As NEVs (New Energy Vehicles) enter the stage of quality competition, emerging fields such as energy storage, the low-altitude economy, and robotics are placing higher demands on battery energy density, safety, and fast-charging performance. Traditional liquid lithium-ion batteries are approaching the boundary of technical performance.
Against this backdrop, solid-state batteries are moving from the laboratory to industrial validation, becoming the core track for next-generation technological competition in the global power battery industry.
The evolution from liquid to hybrid solid-liquid and then to all-solid-state is not a simple material substitution, but a systematic technological transformation involving the battery material system, manufacturing processes, supply chain, and application ecosystem.
The "2026 China Hybrid Solid-Liquid Battery Industry White Paper" by GRIT (Gewu Zhisheng) will systematically sort out the development path of the solid-state battery industry from the dimensions of technology, market, industrial chain, and competitive landscape.
I. Why Is It Imperative to Develop Solid-State Batteries?
Over the past decade, liquid lithium-ion batteries have achieved significant improvements in energy density, cycle life, and cost control through material and structural optimization, becoming the mainstream technological route in the NEV and energy storage markets. However, as downstream applications upgrade their demands for long range, high safety, and fast charging, their technical bottlenecks are gradually emerging. On the one hand, the improvement in energy density is constrained by both the material system and safety boundaries; the application of high-specific-energy materials brings challenges to safety, cycle life, and manufacturing stability. On the other hand, flammable organic liquid electrolytes require multiple safety defense lines in the battery system, and the gradual optimization of the liquid system is approaching the technical boundary.
The core value of solid-state batteries lies in reconstructing the battery material system. It is not a simple replacement of the liquid electrolyte, but a reconstruction of the internal ion transport and interface system of the battery through solid electrolytes.
Compared with traditional liquid batteries, the solid-state system theoretically has three core advantages: First, higher safety. Solid electrolytes are non-flammable and non-volatile, which can significantly reduce the risks of electrolyte leakage and thermal runaway, leaving more design space for high-energy-density batteries. Second, a higher upper limit for energy density. It has better compatibility with high-specific-energy materials such as lithium metal anodes and high-nickel cathodes, and is expected to break through the energy density bottleneck of existing liquid batteries. Third, superior fast-charging and low-temperature performance. Through the synergistic optimization of solid electrolytes, interface engineering, and electrode structures, ion transport efficiency can be improved to meet the high-power and rapid energy replenishment needs in fields such as NEVs and low-altitude aircraft.
II. Current Development Status of the Solid-State Battery Industry
Battery Development Stage
The current market is still in a development stage where liquid batteries dominate, semi-solid-state batteries are rapidly industrializing, and all-solid-state batteries are accelerating technological validation.
Compared to switching directly to the all-solid-state route in one step, the hybrid solid-liquid route can extend the process to a certain extent based on the existing lithium battery manufacturing system, thus possessing stronger industrial feasibility.
Currently, GWh-level hybrid solid-state battery capacity has been built in China, and the industry is gradually advancing from small-scale demonstration to large-scale manufacturing.
Industrial Chain Development
The industrial chain of hybrid solid-liquid batteries has gradually improved, but still faces challenges such as tight supply of core upstream materials, shortcomings in high-end equipment, low yield rates in midstream manufacturing, and limited downstream application scenarios. It is expected that in the future, with the concentrated release of capacity and continuous optimization of processes, all links in the industrial chain will gradually mature, and costs will also drop rapidly.
Market Size of Hybrid Solid-Liquid Batteries
2023-2024
China's hybrid solid-liquid battery industry is transitioning from laboratory technological validation to large-scale commercialization. Constrained by factors such as technological maturity, industrial chain supporting capacity, and market demand, the market size in these two years is relatively small;
2025
Under the influence of national policy guidance, continuous technological breakthroughs, and downstream demand pull, China's hybrid solid-liquid battery market is showing an explosive growth trend;
Future
China's hybrid solid-liquid battery market will continue its high-speed growth trend, but the growth rate will gradually slow down. In the future, the application fields of hybrid solid-liquid batteries will gradually expand from primarily NEV passenger cars to multiple fields such as commercial and industrial energy storage, grid-side energy storage, consumer electronics, and the low-altitude economy.
Market Competition Landscape of Hybrid Solid-Liquid Batteries
The competition in the solid-state battery industry has already shown obvious ecological characteristics. In China, traditional power battery enterprises such as CATL, BYD, Gotion High-tech, and EVE Energy are deploying in this track, while enterprises focusing on solid-state and semi-solid-state technologies, such as WeLion New Energy, QingTao Energy, and Ganfeng Lithium Battery, are continuously promoting industrial implementation.
In 2025, the concentration of China's hybrid solid-liquid battery market is extremely high, with the top four enterprises collectively occupying 92% of the market share. Among them, QingTao Energy surpassed WeLion New Energy in 2025 to leap to the first place in the industry, which is mainly attributed to the successful delivery of its Inner Mongolia Wuhai semi-solid-state energy storage power station project.
Next Stage of Solid-State Batteries: From Hybrid Solid-Liquid to All-Solid-State
Breakthroughs in key technologies such as solid electrolytes, interfaces, lithium metal anodes, and large-scale manufacturing will realize the next-generation high-energy-density battery in the true sense.
Development Stage of Solid-State Batteries
2026-2027
This is the window period for technological validation. Oxide-based batteries will prioritize whole-vehicle testing, sulfide-based batteries will focus on overcoming preparation process difficulties, and polymer-based batteries will deploy in energy storage and low-altitude fields;
2028-2029
Entering the commercial demonstration stage, sulfide-based batteries begin to land in the passenger car field, oxide-based batteries shift to the energy storage track, and polymer-based batteries only adapt to specific high-temperature application scenarios;
2030-2035
The industry ushers in a period of large-scale popularization. Sulfide-based batteries dominate the power battery market, oxide-based and polymer-based batteries deeply cultivate the energy storage and special equipment tracks respectively, and lithium metal anodes achieve industrial implementation.
Progress of All-Solid-State Batteries in Mainstream Enterprises
WeLion New Energy and QingTao Energy are deeply engaged in the oxide technological route, planning to start batch delivery of battery cells in 2028-2029, serving as the core force supporting 2028 as the first year of industry commercialization. CATL and BYD focus on the research and development of sulfide-modified composite systems, verifying product reliability through thousand-unit-level demonstration vehicle installations in the short term, and anchoring the time for large-scale commercialization in 2030.
III. Dual Drive of Policy and Downstream Demand Accelerates Market Development
Policy Support
The state has introduced multiple policies, providing support from three aspects: enterprise assistance, technological route direction, and downstream application fields. Policies are leaning towards leading enterprises with strong technological strength and fast industrialization progress, further consolidating the market advantages of such leading enterprises. At the same time, the oxide electrolyte route is explicitly supported to promote it as the mainstream technological route for hybrid solid-liquid batteries. On the basis of supporting the application of hybrid solid-liquid batteries in the NEV field, the state is also actively promoting their expansion into fields such as energy storage, the low-altitude economy, and consumer electronics.
Demand Drive
NEVs: Core Industrialization Entry Point
NEVs are the most important application market for solid-state batteries. The demands for long range, fast charging, high safety, and lightweight make it the most economically valuable landing scenario.
Low-Altitude Economy: Driven by High Energy Density Demand
Low-altitude aircraft such as eVTOLs have higher requirements for battery performance. The demand for high payload and long range under limited weight makes solid-state batteries the core technological reserve for low-altitude power systems.
Energy Storage: Safety as the Core Competitive Advantage
As of the first quarter of 2026, China's new energy storage installed capacity has exceeded 140 million kilowatts. The requirements for safety, cycle life, and life-cycle cost of energy storage systems are continuously increasing. Solid-state batteries are expected to gradually gain applications along with the upgrade of safety standards and the development of long-duration energy storage.
Emerging Fields: Expanding Incremental Application Space
The demand for batteries that are "light, small, safe, and high in energy density" in fields such as humanoid robots, drones, and aerospace is driving solid-state batteries to extend from power batteries to the next-generation general mobile energy technological direction.
Based on this industry background, GRIT (Gewu Zhisheng) has launched the "2026 China Hybrid Solid-Liquid Battery Industry White Paper" to gain deep insights into the hybrid solid-liquid battery market and look forward to the development prospects of all-solid-state batteries.
The complete version of the "2026 China Hybrid Solid-Liquid Battery Industry White Paper" is now on sale simultaneously. For further understanding and purchase inquiries, please feel free to contact us through the contact information below.
Scan the QR code above to contact us!