A Chinese Startup May Have Cracked Solid-State Batteries (engadget.com)

hackingbear writes: According to Chinese media, Qing Tao Energy Development Co, a startup out of the technical Tsinghua University, has deployed a solid-state battery production line in Kunshan, East China. Reports claim the line has a capacity of 100MWh per year -- which is planned to increase to 700MWh by 2020 -- and that the company has achieved an energy density of more than 400Wh/kg, compared to new generation lithium-ion batteries that boast a capacity of around 250-300Wh/kg. Details beyond this are sparse. The headline news here, if accurate, would be that the company has managed to put solid-state batteries into high volume production, but it's not clear how Qing Tao Energy Development has achieved this, nor what price points are involved. Furthermore, while a capacity of 100MWh is not to be sneezed at, it still only equates to fewer than 2,000 long-range EVs per year. Nonetheless, the news demonstrates that progress is happening in the solid-state battery arena. We might not feasibly yet be at high volume production, but we're on our way.

Comments

easy how they do this

[iggymanz]

like with the quantum radar claim, it's B.S. to lure investors

Re:easy how they do this

[Rei]

It's not BS, but it is hype. The founder and CEO is this guy, who just recently published this paper on their tech. The cells reportedly lost 25% of their capacity in just 50 cycles. They also reported a "high" ionic conductivity of 3.15e-3 S cm-1, which is an order of magnitude less than traditional liquid electrolytes. They conducted their discharge tests at a mere 0,1C.

Re:easy how they do this

[quanminoan]

You seem knowledgeable about battery tech -- I understand the capacity issue, but how exactly do the ionic conductivity and discharge rate figure into the ultimate performance? The much lower ionic conductivity corresponds to slower discharge even if it could still hold 400Wh/kg? Would this still be useful although not for something like an electric car where fast charge/discharge matter?

Re:easy how they do this

[Rei]

This would not be useful for electric cars, although mainly due to the cycle life issues (and presumably cost issues, but we can't know that yet). This would be most interested for various "specialty" applications - applications where power is drained only slowly (thus rendering the ionic conductivity issue moot as well as the cycle life issue). Perhaps remote sensors or the like. I'd think they'd also be quite desirable in military drones designed to circle over a given location for as long as possible. For applications like that, you don't need a huge number of cycles out of the batteries, and cell cost is not a limiting factor, but what you need above all is energy density.

For the mass market, though, it's more of an issue of how the tech (particularly cycle life and cost) evolves. Hopefully investors in this company realize that they're betting on where this tech might go rather than where it is as things stand.

Re:easy how they do this

[Aighearach]

I for one believe them that they've created cracked solid-state batteries.

If you gave them enough money, maybe they'll even think of how to make working ones!

Call me when I can test it myself.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've seen enough regular batteries from China, that claimed way higher energy densities than they really had. Let alone after a few usages. (Usually, batteries are supposed get better after being broken in, before getting worse.)

I also want to make sure they don't start to bulge and catch fire or something after a few months.

Then we can talk.

Questions

[unknown_user_name]

The article notes that information is sparse. Hopefully more will be released soon. The production rates and energy density are both significant. Cost, including the environmental manufacturing and disposal costs, the number of recharges, and safety requirements are all necessary considerations in bringing a battery to market.

Everything it's cracked to be.

[Ostracus]

Isn't a cracked solid-state a bad thing? :-D

Another battery story?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm tired of all of these fake and unproven battery tech stories Can we just get back to political infighting and slasdot member flaiming?

Still better

[AndyKron]

Vacuum tube batteries still sound warmer.

You don't say

[OneHundredAndTen]

And this is different from the battery breakthroughs that get divulged here to the tune of several per year, only to be consigned to oblivion almost immediately - how?

No Generators

[Ostracus]

Long term new battery tech will replace oil and whichever country gets there first owns the future.

Ummm, no. Batteries are for STORAGE not GENERATION. That's one of the reasons they've invested in solar cells as well.

Re:No Generators

[NormalVisual]

Ummm, no. Batteries are for STORAGE not GENERATION.

And any fuel is for both storage AND generation - batteries just decouple the two from each other. Regardless of how the electricity is generated, the first battery that's able to reliably store enough charge to power an automobile for 1,000 miles over an extended number of recharging cycles has the potential to put an awfully big dent in the fortunes of oil companies.

May Have Cracked Solid-State Batteries

[DigressivePoser]

Did the batteries leak anything? Did it leak into groundwater? How many people died? Why aren't environmentalists in an uproar? /acosta

Funny thing about the Tesla shorts.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

There is this whole genre of people who constantly post/trade negative stories and rumors about Elon Musk. He is going to jail, he is Felon Musk, he lies, he is going to Mars because Mars does not have an extradition treaty with USA (honest, they said that.) and they cast doubt on anyone not as strongly anti Elon as they are. SEC has been paid off, the CA work place safety officer has been bribed, there is no one trustworthy person in the federal, state governments of USA, or the banks, or the regulatory agencies like NTHSA or SEC, or the traditional media, or the alternative media. All of them are colluding crooks.

The same gang, is now praising to high heaven this Chinese company announcement as though it is the Word of God revealed directly to them. That people who are that so extremely skeptical on one side are so very credulous on the other side is so mind boggling.

If the Chinese company is right, good luck to them. I can't wait to rid the world of diesel and gasoline engines. It is always nice to have plan B, another basket to keep the eggs in. Cant depend totally on Tesla.

Re:Funny thing about the Tesla shorts.

[gravewax]

really where are all the people praising this startup? I see a lot of people eyeing them with suspicion. Regardless whether they are legit or not that doesn't change the facts around Musk's shenanigans.

Re:Solid-state

[angel'o'sphere]

Batteries usually have a liquid electrolyte, solid state batteries use a solid instead.

Re: Solid state = high capacitance?

[ShanghaiBill]

"Ching Dao." Geez.

If you are going to be pedantic, at least get it right.

The modern standard pinyin spelling is: "Qingdao".

The Wade-Giles romanization is: "Tsing Tao"

"Tsing Tao" is what is printed on the bottles, for reasons of tradition and marketing.

"Qingdao" is the name of the city in Shandong where the beer is brewed, and is what the Chinese call the beer.

"Ching Dao" is not correct under any romanization scheme. "Ch" and "Q" may sound the same to monolingual English speakers, but they represent different phonemes that are distinguishable in many languages.

oh good!

[slashmydots]

Oh good, I'm so sick of using all those batteries with moving parts.

Chinese

[GrBear]

I wonder what company they stole their technology from.