Solid-state batteries accelerate evolution: from "technology validation" to "industrialization race," with pilot production reaching a critical milestone

If the solid-state battery industry in the past few years was still in the stage of “laboratory breakthroughs” and “debates over material routes,” then the changes that took place in Q1 2026 mark the industry’s rapid transition into an “engineering rollout” and “industrialization race-to-market” stage.

According to AIMA Consulting’s forecast, global solid-state battery shipments will surge from 34GWh in 2026 to 614GWh in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate as high as 106%; among them, solid-state batteries are expected to exceed 200GWh in shipments by 2030.

I. What happened? Technological progress

The core viewpoints are as follows—

The global power battery industry is facing the deepest paradigm shift since the commercialization of lithium-ion batteries in 1991.

① Policy compulsion: The new national standard “Safety Requirements for Power Storage Batteries for Electric Vehicles” to be implemented in July 2026, with “no catching fire and no explosion” as the bottom line, effectively shuts off the survival space for traditional liquid lithium batteries under ultra-high energy density (>350 $Wh/kg$), forcing the entire supply chain to transition to solid-state.

② Clearer technical definitions: The newly issued national standard in 2026 for the first time quantifies and defines full solid-state batteries, semi-solid-state batteries, and liquid batteries. This puts an end to the marketing chaos of the past five years in the industry.

③ Scene explosion: In addition to traditional new energy vehicles, the comprehensive takeoff of “low-altitude economy” (eVTOL) in 2026 creates rigid demand for high energy density and high-safety batteries, making solid-state batteries the only feasible solution.
If the solid-state battery industry in the past few years was still in the stage of “laboratory breakthroughs” and “debates over material routes,” then the changes that took place in Q1 2026 mark the industry’s rapid transition into an “engineering rollout” and “industrialization race-to-market” stage.

According to AIMA Consulting’s forecast, global solid-state battery shipments will surge from 34GWh in 2026 to 614GWh in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate as high as 106%; among them, solid-state batteries are expected to exceed 200GWh in shipments by 2030.
Domestic leading companies are accelerating their industrialization progress across the board:

1）EVE Energy: In September 2025, it launched “Longquan No. 2” (10Ah, targeting humanoid robots and low-altitude aircraft), and only half a year later released “Longquan No. 3” and “Longquan No. 4,” expanding application scenarios to consumer electronics and power batteries for new energy vehicles.

2）BYD: Its sulfide-based full solid-state battery energy density reaches 480Wh/kg. The 20GWh production line in Chongqing is scheduled to come online in 2026. It has already completed 5,000-kilometer road tests with no thermal runaway.

3）CATL: It is expected to begin small-scale mass production of solid-state batteries in 2027, using transitional technologies such as “coagulated-state batteries” to lock in application scenarios requiring high energy density ahead of time.

4）Sunwoda: It has integrated 0.2GWh solid-state battery sample lines. In 2026, it will advance pilot-scale production and full-size battery verification, planning full solid-state battery mass production in 2027.

5）Gotion High-Tech: It has completed the design of a GWh-class solid-state battery production line, pushing products into the stage of automotive-grade verification.

6）Farasis Battery (GAC Group): It released the “Dafang Wuyu” series 587Ah energy-storage cells, including the Vast Oceans version (liquid) and the Qiankun version (semi-solid-state). Among them, the Qiankun version is the industry’s first production-level semi-solid-state energy-storage large cell. A dedicated 6.5GWh production line will achieve large-scale production first.

7）Amperex Technology (EVE?)/EVE? (孚能科技): Semi-solid-state battery shipments at the GWh level; in 2026, shipments are expected to grow significantly. It has already sent solid-state battery samples to customers in the humanoid robot sector.

8）Chery Automobile: The production version of its “Rhino” full solid-state battery cell has an energy density of 400Wh/kg; the lab version is 600Wh/kg. It supports 6C ultra-fast charging (replenishing 500km in 5 minutes) and plans to start vehicle installation testing in Q4 2026.

Overseas companies are also advancing in parallel:

1）Toyota: It has clearly set the full solid-state battery mass-production milestone to 2027–2028, directly embedding it into the development cadence of the next-generation electric vehicle platform.

2）Samsung SDI: It is advancing the construction of full solid-state test lines, building technical reserves around no-anode and high energy density routes, and plans for commercial rollout before 2030.

3）LG Energy Solution, SK On: They continue to increase investment in sulfide electrolyte systems, aiming to improve ionic conductivity to approach the performance ceiling of liquid batteries.

Policy dividends continue to be released.

National standards officially take effect: In July 2026, the new national standard “Safety Requirements for Power Storage Batteries for Electric Vehicles” and the national standard “Solid-State Batteries for Electric Vehicles” will be implemented. The former forces the industry to transition toward inherently safer solid-state batteries through stringent requirements of “no catching fire and no explosion”; the latter, for the first time, quantifies and defines full solid-state (mass-loss rate ≤0.5%), semi-solid-state, and liquid batteries, providing authoritative standard support for the development of the supply chain. Top-level planning is further strengthened: Solid-state batteries have been included in the “14th Five-Year Plan for Smart Connected New Energy Vehicle Industry Development” and future industry core tracks, and policy dividends continue to be released. This signals that China is seizing the initiative in setting solid-state battery industry standards and has the potential to further secure global industry discourse power.

II. Why does it matter? An exponential growth curve is imminent

In 2024, the global solid-state battery equipment market size reached RMB 4.0 billion, of which semi-solid-state battery equipment accounted for RMB 3.84 billion, while full solid-state battery equipment, still in the laboratory pilot stage, accounted for only RMB 0.16 billion. As industrialization progresses, the global solid-state battery equipment market is expected to soar to RMB 107.94 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 70%. By the end of 2025, the cumulative number of patent applications for solid-state battery energy storage technology globally exceeded 100,000. Since 2019, annual incremental applications have stayed above 5,000; in 2023 and 2024, they surpassed 10,000, setting a historical record high. By the end of 2025, the number of authorized patents for China’s solid-state battery energy storage technology had already exceeded 14,000, including 11,000 invention patents (78.8%) and 2,951 utility model patents (21%). The explosive growth in patent counts lays a solid foundation for the industry’s exponential growth through industrialization. From the supply side.

Capacity planning: The solid-state battery capacity plans of domestic leading enterprises for 2026–2027 have already exceeded 50GWh. BYD’s 20GWh Chongqing production line will start operations in 2026, and Farasis’s 6.5GWh semi-solid-state production line has begun construction.
Equipment supply: Leading Intelligent has already developed the capability to deliver complete solid-state battery line solutions. Naconoer leads in dry-process equipment. Lition Technology has a first-mover advantage in isostatic pressing equipment.

Now from the demand side.

New energy vehicles: Domestic and overseas mainstream automakers are planning to install full solid-state batteries in vehicles in 2027. In 2026, the FAW Hongqi, Chery, and others will intensively launch vehicle installation testing.

Energy storage: Semi-solid-state batteries are the first to enter high-safety demand scenarios such as data centers and industrial and commercial applications. Farasis’s Qiankun version semi-solid-state large energy-storage cell is designed specifically for “zero-tolerance” safety scenarios such as urban centers, data centers, and chemical industrial parks.

Low-altitude economy: The eVTOL sector’s extreme requirements for energy density make solid-state batteries the best choice. EVE Energy’s Longquan No. 2 has already entered scenarios involving humanoid robots and low-altitude aircraft.

Humanoid robots: Their extreme requirements for space utilization, range capability, and safety naturally match solid-state batteries.

III. What to watch next? Who will benefit

In 2026, the cost of solid-state batteries will still be about 50%-80% higher than liquid lithium batteries, but as key raw materials become cheaper, the downward trend will be evident. We believe the focus should be on the “bottleneck links” and the “value leap” links, watching the areas with the largest incremental impact and the most prominent bottlenecks: ① bottleneck-type core materials:

Solid electrolytes: especially sulfide electrolytes and their key high-purity sulfide-lithium precursors. The latter is currently costly (hundreds of thousands of yuan per ton) and has complex production processes (extremely sensitive to water and oxygen), making it the core bottleneck for cost reduction—whoever breaks through it will control the industry’s throat.

Lithium metal anodes: large-scale production of ultra-thin sheets (<20μm), uniform lithium foil technologies (such as rolling methods and vapor deposition methods), and interface modification technologies that solve dendrites and volume expansion are another high-barrier stronghold.

② value-leap upgrade materials:

Anode: iterating from graphite (about 372 mAh/g) to silicon-carbon anodes (>600 mAh/g, especially third-generation CVD technology) is a key driver for increasing energy density, bringing several-fold growth in unit value.

Conductive additives: upgrading from traditional carbon black (added amount 3–5%) to single-walled carbon nanotubes (added amount <0.5%). With their outstanding electrical conductivity and flexibility, they are indispensable for improving energy density and suppressing silicon swelling—an “small-quantity, high-efficiency” high-value-added material.

③ manufacturing equipment:

Equipment suppliers are expected to become the most certain beneficiaries in the early industrialization stage of solid-state batteries, and the benefit order will come earlier than materials’ large-scale volume ramp.

Revolutionary early-stage equipment: dry electrode equipment (dry mixing machines, fiberization equipment, precision heated roller presses) is the core that overturns traditional wet-process manufacturing. Because sulfides fear water, dry processing becomes a must-have option, creating new demand for equipment.

Mid-stage unique incremental equipment: isostatic pressing equipment is the “only solution” to solve solid-solid interfacial contact problems, representing a high-value incremental link that does not exist in liquid battery production.

Late-stage upgraded equipment: high-pressure formation equipment (increasing pressure demand from the 10-ton level to the 60–80 ton level), etc., also needs to be upgraded in parallel.

Remember the three stages of future industrialization and the key time points—

First stage: 2026–2027

Pilot testing and process route finalization: from samples to small-scale batch production to vehicle installation testing by automakers—choosing the process route;

Second stage: 2027–2030

A cooling period and a ramp-up period: delivery, yield, and cost reduction are the core areas to focus on;

Third stage: 2030–2035

Large-scale commercialization and a cost-competition cycle: brutal competition across the industry, and the final beneficiaries will be the leading manufacturers with scale effects. 2026 is the “Normandy landing” moment for solid-state batteries. Although large-scale, low-cost substitution will still take time, the certainty of the technical pathway has increased significantly, and it is worth paying close attention to.

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