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Key Takeaways:
Qingtao Energy has begun to commercially produce its semi-solid-state batteries, but it has yet to establish a clear advantage over older-generation lithium-ion products
The company has filed for a Hong Kong IPO, reporting its gross loss widened from 59 million yuan in 2023 to 250 million yuan last year
As the current generation of lithium-ion batteries pushes the boundaries of their performance and safety, newer solid-state products are seen as a next-generation solution to power the electric vehicles appearing on streets in growing numbers. Solid-state batteries' higher energy density and lower thermal runaway risk could radically reshape the industry, if they can complete the long and difficult journey from concept to mass production.
Qingtao (Kunshan) Energy Development Group Co. Ltd., which started out in the material sciences lab of the prestigious Tsinghua University, China's equivalent of MIT, is among the few companies bringing solid-state batteries to the practical realm. The company submitted an application for a Hong Kong IPO earlier this month, publicly revealing its technological roadmap and commercialization progress for the first time.
Qingtao Energy exemplifies a type of company hatched in academia now making a transition to commercial entity. Spun off by the Tsinghua material science team, the company has been transforming from a maker of solid-liquid hybrid batteries to all-solid-state batteries since its founding in 2016.
It adopted its current semi-solid-state battery technological focus with the construction of a mass production line in 2018, becoming one of China's few companies to achieve commercial deployment for the technology.
Mass production milestone
Qingtao Energy's products power over 30 vehicle models, including ones from IM Motors, Morris Garages (MG), and Foton, with cumulative deliveries of more than 16,800 batteries. The company's products are also being used in an 800 MWh energy storage project in Wuhai, of China's Inner Mongolia region. That combination of customers ...
