At the critical juncture of the new energy vehicle industry towards high-quality development, battery technology has become a decisive force for industrial upgrading. On April 10, 2025, at the "2025 SAIC Night", Jia Jianxu, President of SAIC, officially announced that SAIC's first all-solid-state battery product "Guangqi Battery" will be industrialized in 2027 and applied to mass production models. This news is not only a major breakthrough for SAIC in the core technology route of new energy, but also marks the role of Chinese car companies in the global battery technology revolution.
1. The technical parameters have jumped in an all-round way: 820Wh/L volumetric energy density leads the industry
According to SAIC's official disclosure, "Guangqi Battery" has made breakthroughs in key performance indicators:
Mass energy density > 400Wh/kg
The volumetric energy density > 820Wh/L
The capacity of the monomer is more than 75Ah
In contrast, the energy density of the current mainstream liquid lithium batteries (such as ternary lithium) is generally around 250-300Wh/kg, and the volume energy density is around 600Wh/L. Even the "condensed matter battery" released by CATL in 2023 has a mass energy density of 500Wh/kg, but it has not yet been mass-produced. Therefore, the release of "Guangqi Battery" undoubtedly represents an important step for Chinese companies on the path of commercialization of solid-state batteries.
Pictured: SAIC Guangqi battery will be launched in 2027
What's more noteworthy is that at the safety level, "Guangqi Battery" has also undergone multiple limit tests - including 200°C high temperature environment, acupuncture, extrusion and other tests, and the battery cell shows excellent performance of no fire and no explosion. The non-flammable characteristics of solid-state electrolytes fundamentally solve the thermal runaway risk of current lithium batteries, and provide a solid guarantee for the safety of new energy vehicles under extreme working conditions such as high temperature and collision.
2. Acceleration of commercialization: 2027 may become an inflection point for the industry
At present, solid-state battery technology has been regarded as a next-generation energy solution by international mainstream car companies and battery manufacturers. For example:
Figure: Progress on solid-state batteries from Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan and Qingtao Energy
In this context, SAIC's "Guangqi Battery" clearly proposes to be installed in commercial vehicles in 2027, which is at the forefront of the industry in terms of time, demonstrating its system capabilities from R&D, pilot test to industrialization.
3. Core cost advantage: It is expected to be reduced by 30% compared with lithium batteries
According to SAIC, "Guangqi Battery" has achieved key cost reduction at the manufacturing end while comprehensively improving performance. Through the simplified design of battery structure, the optimization of the dry electrode manufacturing process, and the localization and substitution of sulfide electrolyte materials, the overall system cost is expected to be reduced by about 30% compared with the existing lithium batteries.
This means that in the future, solid-state batteries will not only no longer be a symbol of "high-end niche", but also have an economic foundation for large-scale commercialization. In other words, the launch of "Kuang-Chi Battery" breaks the traditional logic of "high performance = high cost", and provides a realistic path for the entire new energy industry to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
4. Enhanced adaptability to extreme environments: Battery life in alpine areas has been greatly improved
In terms of low-temperature performance of batteries, "Guangqi Battery" has also achieved a breakthrough. According to the experimental data, its capacity retention rate in the -20°C environment is more than 90%, which is far better than the performance of the current ternary lithium battery under similar conditions of 60%-70%. This feature will significantly improve the endurance performance of new energy vehicles in northern winter or plateau low temperature areas, and expand the market adaptability of new energy vehicles.
5. Strategic significance: Consolidate the "foundation" of core technology and break international dependence
For a long time, battery materials and core components have been highly dependent on Japanese and South Korean suppliers, which has become a key area for China's new energy vehicle industry. With all-solid-state batteries as a breakthrough, SAIC is building an independent technology ecology of "material-cell-vehicle", which is not only an empowerment of vehicle performance, but also a strategic reinforcement of the independent and controllable ability of the industrial chain.
It is reported that SAIC's "Guangqi Battery" project integrates industry-university-research resources including Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Qingtao Energy, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, etc., and has achieved a number of patents in solid electrolyte material systems (such as oxides, sulfides, etc.) and composite current collector processes. In the future, SAIC will also rely on its Jiading intelligent manufacturing base to build an all-solid-state battery test production line to promote large-scale replication of pilot tests.
6. Challenge: Materials, processes, and lifetimes need to be further validated
Although "Guangqi Battery" shows broad prospects, it still cannot ignore the practical challenges it still faces at the level of technical engineering:
Intrinsic problems of solid electrolyte materials: the current mainstream sulfide system has poor stability in air, and needs to be manufactured in an anhydrous and oxygen-free environment to increase production costs;
The interface problem is complex: the interface impedance between the positive and negative electrodes and the solid electrolyte is still high, which affects the rate performance and cycle life.
Large-scale preparation is difficult: higher requirements are put forward for process equipment, packaging process, and group schemes.
The solution of these problems depends on larger-scale testing and verification and longer-term accumulation of commercial operation data. SAIC's plan to install Kuang-Chi batteries in production vehicles in 2027 is both a milestone and a "touchstone".
7. Conclusion: From "chaser" to "leader", Chinese car companies are in action
All-solid-state batteries are not only an update and iteration of the electrochemical system, but also a key step in the transition of the new energy vehicle industry from "quantitative explosion" to "qualitative leap". SAIC's "Guangqi Battery" is the first to take the pace of commercialization in the industry, reflecting the transformation path of Chinese car companies from relying on external technology in the past to independent innovation.
With the continuous advancement of the global "dual carbon" goal, electrification has become the main theme, and the innovation of battery technology will largely determine the future industrial status of car companies. In this long track of replacing old and new energy, SAIC used the "Guangqi battery" to light up the signal light of technological breakthrough.
