China’s Battery Technology Revolution: All-Solid State Breakthrough and the New Era of Sodium Battery
When the world’s first all-solid-state battery judgment standard was born in China, and when the second-generation sodium battery of Ningde Times discharged stably in the extreme cold of -40℃, a new energy revolution defined by material innovation is reshaping the global industrial pattern.
1、 Standard Leadership: “China Definition” of All-Solid State Battery
In May 2025, the China Society of Automotive Engineering released the “Determination Method for All-Solid State Battery” (T/CSAE 434-2025), which became the world’s first technical standard for all-solid state batteries. The standard establishes a technical threshold with a “two-step” testing system: qualitative testing requires that no liquid ooze out of the battery’s rupture; quantitative testing requires that the weight loss rate be less than 1% after drying in a vacuum at 120℃ for 6 hours, with an error rate of only 0.3%.
This standard puts an end to the confusion between the concepts of “semi-solid” and “full-solid”, and establishes an authoritative standard for the industry. Its strategic significance lies in the fact that when the U.S., Japan and Europe have not yet introduced similar standards, China takes the lead in building technical discourse and promoting the competitive barriers of “technology patenting, patent standardization and internationalization of standards”.
Behind the standard is a precise definition of the nature of the technology: all-solid-state batteries must realize Ion conduction is completely dependent on solid electrolyte, completely exclude the liquid electrolyte to participate in the conductive. This definition forces enterprises to focus on core technological innovations, such as sulfide air stability improvement and solid-solid interface impedance optimization.
2, solid-state breakthrough: from the laboratory to commercialization landing
Driven by standards, the industrialization of all-solid-state batteries in China has accelerated significantly.2025 In June, Beijing Pure Lithium New Energy achieved the world’s first zero breakthrough in the commercial application of all-solid-state batteries, with its products adopting organic and inorganic fusion solid-state electrolytes, and passing the extreme safety tests such as penetration of steel needles and metal shearing. Measurements show that the battery pack continues to supply power after being sheared, and the quality loss rate is only 0.023% after 6 hours of vacuum drying at 120°C, far below the certification threshold of 1%.
Core Innovation Direction
Electrolyte material: Academician Sun Xueliang’s team from Chinese Academy of Sciences developed iron-based halide integrated cathode, which integrates the functions of cathode active material, electrolyte and conductive agent in a single material, with an energy density of 725.6 Wh/kg, and a capacity retention rate of 90% for 3000 cycles at a multiplication rate of 5C.
Manufacturing process: Pilot Intelligent has customized solid dry electrode coating equipment for Korean battery enterprises, which has been exported to solve the interface impedance problem caused by solvent residue in traditional wet process.
Cost control: Pure lithium new energy through the optimization of material system, the goal of all-solid-state battery cost from the current 3.5 yuan / Wh compressed to less than 2 yuan / Wh, the first to be applied to electric bicycles and underground tube wells power supply scenarios.
Industrialization Roadmap
According to the China Society of Automotive Engineering, the implementation of the standard will advance the mass production of all-solid-state batteries by 2-3 years. Domestic companies have defined milestones:
2026: Semi-solid-state batteries are installed in vehicles on a large scale
2028: All-solid-state batteries enter GWh-level applications
2030: Global shipments reach 614.1GWh, with a penetration rate of more than 10%
3. Rise of sodium power: a strategic choice for resource autonomy
Facing lithium resource constraints (China’s reserves account for only 16.5% of the world’s), sodium-ion batteries have become a key path for China to crack the resource bottleneck.2024 In November, Ningde Times announced that the development of the second-generation sodium-ion batteries had been completed, with a plan to bring them to the market by 2025.2025 is the first time for China to launch sodium-ion batteries in the market. Its core breakthrough lies in:
Extreme environmental adaptability: maintain normal discharge performance in -40℃ low-temperature environment
System integration innovation: through Lithium-Sodium AB battery mix and match technology, the sodium battery is arranged in the low-temperature area of the battery pack, and the low-temperature range is improved by 5%, which supports 500km range models.
Technical and economic breakthroughs
Energy density: the first generation of sodium battery has a single energy density of 160Wh/kg, and the second generation aims to break through 200Wh/kg
Cycle life: the 240Ah sodium battery developed by Nandu Power achieves 3,000 cycles
Cost of kWh: Kodak Controls has confirmed in the electric bicycle switching pilot that the system cost of sodium batteries is more than 30% lower than that of lithium batteries
On the industrialization process, China’s sodium-ion power battery installed capacity exceeded 3.7MWh from January to September 2024, and the Chery QQ ice cream model supported by Ningde Times was the first to land. GGI predicts that China’s sodium power shipments will exceed 4.5GWh in 2025 and reach 30GWh in 2030.
4, material innovation: subversive technology emerges
Electrolyte revolution
Sulfide system: Guoxuan Gaoxue develops automotive-grade sulfide all-solid-state battery “Jinshi Battery”, which passes 200℃ hot box test
Oxide-polymer composite: Tsingtao Energy adopts “oxide+halide+polymer” composite electrolyte, and plans to develop it into an all-solid-state battery in 2025. Equipped with SAIC MG models
Electrode material breakthrough
Anode: market share of lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) exceeds 20%, lithium-rich manganese-based materials help energy density jump
Negative: silicon and carbon composite anode penetration rate exceeds 15%, pre-lithiation technology to compensate for the loss of first efficiency
Manufacturing process upgrading
Dry Electrode: Wintech wet solid-state electrode coating equipment delivered to head customers, reducing solvent dependence
Interface Regulation: Jusen Angol constructed lithium lanthanum zirconium oxide (LLZO) buffer layer through atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology, reducing solid-solid interface impedance from 80-100Ω-cm² to below 40Ω-cm².
5. Application Scenarios: From Energy Storage to Low Altitude Economy
Scale-up of new energy storage
By 2024, China’s installed capacity of new energy storage will exceed 80GW, and industrial and commercial energy storage will enter the era of parity:
System cost: the cost of kilowatt-hour (LCOS) down to below 0.6 yuan / Wh, the lowest bidding price of 0.473 yuan / Wh
Product iteration: core specifications from 280Ah upgraded to 314Ah, energy storage single cabin capacity to 6MWh + progress
Industry concentration CR10 reached 94%, Yiwei lithium energy, Haichen energy storage and other enterprises relying on the layout of the overseas market, shipments in 2024 increased by 115.57% year-on-year5.
Low-altitude economic outbreak
The Civil Aviation Administration of China predicts that the market size of low-altitude economy will reach 1.5 trillion yuan in 2025. eVTOL aircraft puts forward rigid demand for battery energy density (>300Wh/kg), promoting solid-state batteries to become the core support:
Ningde Times and Peak Flying Aviation cooperated to develop eVTOL solid state battery, and expected to realize semi-solid state technology breakthrough in 2025
Vonergy Technology’s second-generation semi-solid state battery energy density exceeded 330Wh/kg, and won the U.S. eVTOL customer fixed point
Power Battery Innovation for Humanoid Robots
With high safety (no electrolyte leakage), long battery life (single charge > 12 hours) and flexible shape adaptability, all-solid-state batteries have become the preferred solution for humanoid robot batteries such as Ubiquiti and Tesla. Pure lithium new energy is promoting the head of humanoid robot company to send samples for testing.
6, global competition: China’s technology output and challenges
Discourse on international rules
China’s all-solid-state battery standard has attracted the attention of Japanese and South Korean companies, and may become the blueprint for International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards. Meanwhile, Ningde Times has broken through trade barriers through its technology licensing model:
Ford-Ningde Times Michigan plant 40GWh capacity to be put into production in 2025
EU Carbon Border Tax (CBAM) requires 70% localization ratio, China responds to policy blockade with standard output16
Resource Strategy Layout
Closed loop lithium recycling: Grimme and Huayou Cobalt have built a “battery recycling-materials recycling-battery remanufacturing” base, aiming at a recycling rate of more than 30% in 2025.
Sodium resource development: Meilian New Material has completed the mass production of Prussian Blue anode materials, building a full industrial chain of sodium electricity.
When the price of the global energy storage system falls below $0.5/Wh, and when the all-solid state battery When the price of global energy storage system falls below RMB 0.5/Wh, and when all-solid-state batteries provide stable power supply in the cold night of -40℃ in Mohe, China is driving the reconstruction of global energy rules with the dual engine of “standard + material”.
Technological innovation has moved from single-point breakthrough to system output: all-solid-state battery standard has become an international industrial guideline, sodium power technology provides a universal program for resource shortage areas, and halide integrated anode opens the era of electrode self-repair.
According to EVTank’s prediction, the global shipment of solid-state batteries will reach 614.1GWh in 2030, and the penetration rate of sodium batteries in the field of energy storage will exceed 30%. In this technological revolution defined by China, safety and sustainability are no longer luxuries, but the baseline for reshaping the trillion-dollar market.
