Solid-state battery powers lifelike Iron humanoid robot set to beat Tesla Optimus to mass production

One of the most innovative EV startups in China - XPeng - unveiled a new Iron humanoid robot generation that seem to give Tesla Optimus a run for its money, putting Elon Musk's lofty promises for trillion dollars of valuation added by it under scrutiny.

Scheduled for mass production in late 2026, the Iron robot can sport custom anthropomorphic designs, including of a female figure that sparked intense online debate if XPeng had hidden a human inside. An employee had to then unzip its artificial mesh skin to reveal robot innards.

The brain of XPeng's second-gen Iron robot is formed by three custom Turing AI chips that offer 3,000 TOPS of computing power when combined, while its "face" is a curved OLED display. The robot's body comes with 82 degrees of freedom, while the all-important robotic hand features the world's tiniest harmonic joint and 22 degrees of freedom, or as many as Tesla Optimus.

Apart from the smooth and silent catwalk demonstration, XPeng bragged with the all-solid-state battery that powers the new Iron humanoid robot. Major battery makers like CATL have pegged solid-state batteries more suitable for applications where energy density if of utmost importance, like drones or robots, rather than electric cars, and XPeng has heard the call.

A solid-state battery can reach more than 500 Wh/kg energy density, or double the capacity of the battery that powers Tesla Optimus, all in the same footprint. This has allowed XPeng to miniaturize other bodily dimensions of the humanoid robot and equip it with "humanoid spine and bionic muscles." It has also enveloped Iron with artificial flexible "skin," not unlike the adult Optimus bodysuit available on Amazon, to achieve a high level of anthropomorphism compared to other such efforts.

The Iron robot may become the first mass-produced humanoid robot of a new generation, beating Tesla to the punch if manufacturing starts next year as envisaged. XPeng plans to monetize its new physical AI platform, as housed in a robot body, by providing businesses with Iron as a tourist guide, traffic cop, or a shopping advisor.