What happened
At the 2026 World Power Battery Conference's advanced battery session on September 4, speakers turned from mass-production timelines to unresolved engineering problems. Wang Fang of China Automotive Technology Research Center said domestic companies had published solid-state roadmaps and expected production timetables over the past three years, but warned that industry and consumer expectations have been too high and progress is still needed across materials, electrodes, cells and systems.
Roundtable executives described all-solid-state development as a hard push. Miao Lixiao of Changan Automobile pointed out that sulfide electrolytes still pose safety risks, and higher-capacity electrodes amplify expansion, while the absence of liquid means gaps created by expansion cannot be refilled. Solid-solid contact therefore remains a core challenge. Yuan Wenjing of BAIC Group added that some routes still require about 5 MPa to hold interfaces together, far above the 0.1-0.2 MPa preload used in typical liquid batteries, bringing extra thickness, weight and cost. Manufacturing is also constrained by high-pressure densification needs and limited continuous production.
The same session also weighed ultra-fast charging and new materials. Sun Huajun, CTO of BYD, said flash charging has to coordinate electrochemistry, battery pack structure, thermal management, high-voltage vehicle platforms, charging infrastructure and user scenarios, rather than simply boosting charge rate. Executives stressed that safety boundaries shift with battery aging, and that supercharging needs strong safety, quality, cost and performance at once. Lithium iron manganese phosphate, silicon-carbon anodes and high-safety electrolytes were discussed, but each was presented with tradeoffs rather than as a universal answer.
Why it matters
The discussions reveal a widening gap between laboratory promise and vehicle-ready engineering. A solid-state cell that needs high external pressure to maintain contact can work in principle, but the resulting structural demands complicate vehicle integration and raise system-level costs.
The repeated emphasis on balance suggests the industry is moving beyond single-metric races. Hybrid solid-liquid chemistries may offer an earlier industrial route while all-solid-state research continues on interface science and continuous manufacturing.
Key facts
At the 2026 World Power Battery Conference, all-solid-state batteries, ultra-fast charging and new materials were the most discussed topics.
Wang Fang said domestic companies have released solid-state technology routes and expected mass-production timetables, but warned expectations have been excessively high.
Miao Lixiao said sulfide electrolytes still carry safety risks and that the lack of liquid to fill interface gaps makes solid-solid contact a central problem.
Yuan Wenjing said some solid-state routes still run at about 5 MPa, tens of times higher than the 0.1-0.2 MPa preload typical of liquid batteries.
Sun Huajun said flash charging must be treated as a system-level effort spanning electrochemistry, pack structure, thermal management, high-voltage platforms, charging infrastructure and user scenarios.
What to watch next
Whether solid-state developers can reduce reliance on high external pressure through better interface contact, so cells do not impose extra design burdens on vehicles.
Whether solid-liquid hybrid batteries, which several executives described as competitive for near-term industrialization, gain more commercial traction before pure all-solid-state systems mature.
How the industry defines dynamic safety boundaries for fast charging as batteries age, particularly as 3- to 5-minute charging increases heat and degradation stress.