Zeng Yuqun poured cold water on solid-state batteries.

Robin Zeng has poured cold water again.

On June 23, at the Dalian Summer Davos Forum, CATL chairman Robin Zeng rated the current progress of the solid-state battery industry: If on a scale of 1 to 9, where 9 means ready for mass production, the entire industry is only at 4.

Zeng believes that before 2030, the possibility of full solid-state batteries being installed in millions of vehicles is very small.

He has said this more than once. At the 2024 earnings conference he said “commercialization is still far away”, and in 2025 directly criticized car companies for “misleading the public.”

However, the enthusiasm for solid-state batteries in the industry remains high. While he keeps cooling expectations, Toyota announced in October 2025 that it would launch a solid-state battery production line in 2026, and Samsung SDI’s Shizuoka factory is about to begin operation. Domestically, BYD, GAC, Chery, SAIC, CALB, Gotion, Changan and others are pushing forward with solid-state routes — pilot lines are being put into production, new releases are happening, mass production schedules are being set.

Everyone is racing ahead. And the person who pours cold water most fiercely holds the most solid-state battery patents worldwide.

What does “4 points” mean? According to Technology Readiness Levels (TRL), level 4 just completes laboratory principle validation; the cell can work under controllable conditions, but it is five levels away from engineering and large-scale mass production. In between are engineering validation, pilot scale-up, and production line modeling — each step takes at least one to two years.

The current bottleneck is mainly at the solid-solid interface. In liquid batteries, the electrolyte can penetrate every gap of the electrodes, allowing ions to conduct naturally and smoothly. Switching to solid electrolytes, these two solids are pressed together, but the densification is uneven, structure tends to misalign under high pressure, internal resistance increases, and cells decay faster. In 2024, Zeng himself said the hardest issue is this interface problem.

For now, the industrial progress of solid-state batteries is still accelerating.

On June 2, 2026, a Citic Securities research report pointed out that the industrialization process of solid-state batteries is accelerating, semi-solid-state batteries have already been applied in consumer and energy storage sectors, by the second half of 2026 they are expected to be scaled up in power applications, and full solid-state batteries may undergo vehicle road tests.

CATL is also pushing the solid-state battery launch. Zeng said, “I fully support solid-state batteries, have invested for ten years already,” and his team is “not falling behind anyone.” Their sulfide full solid-state cells reach energy density of 500Wh/kg, supporting fast charging to 80% in 15 minutes. Chief scientist Wu Kai gave a clear timeline in April 2024: by 2027, get to 7-8 points, small-scale production, planned capacity of 5GWh. Nearly a thousand people in R&D, and the number of global solid-state battery patents ranks first.

He keeps raising the mass production bar in public, but internally, investment isn’t lacking.

Other players' actions aren’t just talk either.

Toyota has bet on solid-state batteries for over twenty years; Idemitsu Kosan’s lithium sulfide facility will be completed in 2025, and its 2026 mass production plan has obtained subsidies from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Samsung SDI’s Shizuoka factory will produce 0.5GWh in the same year, first targeting Lexus. They have factories, production lines, and customers.

Domestic manufacturers have even tighter schedules. BYD’s Pingshan pilot sulfide line passed automotive-grade verification; the Bishan 20GWh mass production line will begin construction in Q3. GAC’s 400Wh/kg full solid-state cell is planned for Haobo models. Chery will launch the Rhino S battery in March 2026, with a claimed energy density of 600Wh/kg. CALB’s full solid-state battery reaches above 450Wh/kg, planning to deliver 1,000 robot-grade products in Q4.

Gotion High-tech announced in May 2026 that its Jinshi full solid-state battery’s energy density has surpassed 400Wh/kg, and the 2GWh Jinshi full solid-state production line is proceeding smoothly. Changan, together with Tailan New Energy, launched separator-less solid-state batteries, with small-batch production planned in 2026, and a 50GWh base planned for Chongqing Liangjiang New Area.

But what does “mass production” actually refer to?

Semi-solid and full solid-state are two different things. Semi-solid retains some liquid electrolyte, meaning much lower technical threshold and much faster industrialization. Welion New Energy has been supplying semi-solid cells to NIO since the end of 2023, so their route is proven. But many companies’ claims of “solid-state battery mass production” actually refer to semi-solid products, which is entirely different from Zeng’s “full solid-state, level 9.” This is currently the biggest conceptual confusion.

Brokerage forecasts are also inconsistent. Dongwu Securities’ deep report on April 8, 2026 estimated China’s full solid-state battery shipments at 100GWh in 2030, at 1.5 RMB/Wh, a market size of 150 billion RMB; CITIC Construction Securities’ report the same month estimated global solid-state battery (including semi-solid) demand at 212GWh in 2030. The differences in definitions reflect the industry's lack of consensus on “when, and in what form” the technology will arrive.

Nonetheless, the industrial trend is irreversible, and investments in dozens of pilot and mass production lines are already made. Zeng keeps pouring cold water, but the industry keeps moving forward.

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