«Chinese batteries are cheaper, they are high-performing, they are available,» says Francesca Ghiretti, a researcher on China and economic security at RAND Europe, a non-profit research organisation. China’s production scale «makes it really difficult for others to catch up – not to catch up with the technology, but the commercial success of that technology,» she says.
Getty ImagesBut in Mo’s view, the door isn’t completely shut for other countries. What China is really good at is taking existing technologies and making them better and cheaper, but the country’s weakness is in cutting-edge research, he says.
If other countries can get ahead with next-generation battery technologies, such as solid-state batteries, «there may still be chances» for them to compete, Mo says. Traditional lithium-ion batteries use a liquid electrolyte to transfer ions between the electrodes, but solid-state batteries use a solid electrolyte. What is unique about them is that it may not need the existing supply chain meant for liquid-based cells, potentially opening space for non-Chinese contenders, Mo says.
Companies such as China’s CATL and BYD, South Korea’s Samsung SDI and the US’s QuantumScape are developing solid-state batteries. But for the US – which heavily relies on China for lithium-ion batteries at present – scaling up manufacturing to a competitive level is expected to challenging, according to an analysis published by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Obstacles include lagging know-how, uncertain demand and high energy costs, the analysis said.
