Svolt begins manufacturing its solid-state battery: 100 kWh, 900V, 6C charging rate, and a lifespan of one million kilometers

Semi-solid batteries are continuing to make progress in moving from laboratories to electric vehicles. Svolt, a company born within Great Wall Motor, has just announced the start of production for a new generation that aims to combine fast charging, safety, and a long lifespan. Its efforts go beyond simply filling the gap until solid-electrolyte batteries become available.

The company has confirmed that the first 100 kWh Dragon Armor battery packs have left its production line in Changzhou, China. The announcement comes slightly later than expected, as it had previously set the launch date for September. Svolt was established as a division of GWM in 2012 and became independent in 2018, though it remains one of its key suppliers and maintains a close relationship with the group.

The new battery uses a 900-volt architecture and supports charging at 6C. According to the manufacturer, this allows it to regain an equivalent of 500 kilometers of range in 12 minutes. This is an impressive figure, though more details are still needed to put it in context: the conditions under which this measurement was taken and the car used as a reference have not been disclosed. Therefore, we cannot directly apply it to actual highway driving.

The system includes liquid cooling and a transfer printing technology applied to the cell separator. According to Yang Hongxin, president and CEO of Svolt, this process improves safety during fast charging. It is one of the key aspects of this solution: ensuring the battery can handle demanding charges without compromising its protection.

Regarding durability, Svolt claims 3,000 charge cycles and a theoretical lifespan of over one million kilometers. It’s important to note that this is the manufacturer’s estimate, not a mileage guarantee for the buyer. The battery pack also includes six layers of protection that, according to the company, provide impact resistance three times higher than what is required by Chinese regulations.

The roadmap aims to transition all of its ternary cells to this hybrid technology by the end of 2027 and launch a third generation in 2028. From January to September this year, Svolt installed 11.27 GWh of batteries in China, accounting for nearly 2% of the total. The next step will be to see how this industrial progress translates into cars available for sale: what their prices will be, how they will charge, and what performance they will offer outside of test conditions.