From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 238 Technological Layout of Solid-State Batteries
mid-December.

The internal delivery volume of the Starry Night L7 has reached an astonishing 4,700 units.

The first batch of pre-produced cars were shipped and delivered within the first two weeks. The F1 factory and battery factory are also ramping up production at a steady pace while expanding capacity.

Xu Yi originally thought that it would be good if the production capacity could reach 6,000 units in the first month, but now it seems that it will probably exceed expectations. It is not impossible to deliver more than 6,500 units in the first month.

Meanwhile, in order to expand production, Vaillant Battery and various investors have launched a new round of financing negotiations. This financing is aimed at pre-IPO strategic financing and determining new factory construction plans.

This is a crucial step for Polestar batteries from "internal circulation" to "external expansion".

Previously, Polestar's battery production capacity was only used to supply Polestar's own vehicles, including the Polestar Mini, Polestar S7, and now the Polestar L7. Revenue came from the cost sharing of batteries for the vehicles. By supplying the first-generation batteries to other companies, Polestar can truly lock in the dividends brought by the growth of the new energy vehicle industry.

For example, the battery needs of other car manufacturers.

Xingchen already has two pre-contracted clients: Yutong Bus and JAC Motors.

After returning, Jianghuai's interest was particularly strong, and An Jinhui made several more phone calls. The two sides exchanged views on the "Star L7 Youth Edition" new car plan for next year and verbally agreed on the intention to cooperate in establishing a new brand.

Excluding the 5GWh capacity of Star Technology's self-owned battery plant in Shandong, the total annual capacity of Weineng Battery Plant now exceeds 12GWh.

This is a considerable number, and in terms of scale, it has firmly established itself as the second largest power battery manufacturer in China.

Shortly after CATL released its 811 battery and large cell technology in the previous quarter, it simultaneously announced its production capacity information in the fourth quarter. The total power battery production capacity for the year reached 18GWh, ranking first in China and third in the world.

Second is Weineng Battery, and third is BYD Battery, followed closely by manufacturers such as Wotema, Guoxuan High-Tech, and EVE Energy.

This year, the domestic demand for new energy vehicles has increased significantly, which has stimulated many leading battery manufacturers across the industry. They have benefited from the increased production capacity and market value. Production capacity has been locked in in advance, expansion plans have been brought forward significantly, and large amounts of additional R&D investment have been added. The vitality of the entire upstream battery supply chain has been fully activated, and there is even a sense of competition, as everyone is afraid of falling behind.

There's nothing we can do; a monster has emerged in the industry.

Polestar Battery, which was the first to announce large single-cell batteries and implement CTP battery-vehicle integration technology, has provided the entire industry with a direction for in-depth research and development and follow-up!
Some people rank Vaillant Battery at number one, on par with CATL.

One company is the leader in the ternary lithium battery route, and the other is the leader in the lithium iron phosphate route.

Both sides have an absolute authority advantage in their respective fields.

Although BYD has publicly announced its blade battery and has been deeply involved in lithium iron phosphate batteries for more than ten years, its authority can only be ranked below that of Polestar Battery.

Faced with this situation, the capital institutions present invested heavily, making no secret of their optimism about Weineng Battery's future prospects, and treating it as the number one power battery manufacturer in China. This financing brought Weineng Battery another 45 billion yuan in funds for factory construction and R&D.

Some investors even encouraged Xu Yi to further develop ternary lithium batteries, start supplying them to external customers, and also capture the domestic ternary lithium market.

At that time, we'll walk on two legs and crush Prince Ning in one fell swoop!
Xu Yi did not directly agree to this suggestion, but only stated that the subsequent investment in formula and raw material research and development would be comprehensive, and that ternary lithium battery technology would be accumulated accordingly, but it would not necessarily be the main business. This answer surprised and disappointed everyone present.

However, Xu Yi dropped another bombshell: the third-generation Polestar battery is under intensive development, and its energy density, safety performance, and discharge performance will be further improved...

Once successfully developed, the second-generation Polestar battery can also be supplied to external customers as a main business for profit. Furthermore, the R&D teams of Star Technology and Weineng Battery will continue to explore and research cutting-edge battery technologies, with the long-term goal of developing solid-state electrolyte batteries with an energy density exceeding 400Wh/kg.

These words shocked the entire audience!
Solid-state electrolyte? Energy density exceeding 400Wh/kg?
hiss--

A collective gasp filled the air. The investors who had just tried to persuade Xu Yi to pursue the ternary lithium route were simply convinced that ternary lithium batteries still represented the core of the high-end market. After all, no matter how strong Xingchen's R&D capabilities were, it was difficult to overcome the physical material limitations of lithium iron phosphate, and it was an established fact that its energy density could not match that of ternary lithium batteries.

Even considering the second-generation Polestar battery, its energy density of 170Wh/kg is still significantly lower than Ningwang's 260Wh/kg ternary lithium battery.

Of course, the lithium iron phosphate battery route is safer and lower in cost, which are also among its characteristics.

But who would have thought that Xingchen didn't even consider it a target?

They're aiming for a solid-state battery with an energy density of 400Wh/kg right off the bat.

Solid-state electrolyte battery technology is undoubtedly a cutting-edge technology, and there are only a handful of companies in the world that have the capability to develop and operate in it. Many investors are aware of this technology because Toyota just announced this year that it would cooperate with Panasonic to develop solid-state batteries.

Interestingly, this public announcement came only half a month after the previous negative publicity surrounding the hydrogen energy route.

Toyota couldn't wait to announce the news to the outside world.

Compared to the hybrid and hydrogen energy routes, this seems somewhat like a forced move, an attempt to claim to the outside world that even in manufacturing pure electric vehicles, Toyota remains a global leader.

However, this collaboration between Toyota and Panasonic only revealed the technical concept and did not disclose any technical details.

In any case, solid-state batteries still seem like a "perfect narrative" at present.

It has safer and more stable characteristics than lithium iron phosphate batteries, and has a super energy density that far exceeds that of ternary lithium batteries, which solves almost all the pain points of the current new energy industry chain.

Once successfully developed, it will bring about unimaginable changes to the world!

Soon, everyone forgot about ternary lithium batteries and kept asking about the development progress of solid-state batteries during the meeting.

The enthusiasm almost overwhelmed the entire meeting room.

Xu Yi quickly stated that solid-state batteries are a long-cycle research and development process, and there are still many material bottlenecks and prerequisites to be solved. At least it may have to go through stages such as semi-solid and condensed state. Xingchen also needs to study the existing oxide electrolyte, sulfide, and polymer routes one by one.

At this point, the advantages of separating Weineng Battery independently and operating on two fronts with Xingchen's own battery R&D team also became apparent.

After all, as a subsidiary of Star Technology, Weineng Battery's R&D patents are fully interoperable. In addition to licensing core battery patents, Weineng Battery can also share the collaborative R&D of other routes while making its own profits, thereby gaining additional income and improving R&D efficiency, and also completing its external ecosystem layout.

in short.

Solid-state batteries are an expected, long-term goal.

It is a dream that needs to be realized.

After the financing conference, Xu Yi encountered a problem that he had to face in the short term.

"President Xu, due to the overwhelming demand for batteries this year, there has been a shortage of global lithium carbonate supply, and the price of upstream raw materials has seen a significant increase..." Liu Yongcheng, who is in charge of Weineng Battery's current production capacity and the next steps for capacity expansion, reported this important news.

(End of this chapter)