents and Toyota even plans to have an EV with all-solid-state electrolyte cells on the market by 2027.

That's not to say that Chinese companies are sitting still when it comes to solid-state battery production plans. EV makers like NIO already sell cars with hybrid solid-liquid electrolyte battery while its ET7 sedan just completed a real world driving test with a 150kWh one that managed to cover 653 miles of range on a charge.

There are several companies in China that are investing in solid-state battery factories, too, and Chinese factories are expected to have 500 GWh capacity by 2030. There are even fears of solid-state battery oversupply and this is why the Chinese government intends to manage the process in order to remain a leader in the next big phase of the EV revolution.

After all, it managed to steer its automotive industry to become a leader in the span of a decade, with both the world's largest EV maker and its biggest battery manufacturers hailing from China as result.

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