Svolt Energy's sulfide solid state battery cells successfully pass grueling tests

Svolt Energy, a Chinese battery maker funded by Great Wall Motor in 2018, is currently working on developing its own sulfide solid state battery cells, for use in future EVs.

The company has announced that its research lab has developed China's first 20Ah class sulfide all-solid-state prototype cells, which have an energy density of 350-400 Wh/kg. These cells have been put through some grueling tests, including the infamous pin prick test as well as 200°C hot box experiments. And the good news is they passed with flying colors.

This means Svolt can now move on to more testing, and it should try to make even higher capacity cells using the same tech - it started with 1 Ah, then moved to 5 Ah, 10 Ah, and now 20 Ah. Once the bigger cells get mass produced (which is, understandably, still some way off), they could allow EVs to achieve ranges of more than 1,000 km (620 miles) on a single charge.

Svolt Energy has chosen sulfide battery technology despite the fact that this has been apparently described by the industry as "hard as hell" to develop. And yet, the company has managed to reach kilogram-scale synthesis of solid-state electrolyte materials, continuous preparation of solid-state electrolyte films, assembly of all-solid-state soft pack cells and new equipment development capabilities in the field. The work is obviously far from production-ready, but Svolt is moving forward with development, going its own way.

Solid-state batteries are considered better than liquid lithium batteries in terms of energy density, charging rate, safety, cycle life, and thermal management, which is why they're widely seen as the next generation of advanced battery technology for EVs. Whether Svolt's specific implementation will turn out to be the winner in what is still a long race remains to be seen.

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