Chinese battery maker CATL has reportedly promised to bring solid-state battery cells with battery density of more than 350Wh/kg, once key technology and production issues have been solved.
Twitter user “Moneyball”, who describes themselves as a “China web media researcher”, recently tweeted that “China media”, citing Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), had promised solid-state batteries as part of their long-term plans.
More importantly, however, was that CATL reportedly is promising solid-state batteries with battery density of 200Wh/kg, even 230Wh/kg in the near-term, and as much as 350Wh/kg and 400Wh/kg in the long term.
CATL has made no official announcement of these promises on either their Chinese-language or English-language websites, so we should take this news with a grain of salt. That being said, Moneyball has been proven right in the past, so maybe two grains of salt?
According to Moneyball, lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) is the preferred solid-state battery technology which will help to deliver battery density of 200Wh/kg and even up to 230Wh/kg. CATL is further planning to use the NMC 811 cathode technology (a cathode composition with 80% nickel, 10% manganese, and 10% cobalt) to deliver solid-state batteries with battery density of 300Wh/kg.
#LFP to be preferred for compact, we expect to get 200 Wh/kg, even 230 Wh/kg, high voltage for mid-end, nickel rich ternary for high-end #EV, where we plan #NMC811 to nickel rich+silicon move & get 300 Wh/kg, long term 350 Wh/kg, #China media citing #CATL.https://t.co/2FPiLh4xu6
— Moneyball (@DKurac) January 28, 2021
In the long term, the company is looking even further, and expects to begin making batteries with battery density of 350Wh/kg, and even up to 400Wh/kg. However, CATL explained that these long-term goals will require solving of key technology and production issues.
We have been developing SSB for 10 years & we think lithium metal as anode is the best solution for SSB, #CATL on solid state #battery dev.
We are faced with key tech/production issues, but once solved, we can get 350 Wh/kg, even 400 Wh/kg, CATL added.https://t.co/pGlgO2MMxW— Moneyball (@DKurac) January 29, 2021
Worth noting is that Chinese EV maker Nio announced at the beginning of the year that its new 150kWh battery packs boasted an ultra-high density of 360Wh/kg. Meanwhile, Tesla founder Elon Musk hinted in the middle of last year that 400Wh/kg batteries could be produced in volume in “3 to 4 years.”
CATL’s reported promises also included plans to begin installing cell-to-chassis (CTC) technology in EVs around 2025, which the company hopes will make EVs cost-competitive with traditional ICE vehicles and enable driving ranges in excess of 800-kilometres.
In the near-term, CATL will introduce its second-generation cell-to-pack technology in 2022-2023, and smart cell-to-chassis technology in 2028.
#CATL to start installing CTC in #EVs ca 2025, the tech to make EV cost competitive vs ICEV & enable >800km range, #China media citing #battery maker.
We will introduce 2nd gen CTP in 2022-2023, smart CTC in 2028, SSB part of long-term plans, CATL added. https://t.co/Zo66obTsEX— Moneyball (@DKurac) January 28, 2021
