BYD scientist says solid-state batteries are almost here

We are only four months into 2026, but it already feels like things are moving at the speed of light. Pretty much every week, a new company claims they have found the "holy grail" of power: the solid-state battery. These batteries promise to make EVs go further, charge faster, and stay safer than the ones we use today. The latest news comes from the chief scientist at BYD, Lian Yubo, who shared an update on where this technology actually stands. The news is good, but it turns out that building a great battery in a lab is much easier than putting one in a car you can actually buy at a local dealership.

Lian Yubo spoke at a meeting about car policies in China. He told the crowd that solid-state batteries have reached a "critical breakthrough stage." This sounds very exciting, but in the world of science, a breakthrough is just the beginning of a long road. BYD is one of the biggest makers of electric cars on the planet, so when its top scientist speaks, people listen. He explained that even though the technology works, making millions of these batteries for a fair price is still a giant puzzle that needs solving.

One of the biggest problems with electric cars today is how the battery is made. Most EVs use liquid electrolytes. Solid-state batteries, as the name suggests, use solid materials inside. This makes them safer because they are less likely to catch fire. However, Lian pointed out that these solid parts do not always play nice together. He mentioned two main problems: interface stability and lithium dendrites. To put it simply, tiny spikes called dendrites can grow inside the battery and cause it to break.

BYD is not only looking at the chemicals inside the battery. Lian said the industry needs to change how it thinks about the whole car. Usually, battery scientists try to make a better battery and then hand it to the car designers. Lian thinks this is backward. He believes car companies should start with what the driver wants. If a driver wants a car that lasts for 20 years or charges in the time it takes to grab a coffee, the battery must be designed with those specific goals in mind from day one. This "system-level" thinking is how BYD plans to beat the competition.

Everyone might be waiting for solid-state tech, but BYD is busy improving the batteries they already sell. The company is working on the Blade Battery 2.0 - a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, which is a very popular choice for many electric cars. The new version has an energy density of about 210 Wh/kg. Even more impressive is the charging speed. This battery can go from 10% to 70% charge in just about 5 minutes, almost as fast as filling a tank with gas.

Solid-state batteries are not the only alternative in the works. BYD is also developing sodium-ion batteries. These use salt instead of lithium, making them much cheaper to build. Lian noted that these batteries could last for up to 10,000 charge cycles. If you charged your car every single day, a battery like that would last for over 27 years. These won't be used in high-end sports cars, but they could make small, affordable electric cars much more common for regular families.

When can we actually get a BYD with a solid-state battery? Lian gave a specific timeline. The company wants to start "small-batch production" around the year 2027. This means they will build a few special cars to show off the technology. But if you are looking for a normal, affordable EV with this tech, you will have to wait longer. Scaling up from a few test cars to millions of vehicles will likely take until 2030 or even later. The company is focusing on "sulfide-based" solid-state batteries as its main goal for this timeframe.

In the meantime, the electric cars we have now are only getting better. Lian made it clear that liquid batteries aren't going away anytime soon. They are becoming more powerful and better at handling cold weather every year. For the next decade, we will probably see many different types of batteries living side-by-side. Some cars will be cheap and use salt-based batteries, while expensive luxury cars might start testing out the solid-state dream.

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