Sodium-ion EV batteries and semi-solid electrolyte are CATL's bets as it scoffs at the solid-state battery craze

Despite the multiple solid-state EV battery projects in China that even sparked overcapacity fears, the CEO of the world's biggest battery maker CATL doesn't consider them a viable technology just yet.

Toyota and Samsung, for instance, have announced solid-state battery breakthroughs that would allow their commercialization by 2027.

However, Toyota itself admits it may only be able to make a few thousand vehicles at the beginning, and in the premium Lexus brand at that.

CEO Robin Zeng now tells why that might be the case, and informs that CATL itself has been working on solid-state batteries for a decade with little commercial success:

We fully support solid-state, but I have been investing in this for 10 years. I watch the development people working on solid-state almost every month, so I know all the progress, and somehow we still have these showstoppers.

"So people push on this, but I tell them CATL already spent 10 years," he added, citing the enormous amount of pressure needed to create solid-state electrolyte and the cost of lithium electrodes, as well as the overall stability of the battery if the metal is exposed to moisture.

"Then they test and [say] oh, very good, the ion transfer is very good," says Zeng about the prototype tech that creates pressurized solid-state battery electrolyte. Unfortunately, CATL's experience showed that batteries created with the process "cannot last many cycles, maybe 10 cycles," referring to the charging endurance. "So, how can you make it commercially viable," asks CATL's CEO rhetorically.

Many battery startups beg to differ, and there are plenty of solid-state battery technologies that are now advancing from prototypes to the mass production stage, so it remains to be seen if Zeng will be right about the commercial viability of solid-state batteries.

Last year, CATL scooped 37% of the world's battery market, and the company's slow and steady approach of perfecting existing or creating interim technologies has so far proven to be a winner. Just like Toyota warned that the EV transition will have to be more gradual, and recently gloated it has been proven right, CATL's balancing act between mass production and the technology lab utopia seems to be paying off.

Sodium-ion and semi-solid batteries prove viable

When NIO approached it to develop a 150 kWh pack with semi-solid electrolyte for 600-mile EV range, CATL reportedly turned it down, citing prohibitive costs for resource allocation away from the tons of orders it has for existing customers. NIO then developed it with a startup, but it took years of work on a pack that costs as much as the car itself, and which just started mass production.

Thus, CATL may be proven right in its original assessment that mass production of electric cars with solid-state batteries won't come before 2030. Instead, CATL is now betting on the cheaper sodium-ion technology for more affordable electric cars, while for the premium segment it has been developing semi solid-state batteries.

In China, this reportedly means battery packs with 95% solid-state electrolyte, and CATL says it has been able to double the energy density of existing EV batteries this way.

CATL's next generation of sodium-ion battery and the interim technology with semi-solid electrolyte are already advancing to the production stage, informed CEO Robin Zeng, remaining mum on their exact energy density specs until the official announcements.

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