Another solid-state battery company won tens of millions of yuan A round financing industry, how far is it from commercial use?

Recently, the all-solid-state lithium battery company High Energy Times announced that it has received more than 50 million yuan A round financing, led by Tongchuangwei Ye, and other investors include CICC Capital, Xin Wanda and Zhuhai Hi-tech Investment.

Solid-state batteries have attracted the attention of car factories, researchers, start-ups and capital in recent years because of their higher energy density and safety.

Data show that there are more than 40 automotive and power battery companies around the world dedicated to the research and application of solid-state battery technology, many of which are concerned by VC/PE in the primary market. Since the end of last year, domestic Huineng Technology, Weilan New Energy, Tailan New Energy, and so on, have received capital injection from a number of institutions. , Factorial Energy and other foreign companies have also received 100 million yuan of investment from Mercedes-Benz.

However, industry insiders pointed out that solid-state batteries are still a long time away from mass production and large-scale use. Keiji Kaita, executive vice president and general manager of Toyota Powertrain, has previously said that the commercialization of solid-state batteries faces various obstacles before industrialization, and it is too early to discuss the launch of solid-state batteries, which is expected to be mass produced by 2025 at the earliest. Toyota has been focusing on the solid-state battery field for many years and currently has the largest number of solid-state battery (SSB) patents.

In view of the specific operation of the high-energy era and the current situation of the development of the solid-state battery industry, a reporter from Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily contacted people related to Tongchuangwei, who said, "investors still feel that the enterprise still needs to keep a low profile and will not be interviewed for the time being."

New entrants to all-solid-state lithium batteries

High-energy era, founded at the end of 2020, is a late entrant in the field of solid-state batteries. This round of financing is the first time, the company said that the funds will be used for all-solid-state battery product layout, technology research and development, talent introduction and so on.

Luo Ming, chairman of High Energy Times, said in an interview with the media that the company currently has nearly 50 people and has set up battery research and development centers in China and Yokohama, Japan. Yokohama team is responsible for cell design and process research and development. At present, there are more than 10 expert teams from China, Japan and South Korea, while the Chinese team is mainly responsible for raw material synthesis, industrial chain and customer resources development.

According to data from the State intellectual property Office, there are currently six pieces of invention patent information in the high-energy era, including an invention called "a low-cost method for large-scale preparation of sulphide solid electrolytes". The invention patent was granted on March 1, 2022, and the rest are in a state of entry into force of substantive examination or transfer of patent application and patent rights.

According to the previous statistical results of solid electrolyte patents made by Huaan Securities Research Institute, 15 domestic enterprises have 20 or more solid electrolyte patents.

At present, there are three mainstream systems of solid electrolyte materials: polymers, oxides and sulfides. At present, solid-state battery companies all over the world carry out technical research and development on different electrolyte systems. Among them, European and American enterprises prefer oxide and polymer systems, while Japanese and Korean enterprises are more committed to solving sulphide systems.

From the information of invention patent in the high-energy era, the direction of technology research and development is sulfide system.

Luo Ming also said that the company plans to take a light asset route, that is, the main resources focus on product technology research and development, through contract manufacturing cooperation to achieve manufacturing. According to the product plan of the high-energy era, 5Ah and 20Ah cells will be launched this year for 3C and all-solid-state lithium batteries for UAVs; in 2023, large cells of 60Ah will be released to build small-scale production capacity; and in 2024, large cells of 100Ah, a dynamic all-solid-state battery for mass production, will be released.

Institutions bet on battery manufacturing

Solid-state battery research and development has a history. Overseas car companies and related enterprises, such as Japan and South Korea, Europe and the United States, began to develop solid-state batteries as early as 2000, but so far, solid-state batteries have not been mass-produced in a real sense around the world. Although the high-energy era only set up a global competition for solid-state battery research and development at the end of 2020, the number of invention patents is relatively small, and it has still received investment from head agencies.

Tongchuangwei, the leader of the financing in the high-energy era, is one of the earliest private equity firms in China, with more than 30 billion yuan in assets under management and a cumulative total of more than 500 investment companies, of which 100 have completed listings, according to the company's website.

Tianyan survey data show that in the field of new energy technology, in addition to the high-energy era, Tongchuang Weiye has recently participated in the B round financing of Haichen New Energy and the angel round financing of Zhongna Energy, the former mainly engaged in lithium battery manufacturing, the latter focuses on the research and development of sodium ion batteries.

With the investor Xinwanda, its holding subsidiary Xinwanda car Battery is the new battery unicorn. On February 24th, the former announced that the latter completed a new round of financing of up to 2.43 billion yuan, with as many as 19 institutions participating in the investment, including the head organization of VC/PE, as well as the new power of head car building and traditional car factories.

In the solid-state battery segment, Star Mine data show that a total of 10 investment and financing events have occurred since 2021, of which Tailan Technology, Weilan Technology and Enli Power have all completed two rounds of financing. A number of head institutions have appeared in the investors of these solid-state battery companies, including head investment institutions Junlian Capital, IDG Capital, country Garden Venture Capital, etc., as well as Xiaomi, Huawei, Xilai and so on, have also injected capital into the solid-state battery field.

From the perspective of financing rounds, most solid-state battery companies are still in an early stage of development, and only Weilan New Energy completed round C financing in November last year. From the perspective of financing scale, the single financing amount of many enterprises has exceeded the level of 100 million yuan, of which the single financing amount of Luting Power has reached 1 billion yuan.

It will take time for solid-state batteries to be mass produced.

At present, the most mainstream battery technology is lithium iron phosphate battery and ternary lithium battery. Compared with solid-state battery, solid-state battery has higher safety, higher energy density, faster charging efficiency and longer cycle life.

Domestic policies encourage the development of solid-state batteries. In December 2019, the New Energy vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035) (draft for soliciting opinions) was released, which put forward the requirements to strengthen the solid-state battery research and development and industrialization process, and raised the solid-state battery research and development to the national level for the first time.

At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology pointed out in "made in China 2025": "by 2025 and 2030, the single energy density of power batteries in China should reach 400Wh/kg and 500Wh/kg respectively."

At present, the energy density limit of liquid lithium-ion battery is about 280Wh/kg. Even if silicon-based alloy is introduced into the negative electrode, it is difficult to break through the upper density limit of 400Wh/kg. Therefore, the solid-state battery with higher energy density has become a necessary substitute.

At present, a number of domestic traditional car factories, new energy start-ups and scientific research teams are promoting the mass production and commercial use of solid-state batteries. But at present, solid-state batteries are still a long way from mass producers.

In January of this year, ET7, a new model released by Xilai, labeled it as a selling point using mass-produced solid-state battery technology. However, according to Soochow Securities Research and Analysis, the 150kwh battery or semi-solid battery carried by Weilai uses ultra-high nickel cathode + pre-lithiated silicon-carbon negative electrode + solid-liquid electrolyte (solid + liquid) + separator, which belongs to the transitional technology from liquid to solid-state battery.

Soochow Securities said in the research report, "We believe that solid-state battery is the development direction of the industry, but it is still in the laboratory stage, and the comprehensive performance (especially cycle life) and cost of the battery do not have the conditions for mass production. Semi-solid-state battery is expected to be mass-produced by 2025, and all-solid-state battery is expected to be mass-produced by 2030. The application field will gradually expand from military industry, aerospace, to new energy vehicles."

Ouyang Minggao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said at the China Electric vehicle Centenary Forum in 2019: "in order to cope with the rise of the battery industry in China and South Korea, Japan has made a national effort to develop the next generation of solid-state batteries since 2017. And invested a lot of money in research and development. The United States and Europe are also making every effort to develop a new generation of solid-state batteries to achieve transcendence. Although China's battery industry has achieved temporary advantages, it is under great pressure of international competition and needs to make every effort to catch up with the cutting-edge technology of solid-state batteries. "

It also said that solid-state batteries are still a long way from mass production and large-scale use. "existing lithium-ion batteries, including solid-liquid mixed lithium-ion batteries, will still be absolutely dominant until 2030." Ouyang Ming predicts that by 2025, there will be the first generation of all-solid-state batteries with roughly the same energy as the existing liquid electrolyte lithium-ion batteries. After 2030, there will be a second generation of all-solid-state batteries with new positive and negative materials, and when the energy is raised to 500 watts per kilogram, there will also be lithium-sulfur batteries with high specific energy and metal-air batteries.