The first national standard for China's solid-state battery industry is open for public comment.
According to the National Standards Information Public Service Platform, a national standard named "Solid-State Batteries for Electric Vehicles - Part 1: Terms and Classifications" has recently been open for public comments (hereinafter referred to as the draft for comments).
According to the simultaneously disclosed "Compilation Notes", up to now, no international or foreign published standards for solid-state batteries have been identified. Therefore, the draft for comments does not adopt international standards or advanced foreign standards.
This also means that the draft for comments is the world's first national standard draft for solid-state batteries.
This draft for comments is under the jurisdiction of the National Technical Committee for Automotive Standardization, implemented by the Electric Vehicle Subcommittee of the National Technical Committee for Automotive Standardization, and its competent authority is the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The main drafting units include mainstream power battery manufacturers such as CATL (300750.SZ) and Gotion High-tech (002074.SZ); solid-state battery manufacturers such as Weilan New Energy and Qingtao Energy; as well as automakers including Seres, FAW, and Dongfeng.
The project team drafting the standards pointed out that automotive solid-state batteries use "solid electrolytes" instead of the flammable liquid electrolytes in traditional liquid lithium-ion batteries. As a disruptive innovative product in the field of automotive power batteries, automotive solid-state batteries have prominent advantages such as good safety and high energy density. Carrying out standardization research on automotive solid-state batteries is conducive to unifying evaluation methods, standardizing product quality, and supporting government management.
The series of standards "Solid-State Batteries for Electric Vehicles" is planned to be formulated in 4 parts, namely: Part 1: Terms and Classification; Part 2: Performance Specifications; Part 3: Safety Specifications; Part 4: Lifespan Specifications.
The part open for public comment this time is Part 1, which specifies the relevant terms and classifications of solid-state batteries for electric vehicles.
Among them, the most concerning is the definition of "basic terms for solid-state batteries". The draft for comments classifies batteries into three categories: liquid batteries, hybrid solid-liquid batteries, and solid-state batteries, based on the type of electrolyte that transports ions between the positive and negative electrodes.
A liquid battery refers to a battery where ions are transferred between the positive and negative electrodes through a liquid electrolyte; a hybrid solid-liquid battery refers to a battery where ions are transferred between the positive and negative electrodes through both a liquid electrolyte and a solid electrolyte; a solid-state battery refers to a battery where ions are transferred between the positive and negative electrodes through a solid electrolyte.
The "semi-solid state battery" commonly used in the industry will serve as an allowable term for "hybrid solid-liquid battery". The "all-solid state battery" will serve as an allowable term for "solid state battery".
Due to the vague definition of concepts such as "semi-solid-state", "quasi-solid-state", and "all-solid-state" batteries in the past, there have been many enterprises in the market in recent years that confuse the public for marketing purposes, packaging semi-solid-state batteries as solid-state batteries for promotion.
Gaogong Lithium Battery pointed out that the draft for comments, through terms, classifications, and methods for determining weight loss rate, ties the market's highly concerned "solid-state" naming to specific structures and measurable indicators. This will set a bottom line for product promotion and communication in the capital market, and curb conceptual packaging.
In addition, it is also expected to provide a unified language for academic research and technological development, reducing the difficulty in comparison caused by different understandings of the same term among different institutions.
In terms of the definition of solid-state batteries, the draft for comments stipulates that only batteries with a weight loss rate not exceeding 0.5% when tested for weight loss in a specific manner can be called solid-state batteries. This weight loss rate is much stricter than the 1% specified in the group standard "Method for Determining All-Solid-State Batteries" issued in May last year.
The standard drafting group pointed out that according to the definition of solid-state batteries, solid-state batteries should not contain liquid electrolyte components. However, considering that some solid-state battery technology routes exhibit weight loss due to the decomposition of solid electrolyte materials in the 120°C weight loss rate test, it is appropriate to allow a certain degree of weight loss.
The specific test mainly consists of two steps: first, after the battery has undergone specific charge-discharge pretreatment, a small opening is made in the shell and the battery is placed upside down to stand. If any liquid flows out or forms droplets at this time, it is immediately judged as a non-solid-state battery.
If no liquid is observed, proceed to the core heating weight loss test — the battery will be placed in a near-vacuum environment and continuously heated at 120°C for 6 hours. By comparing the mass change before and after heating, the content of volatile liquid substances, i.e., the weight loss rate, is calculated.
The verification test results organized and conducted by the drafting group show that the weight loss rate of all-solid-state batteries is lower than 0.5%, while that of hybrid solid-liquid batteries is more scattered, ranging from 1.68% to 10.33%.
In addition, the draft for comments further classifies solid-state batteries from three dimensions: electrolyte type, type of conducting ions, and application field.
Currently, at the international level, Japan's Toyota Motor plans to commercialize all-solid-state batteries between 2027 and 2028; South Korean companies such as LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On are also accelerating their research and development; American startups like QuantumScape and Solid Power have gone public and raised funds through SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) and received investments from traditional automakers such as Volkswagen and Ford.
Domestically, in addition to startups focused on solid-state batteries such as Weilan New Energy and Qingtao Energy, traditional liquid battery giants like CATL, BYD (002594.SZ), and Gotion High-Tech are also actively laying out plans for solid-state batteries.
According to incomplete statistics from Jiemian News, currently, all mass-produced batteries by domestic enterprises are "semi-solid-state batteries", i.e., hybrid solid-liquid batteries. The planned mass production time for solid-state batteries is basically around 2027, and most of them will be mass-produced in small batches and installed in vehicles.
Zhang Jinhui, a senior researcher at Xinluo Information, previously told Jiemian News that solid-state batteries are currently facing the most initial technical issues, and there will be cost-related problems later. "It is恐怕 that consumers will not be able to buy cars equipped with solid-state batteries at a price of 300,000 to 400,000 yuan even by 2030.
Domestic academic circles still have differences regarding the window period for mass production of solid-state batteries.
Professor Ai Xinping from the College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences at Wuhan University stated during the 2025 World Power Battery Conference: "Based on my personal experience in researching all-solid-state batteries, I am not as optimistic as others and am skeptical about the mass production window generally predicted by the industry to be between 2027 and 2030.
Xu Xiaoxiong, Executive Dean of the Advanced Battery Wuzhen Research Institute at Southern University of Science and Technology and Director of the Research Center for Solid-State Battery Materials and Devices at the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, holds a completely different view: "I think it may be a little later than 2027. It should be quite certain that all-solid-state batteries will achieve mass production starting from 2028.
Gaogong Lithium Battery pointed out that globally, solid-state batteries are still in a critical window period of transitioning from laboratory research to vehicle-grade mass production, and the competition regarding material systems, technological routes, and cost paths continues.
China is taking the lead in issuing national standards for basic terminology and classification of automotive solid-state batteries, and providing a quantitative judgment method on the issue of 'whether it is a solid-state battery'. This is expected to standardize the domestic industrial competition order and at the same time provide an underlying template for future participation in international standard-setting and discourse power competition," said Gaogong Lithium Battery.
