- According to reports a Chery-backed company has begun production of high-density batteries in China.
- Chery announced in October that it planned to launch a solid-state battery facility.
- The new batteries are reportedly twice as dense as BYD's Blade batteries.
A Chinese technology company backed by carmaker Chery has begun production of its first batch of high-density solid-state batteries.
According to reports from Chinese outlets, Anhui Anwa New Energy Technology (aka. Axxiva) has announced it has finished a production line and tested the production samples with national standard tests.
The reports from Dawang News and subsequently CarNewsChina point to several months of development, testing and troubleshooting since Chery announced plans in October last year to launch a solid-state battery facility.
The first batteries produced by the plant - located in China’s Anhui province as the business’ name would suggest - have a reported energy density of 300Wh/k. This is about twice as dense as BYD’s Blade batteries.
The reports from China also say trials of battery packs with an energy density of 400Wh/kg have entered trial production, with plans for ‘third-gen’ 500Wh/kg packs.
If these come to fruition, the real-world ranges of electric cars could theoretically skyrocket.
It’s not clear how soon this battery technology will make it to Chery’s production models, currently its only EV in this part of the world being the Omoda E5, though reports say the battery packs have passed safety tests including piercing, fire and explosion testing.
The news comes at the same time Toyota Executive Vice President Hiroki Nakajima said the Japanese brand is “developing all-solid-state batteries with a view to solving these BEV issues in a single stroke”.
Toyota is, perhaps predictably, taking a more conservative approach than its Chinese competition, with Nakajima adding “...development is always unpredictable. Frankly, there’s no telling if it will work out or not”.
- Chris Thompson, journalist.