Posted on 10/24/2025 8:37:18 PM PDT by Red Badger
Chery Automobile, a Chinese automaker, recently released a prototype solid-state battery that offers double the energy density of current EV batteries.
Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story.
* Solid-state batteries are the next quantum leap for EVs, unlocking more range, performance, and longevity.
* Chery Automobile’s prototype battery module boasts a 600 Wh/Kg energy density—double the energy density of most current EV batteries.
* Chery’s new battery is also puncture-resistant, significantly reducing the risk of fire should any of the cells be damaged.
==============================================
Energy density is the latest hot pursuit for unlocking more range and performance in electric vehicles. Measured in Watt Hours per Kilogram (Wh/Kg), energy density is effectively just the power-to-weight ratio of a battery system. Chery Automobile is one of many Chinese EV manufacturers leading the solid-state charge, no pun intended, recently unveiling its new prototype battery with an energy density of 600 Wh/Kg—double the energy density of most current EV batteries. For context, the nickel-cobalt-aluminum batteries, often found in Tesla’s Long-Range and Performance models, have a 200-260 Wh/Kg energy density.
Increased energy density equals more available range and performance.
Thankfully, solid-state batteries offer several advantages over traditional liquid-electrolyte batteries beyond just energy density. Critically, solid-state batteries bring significantly less fire risk as a solid electrolyte (the medium that enables a battery to charge and discharge) isn’t flammable. This new battery architecture also offers increased thermal stability, lowering the chances of thermal runaway—a process that ends with the battery bursting into flames. Last but not least, solid electrolytes will also allow the batteries of the future to be formed into much more complex shapes.
The Best Solid State Solution We’ve Seen?
https://twitter.com/Element25Ltd/status/1980412836506660923
View full post on X
According to a number of Chinese news sites, the new battery could offer 1,300 kilometers (807.7 miles) of real-world driving range. For context, the Lucid Air Grand Touring is the current range king, able to do over 500 miles on a single charge. Regardless, solid-state batteries will also allow for faster charge times—four to six times faster in some cases. Plain and simple, solid electrolytes provide a safer and more stable environment for lithium ions to move through, enabling faster charging. The keen among you will know that solid-state battery advantages span much further than just charging, discharging, and durability.
Reports show Chery’s battery running flawlessly through a nail penetration test, also shaking off damage from a power drill without catching fire or producing any mystery smoke. However, even with a promising proof of concept, there’s still some assembly required before we’ll see these battery packs in production vehicles. Car News China reports that Chery plans to launch a pilot program in 2026, followed by a large-scale rollout in 2027. Should everything go smoothly, Chery could potentially jump major Chinese competitors like BYD and CATL to large-scale solid-state battery production. That would be tremendous, but we should clarify that this is far from a three-horse race.
What Does The Competition Look Like?
Toyota is another major player in the solid-state battery game. While smaller companies like Chery Automobile are moving fast and iterating on prototypes, Toyota is leading the way in patent activity; as it stands, the Japanese automaker has 1,700 patents related to solid-state battery tech, with over 1,500 of them active. Despite the brand’s current diversified approach to electrification, nailing solid-state batteries on the first try could make Toyota a major EV superpower—able to compete with the rock-solid competition coming from China.
Solid State Batteries Are The Future of EVs
Toyota recently announced a strategic partnership with Idemitsu Kosan, a Japanese energy company that can assist them with rolling out solid-state batteries as soon as 2027. Chery Automobile’s prototype currently boasts the highest energy density, but it remains to be seen how the brand plans to integrate the technology into a production vehicle.
How Did We Get Solid-State Batteries to Work Properly?
Engineers faced considerable challenges getting solid-state batteries to work. Like any cutting-edge technology, development is a long and expensive process, with solid-state batteries costing up to 2.8 times more than a legacy liquid-electrolyte lithium-ion pack. The extra expense comes mostly from the sulfide materials these new batteries need under the skin and low production yields.
Like many engineering challenges, the payoff from the number crunching needed to get these batteries to behave will be well worth the effort; once dialed in, the batteries of the future will offer more range and better longevity while being considerably less incendiary than their legacy lithium counterparts.
“solid-state batteries will also allow for faster charge times—four to six times faster in some cases.”
What are they going to draw while charging... 1000 amps?
Plug in a bunch of those and watch the grid go down.
Wow. Finally caught up with my 2001 TDI VW New Beetle for milage. That only took 24 years.
The power lines will be glowing red..................
Yeah sure, I want a lithem battery just like these...
Recent Spate Of Lithium Battery Fires On Planes Concerns Aviation Pros
Yes, yes lets all buy some mainland chinese ccp tofu lithium battery’s....Oh yeah got to get me sum of those....
Delta at least makes announcements telling you not to put cell phone battery packs in the overhead compartments.
Yep, this is not new! Sane story was put out months ago. There is no such thing and it is just the green nuts trying to save the failing EV market.
They still have to make the electricity to charge it.
The longevity of the charge does not speak to many other problems with EVs like time to charge, availability of charging stations, expansion of the grid to service the electrical needs of the consumers, price of these new EVs, insurance premium increases to cover the EVs and homes with charging stations, etc.
I don’t doubt that EVs will be with us in the future but I doubt that only EV powered vehicles with absolutely no ICE powered vehicles will ever be a thing. Energy density and other things drive vehicle design will of necessity include hydrocarbons as a fuel source - unless we discover dilithium crystals (/tic). Barring that discovery, the proliferation of EV/ICE hybrids (ie:Toyota) will most likely be the winning evolutionary path.
If they invented a battery that never ran out I wouldn’t by an EV.
Now how about putting that technology into cell phones?
“Used to be a fine magazine, now the Chinese Communist Peoples Mechanics”
Owned by the Hearst family. Not to say it hasn’t gone downhill.
Just when we were coming up with a million good reasons against EVs, now they come up with one vote for them.
Later.
Thanks to the free traitors, the money that would have gone into building our infrastructure is going into China's instead.
Meanwhile, we had to raise the debt limit last year just to pay the interest on all of that money we borrowed.
True that. The grid is not ready for EV's to be prime time. I'll use my own home charging as an example. Home charging is at near 10kW and is a lot less kW than roadside fast charging, but it's where most charging is done anyway. Thus, if talking about grid demand IMHO that's the Achilles heal of everyone switching to EV.
In the past 12 months we've consumed 5,335 kWh just for charging our EV at home. Granted that was for driving almost 18K miles this year (just on home charged miles in the past 12 months Nov - Oct). That comes out to an extra 15kWh per day that would have been pulled from the grid (if I didn't have solar).
And since virtually all EV owners schedule their EV to charge at night to be charged to 80% shortly before they leave for work or whatever, they're all charging at pretty much the same time at about 10kW .... every night .... when the sun isn't up powering the solar panels they expect the grid to depend on. The idea is that the longevity of the battery is enhanced if it's at 50% to 60% charged for more hours of the day. So when you get home with 50% or so charge, the EV owner would rather it stay like that until shortly before the EV is needed for the next drive. Thus, almost all EV owners are charging at around 3 AM to 6 AM every night/early morning. (Again, I'm an off case because I almost always charge mine at day when the sun is out.)
Almost every EV owner X 10kW or so for level 2 home charging would add up significantly to the grid demand if even 10% of car owners switched to EV. And that's without getting into taking the EV on trips and doing 200kW or more road side charging. (Our EV charges max 240kW on a level 3 fast DC charger. But even that is a fairly brief period in the charging process. If I get a 150kW charger I'll still be back on the road with an 85% charge in 10-15 minutes, which is about how long it takes to use the restroom and walk around a couple of minutes like I do anyway if I take the gas pickup on a road trip.) Of course, that's without taking road trips up north in the cold weather in which the charging would be a lot slower. The couple of posts I'm replying to is about grid demand, so we'll focus on optimum but realistic charging speeds.
IMHO, the grid demand for a fast road-side charging array is quite significant, but not as much as home charging for the reason addressed above. Most EV owners charge at home except for when taking long trips. The long lines at chargers is mainly during the intro period of getting a new EV when you get free charging for a year or two at a place like Electrify America (the EPA's version of forcing Volkswagen to pay penance for the dieselgate scandal). So some new EV owners were choosing to fast charger their EV even for local driving, but that free charging subscription lasts only a year or two. And the charging arrays throttled down the charging speeds if all chargers were being used simultaneously. Home charging doesn't have the automatic throttling down of charging speeds to keep from overtaxing the grid. So in the end, what we're talking about for grid demand is still back at home charging, even though it's slower per EV, it happens with almost all EV's at the same time...every night.
I hardly ever hear anybody mention the infrastructure itself being in need of upgrade.
Wires can carry only so much current before they become glowing fuses.
There are actual fuses in the system that will blow and save the wiring from melting down.
Wires of a certain size can carry only so much current before it becomes a red hot heating element.
The grid was never designed to carry the amount of current that will be necessary to charge millions of EVs simultaneously.
Ohm’s Law will not be ignored.
Most homes built before 2000 were wired for 100 amp service. That’s 12 kW per home. Newer homes are typically wired for 200 amp service, that’s 24 kW.
Now imagine every home in a 500 unit subdivision all having EVs charging at the same time, regardless of time of day.
Transformers, relays and the wires themselves will all need to be replaced with bigger and more powerful counterparts, else they will be burning out or popping line fuses all night long.
And this will have to happen all across the country.
The power utility companies will naturally have to pass along these upgrade costs to the consumers, even those that do not own an EV.
Utilities that are owned by local governments will have political problems with their electorate screaming for relief.
The trick will always be finding a working charger.
That is why the transmission lines operate at obscene voltages and transformers are used to step the voltage up and down. AC is used so that the transformers work.
An EV nut wants to make gas pumps as slow as EV charging ,LOL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.