Chinese electric automaker NIO’s battery supplier WeLion appears to have already surpassed Japanese legacy automaker Toyota in developing a solid-state battery that can support a driving range of up to 1,000 kilometers between charges.
It aims to go public by 2025 as it expects major automakers to support its next-gen battery cells that can address the most common customer concern with EVs – range. In the same year, the Chinese battery maker aims to boost its revenue by 20 times to 10 billion yuan (R25.73 billion) to fund its business goals, WeLion CEO and Chief Scientist Li Hong stated in an interview.
The company apparently secured 15.7 billion yuan in its latest funding round, as disclosed by Mr. Li Hong.
Solid-state battery development race: WeLion-NIO vs. Toyota
Solid-state batteries are gaining prevalence recently as many industry players believe that this battery technology can significantly raise an EV’s driving range due to its high energy density.
These new-gen batteries have high-voltage and high amounts of cathodes that substantially improve battery performance, BloombergNEF indicated.
In that sense, Toyota recently announced a battery breakthrough involving a pure solid-state battery that claims to have a driving range of 745 miles between charges. The development does not stop there, as Toyota aims to further increase that driving range capacity to 1,450km.
However, the Japanese automaker’s plans to launch these batteries in its next-gen electric vehicles in 2028 lag behind WeLion, which already deploys its batteries in a mass-produced NIO EV.
There is currently no company to bring their solid-state battery to mass production. However, it must be noted that WeLion’s semi-solid state battery cell has already reached that level with NIO’s new ES6 SUV in May.
WeLion’s battery details
NIO ES6’s 150 kWh WeLion battery offers a driving range of 1,000 km between charges, indicating a significant advantage over Lucid Air Dream Edition R’s 840km range and Tesla Model S’ 640km range. Notably, the battery cell has an energy density of 360Wh per kilogram, Mr. Li Hong boasted.
That energy density is substantially higher than the Tesla-developed 4680 battery cell’s estimated 300Wh/kg, Shinyoung Securities claims.
“WeLion isn’t the first company to successfully deliver commercialised semi-solid state batteries, but its 360Wh per kilogram reached the highest energy density among current commercialised EV battery cells.
Nio has a standard size for battery packs, but WeLion’s cell managed to put more energy into the same volume, and that it is a success.”
Jiayan Shi, BNEF analyst
Given the solid-state batteries” offered benefits, many industry players like VW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Geely, and Xiaomi are gaining considerable interest in this battery tech.
That said, WeLion aims to erect four additional battery factories in China to accelerate its annual battery capacity to 30GWh by 2025, a substantial advancement from just 6GWh currently.
However, solid-state batteries are more expensive due to their high cost of production. That considered, companies like WeLion may struggle to actually overthrow traditional li-ion batteries in the market.
“A key is whether customers would be willing to pay for the high price for EVs with solid-state batteries, just because of the long range. Companies like WeLion will have to target luxury cars only. It’sIt’s not easy for them to lower prices.”
James Lee, KB Securities analyst
See Also:
- US Department of Energy grants Solid Power over $5 million for Solid State batteries
- ProLogium Technology’s solid-state battery project secures €1.5 billion from the EU
- Samsung SDI plans to begin mass production of solid-state batteries by 2027
- NIO to equip its EVs with 150 kWh solid-state batteries
- Toyota introduces solid-state battery technology with a 745-mile range and 10-min charge time
Solid-state batteries have a high potential to revolutionize the electric vehicle industry owing to their high energy density, fast charging capabilities, and longer driving range. However, companies that aim to mass produce this technology must explore and discover ways to somehow reduce their production cost to be more affordable for customers.
