Field Lithium batteries are currently dominated by Chinese companies such as BYD and CATL. Not only do they sell most of the batteries used in electric vehicles and energy storage projects around the world, but they are also opening up-to-date factories in your backyard. When companies outside China try to compete, like Europe’s Northvolt, they quickly realize how arduous it is.
However, there is still hope for Chinese rivals. If another company manages to crack next-generation battery technology, it may still be able to take the lead. And the battery industry has already reached a consensus on what this technology could be: solid-state batteries.
Today, almost all batteries contain liquid electrolytes that transfer ions between the positive and negative sides. But the liquid can spill, evaporate or even catch fire. So for decades, scientists have tried to replace it with a solid electrolyte that could make batteries safer, more proficient and more resistant to low temperatures.
Solid-state batteries were created in laboratories, but they are steep and arduous to produce on a huge scale. Many companies are trying to find the right chemical composition that will make this technology commercially viable. This is also the goal of Vincent Yang, founder and CEO of ProLogium, a Taiwanese company that says it will begin mass production of solid-state batteries as early as 2027.
I recently met Yang in Modern York. (Despite sharing the same last name, he’s not related.) With a PhD in materials science and over 20 years of experience in battery research and manufacturing, he’s seen it all. “I have produced almost every type of battery. You could call me a living fossil of some older technologies,” he says.
Until recently, ProLogium was one of the smaller players on the battery market. Then, earlier this year, the company introduced a fourth-generation solid-state battery that it said would be inexpensive and simple to mass produce. ProLogium is currently expanding rapidly: in February, it began building a gigafactory in Dunkirk, France, after receiving a €1.5 billion local government subsidy to produce solid-state batteries in Europe. In May, ProLogium announced a merger with TDAC, a U.S. blank check company, to list the stock on the Nasdaq exchange at a valuation of $3.8 billion.
For solid-state battery researchers, the current moment seems to be ripe with opportunity. Sure, Chinese companies like CATL are also investing in solid-state battery research, which gives them the advantage of having more resources and more customers. However, the fact that solid-state batteries exploit very different materials and production methods means that up-to-date opportunities are opening up where newcomers have a chance to beat the establishment players. “We are racing against the best people in the world. But even for the largest companies in the world, it remains a technical challenge that is difficult to solve,” Yang says. Competition provides pressure, but also adrenaline.