China will invest approximately CNY6 billion (USD827.7 million) in the research and development of all-solid-state batteries, which are considered to be the next generation of batteries, China Daily reported, citing multiple sources.
The project, which is unprecedented within the sector, will encourage eligible companies to conduct R&D on technologies related to all-solid-state batteries, several people familiar with the matter said.
Six corporations, namely Contemporary Amperex Technology, BYD, FAW Group, SAIC Motor, WeLion New Energy Technology and Geely Holding Group, will obtain basic R&D support from the government, the report said.
The project, after rigorous screening, will eventually be divided into seven sub-projects to focus on various technological roadmaps such as polymers and sulfides, they said. It will be led by related government departments and authorities.
CATL, SAIC Motor and GAC Group are all developing solid state batteries, whose energy density can reach 500 Watt hours per kilogram, far more than the 350Wh per kilogram of liquid lithium batteries.
GAC expects to mass produce such batteries by 2026 and install them on its Hyper marque, the Guangzhou-based carmaker said on May 8. While Shanghai-headquartered SAIC said it too will be producing all-solid-state batteries by 2026 and they will be used on the electric cars made by its unit IM Motors, also known as Zhiji Motors, by 2027.
Other countries, such as Japan, the United States and South Korea, are also in the race to develop solid-state batteries. Toyota Motor plans to release new energy vehicles equipped with solid-state batteries by 2027 at the earliest. A 10-minute charge will give the autos a range of 1,200 kilometers.
Japan started out quite early in the field of solid-state batteries and has accumulated a huge body of related intellectual property rights, but China is catching up fast, due to the enormous size of the market, its complete industrial chains as well as the constant advances in its scientific research, said Li Zheng, general manager at Qingtao Kunshan Energy Development which is a solid-state battery startup under SAIC.
Japan accounted for nearly 40 percent of global patent applications related to solid-state batteries and China for 26.6 percent as of May 27, according to Zhihuiya, a provider of intellectual property rights data. But China remains the market with the most solid-state battery patents in the world with 31.4 percent followed by Japan with 27 percent.
（Picture: Veer）
