Changan Solid State Battery Will Unlock Up To 1500 Miles Of Range

At CleanTechnica, we have often said the EV Revolution is just getting started and the batteries that will power our electric cars and trucks in 2030 have yet to be invented. We were wrong. It looks now as if those batteries will be here in about 2 years. According to CnEVPost, Chinese automaker Changan claims it has developed a solid-state battery that will allow electric cars to travel up to 1500 kilometers without needing to be recharged. That’s 932 miles for those of you who have never heard of the metric system.

Solid-state batteries have been a hot topic for over a decade, with companies like QuantumScape and 24M saying they are expecting to begin production any day now. Even CATL and BYD say they have solid-state batteries in the pipeline that they might begin producing in small batches by 2028. But Changan says its batteries will be in production by the end of this year, with verification and calibration procedures taking place next year. By 2027, it expects production cars using its solid-state batteries to be on the road in China.

Changan Solid State Battery Announcement

In a statement to investors reported by CnEVPost, Changan said it is committed to enabling energy freedom for its customers and is accelerating progress on next-generation batteries. The company calls its solid-state battery Jinzhongzhao and claims it will find its way into functional prototype vehicles by the end of this year.

The Changan solid-state battery is said to have an energy density of up to 400 Wh/kg. Currently, the best lithium-ion batteries have an energy density of 350 Wh/kg, but they are expensive. To reduce the sales price of electric cars, many manufacturers are turning to LFP batteries, which are significantly cheaper but have a much lower energy density. Once fully developed, solid-state batteries are expected to be capable of energy densities as high as 500 Wh/kg.

Utilizing AI remote diagnostic technology, Changan claims it has improved the safety of its solid-state battery by 70 percent. In its final specification, it is expected to completely eliminate thermal runaway events — aka battery fires — that are still a concern for conventional lithium-ion batteries.

In April of this year, Wu Kai, chief scientist at CATL, said at a battery industry event his company intends to produce all-solid-state batteries in small batches by 2027. Last February, Sun Huajun, chief technology officer for BYD, told a forum that his company expected to begin “demonstration use” of all-solid-state batteries around 2027. True large-scale adoption of solid-state batteries may not be realized until after 2030, he added.

Previously, we reported that solid-state batteries replace the semi-liquid electrolyte with a solid substance that is far more tolerant of high heat and less susceptible to damage in the event of a collision. In the lab, they have a higher energy density, can charge faster, and weigh less than traditional lithium-ion batteries.

Not only do they cost less, they may require simpler, less costly cooling systems and could allow automakers to dispense with the heavy, bank vault quality safety cages used today to prevent damage to traction batteries in the event of a collision. Those two factors alone could lower the cost of manufacturing electric vehicles and make them more affordable.

A rather breathless story by Sustainability Times trumpeted, “The numbers are astounding. With a battery capacity of 400 Wh/kg, compared to the current average of 150 Wh/kg, endless journeys become the norm. Whether it’s a round trip from Chicago to Nashville or a seamless drive from Boston to Washington D.C., this innovation is set to transform the landscape of personal transportation. It’s not just a technological advancement; it’s a paradigm shift!”

The Politics Of Solid-State Batteries

That’s all well and good, but it omits one thing. These batteries will never find their way to consumers in the US, which has surrounded itself with an impenetrable wall of tariffs designed to fend off the Yellow Peril by keeping Chinese cars out of the hands of Americans. As a result, the rest of the world will be driving long-range electric cars while Americans trundle along in the slow lane driving outmoded cars with obsolete technology.

That hardly seems like a plan to make America great again. It’s like saying that only propeller driven aircraft are permitted in US airspace. Cars in America will be to the rest of the world what East Germany’s Trabant was to a Mercedes-Benz. As poet Robert Frost wrote more than a century ago, “Before I built a wall I’d ask to know what I was walling in or walling out, and to whom I was like to give offense.” But his message requires the ability to engage in second-order thinking, something the current crop of US leaders find extremely difficult if not impossible.

The LMR Battery In The US

This week, General Motors and Ford were puffing out their chests because they are working on new battery technology that uses cathodes that are rich in manganese. The so-called LMR batteries are said to combine the low cost of LFP batteries — manganese is the fifth most abundant element on Earth — with the long range potential of traditional NMC batteries, where the “M” stands for magnesium, not manganese.

Last year, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in a study published in the journal Nature, stated: “Manganese based materials have tremendous potential to become the next generation lithium-ion cathode as they are Earth abundant, low cost, and stable. Here we show how the mobility of manganese cations can be used to obtain a unique nano-sized micro-structure in large particle sized cathode materials with enhanced electro-chemical properties.”

What is making GM and Ford so breathless? The prospect that by 2028 their electric cars will have a range of 400 miles. Be still, my beating heart! Meanwhile, by that time, cars from Chinese manufacturers will be able to drive more than 900 miles without stopping. Nothing says “great”  like being less than half as good as your competition.

Changan Export Plans

Changan is not a household name in many places, but it has ambitious export plans. The Changan Hunter is an extended-range pickup truck now available in Columbia. CleanTechnica‘s Juan Diego Celemín Mojica reported that at a starting price of $36,400, it beats all of its legacy competition. For instance, it costs less than the Toyota Hilux ($40,000), the Ford Ranger ($41,400), and the Nissan Frontier ($45,000). But you will never see one in the US, more’s the pity.

The takeaway is that while the so-called president is beating his gums about all the wondrous things he has accomplished, America is falling further and further behind in the transition to electric vehicles. Gas-powered vehicles are like an addiction. A few decades ago, if you went to out to dinner or a social occasion, most people in the room would be smoking. Today, almost no one smokes in public.

The EV Revolution may have slowed its pace in America, but it is not over. Far from it. It is unfortunate that Americans will have to settle for inferior products for decades to come in order to counter the fears of foreign competition exploited by their political leaders.