GAC beating Toyota to solid-state battery EV with 600-mile range thanks to large-capacity cell breakthrough
The company that announced the first electric SUV with 600 miles of range on a charge has now unveiled a solid-state EV battery breakthrough ready for mass production.
GAC's Aion EV division has developed what it claims is the world's first large-capacity battery cell with all-solid electrolyte. The 400 Wh/kg battery packs made with the new 30 Ah solid-state cells are apparently ready to enter production for its future vehicles, too.
The first production car with a solid-state battery would come under its Hyper brand of performance EVs, and will be released in 2026, says GAC. That's earlier than Toyota's stated goal of outing the first electric car with a true solid-state battery in 2027.
At the unveiling event, GAC said developing the battery with 3rd-gen sponge silicon anode and solid-state electrolyte was as hard as climbing Everest. In order to solve the mass production viability of the technology, it apparently "made breakthroughs in energy density, safety and manufacturing, easily achieving over 1,000 kilometers [626 miles] of battery range."
That's probably on the Chinese CLTC cycle driving mix, though, while an EPA estimate of the range wouldn't be that impressive. Still, compared to today's 300-mile EVs, the Hyper-branded car with GAC's solid-state battery would probably cover 450 miles with the same battery footprint.
GAC confirmed so, saying that the volumetric energy density of a solid-state battery pack with its 30 Ah cells is 52% higher than that of current ternary lithium batteries in performance EVs.
The solid-state battery industry is gradually getting out of the lab in China, and into production plans. There are several solid-state battery projects now moved from the prototype to the pilot production stage. China even fears overcapacity at some point, just as what happened with all other aspects of its EV and battery revolution.
The world's largest EV battery maker CATL, however, sounded cautious about any imminent proliferation of cars with solid-state batteries. It said they are very hard to produce en masse and rather expensive still, so it is betting on sodium-ion batteries and on cells with semi-solid electrolyte in the meantime. Previously, CATL said that it only expects solid-state batteries to go into mass market electric vehicles after 2030.
