[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong] China's Ganfeng Lithium, the world's largest lithium metal producer, said it has started small-scale production of a 500 Wh/kg-class lithium metal all-solid-state battery. The industry is interpreting it as a sign that the race to commercialise all-solid-state batteries is entering a full-scale production phase.

Electrek, an electric vehicle-focused outlet, reported on May 21 that Ganfeng Lithium recently disclosed in an investor update that it had begun producing a 10Ah lithium metal all-solid-state battery. It introduced the product as a world-first-level technology.

Ganfeng Lithium is China's largest producer of lithium compounds and holds about 45 percent of the global lithium metal materials market and about 70 percent in China. It has supply contracts for battery materials with major automakers including Tesla, Hyundai Motor, BMW and Volkswagen, and recently signed a four-year lithium hydroxide supply deal with Hyundai Motor.

The key point of the announcement is that battery technology development has moved beyond the research and materials stage into actual production. Ganfeng Lithium is developing all-solid-state batteries along two tracks, using silicon-based anodes and lithium metal anodes, and the 500 Wh/kg product is a lithium metal anode-based cell. The company said it has secured about 400 Wh/kg energy density and more than 1,100 charge-discharge cycles for its silicon-based all-solid-state battery and has completed preparations for large-scale production.

Ganfeng Lithium also recently disclosed core technology achievements at a China all-solid-state battery innovation and development summit. It said it developed a "zero-strain" lithium alloy anode and a sulphur-based cathode technology, and explained that they can improve electrochemical and thermal stability and suppress unnecessary lithium movement.

It also presented safety and durability data. The lithium alloy anode's expansion rate during charging and discharging remained at 3 to 5 percent, and it was reported to have passed a nail penetration test and a high-temperature heating test. The company also stressed that it secured thermal stability of up to 250 degrees. Ganfeng Lithium said it expects these technologies to help speed up the industrialisation of high-energy-density all-solid-state batteries.

The market views the move as a trend that could bring forward the timeline for commercialising all-solid-state batteries. Ganfeng Lithium already has partnerships with Chinese automakers such as Dongfeng and Changan, raising the possibility of changes to the electric vehicle battery supply chain structure as a materials company expands into cell production.

The all-solid-state battery race is not playing out only in China. Major automakers and battery companies including BYD, CATL, Volkswagen, Toyota and Mercedes-Benz are aiming for small-scale mass production around 2027 to 2028, while full-scale mass production is expected after the 2030s. Against this backdrop, Ganfeng Lithium's production start is seen as an important milestone in the pace of technology competition.

Some analysis says the possibility that all-solid-state batteries will become the single next-generation standard remains limited. Other technologies, including lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries and sodium-ion batteries, are also developing in parallel by securing competitiveness in cost, safety and lifespan. The industry sees the electric vehicle battery market being reshaped into a multi-technology system based on driving range, cost, charging speed and safety.