Solid‑state battery leap
Chinese battery makers just rolled out big solid‑state moves: EVE Energy has begun production of two all‑solid‑state 'Longquan' models, signalling nearer commercialisation (autonews.gasgoo.com). Chery's new 'Rhino Battery' claims 400 Wh/kg energy density and pushes EV range beyond 1,500 km today, with a roadmap toward 600 Wh/kg — that would radically change EV packaging and range math (electrive.com).
EVE staged a rollout ceremony on March 17 at its Chengdu solid‑state research and production base where the company first produced the Longquan No.3 and Longquan No.4 units. (autonews.gasgoo.com) EVE described the two Longquan variants as tailored to different application scenarios and said the initial output is being used as production validation samples rather than full‑scale mass output. (cnevpost.com) The company earlier moved Longquan II into production-grade lines with 10 Ah cells aimed at robotics, UAVs and AI hardware and cited an early target of roughly 500,000 annual cells for those smaller formats. (battery-tech.net) Chery’s Battery Night on March 18 in Wuhu unveiled the Rhino S product family (models S1000, S1200 and S1500) and confirmed it has completed pilot production of a 60 Ah solid‑state cell. (electrive.com) At the same event Chery laid out a materials pathway that includes a polymer‑based solid electrolyte and lithium‑rich manganese cathode chemistry, and said the Exeed ES8 will enter vehicle testing within about a year while an Exeed EX7 variant will receive solid‑liquid hybrid packs in Q4. (cnevpost.com) Chery also jointly released a “Global Power Battery Safety White Paper 2026” at Battery Night and touted module‑level fast‑charge demonstrations — including a company claim of a 5‑minute top‑up equivalent to several hundred kilometres at the module level in pilot tests. (carnewschina.com)
