Talent's second phase of a 2 GWh/year plant in Chongqing is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, and a 10 GWh/year industrial park project in Anhui is under construction.

(Image credit: Talent New Energy)

Solid-state battery startup Talent New Energy has closed a new round of funding to support its development of next-generation battery technology.

Talent recently closed a several hundred million yuan Pre-B round of financing, co-led by a CICC fund and Zhengqi Holding, with Legend Capital Management and Jilian Investment following, according to a press release today.

The financing will be used for the expansion of new factories, continued development of the technology reserve program, talent recruitment, and enhancing product output, Talent said.

Founded in 2018, Talent focuses on the development of solid-state lithium battery and new material technologies, and in March 2022 received an investment from Chinese real estate developer Country Garden.

Of the three mainstream technology routes for solid-state batteries -- the oxide, polymer and sulfide routes -- Talent chose the oxide route.

Talent has developed solid-state electrolytes and solid-state lithium batteries based on the oxide system, and has completed the technology reserve of a variety of materials and semi-solid and solid-state batteries, according to the company.

In the company's first-generation semi-solid-state batteries, the liquid electrolyte content is at 5-10 percent and the energy density is up to 400 Wh/kg, according to its press release.

Talent's second-generation quasi-solid-state batteries have liquid electrolyte content down to less than 5 percent and energy densities of 400Wh/kg to 500Wh/kg, and are expected to be mass-produced by the end of 2023.

Its third-generation, all-solid-state battery will no longer contain liquid electrolytes, and the company is pushing ahead with the development of a commercialization path for the battery, it said.

The first phase of Talent's manufacturing base in Chongqing, which is China's first production line to achieve mass production of semi-solid lithium batteries, had already launched semi-solid batteries in 2022, and products have already been delivered to customers, it said.

The company didn't mention the production line's capacity in today's press release, though it did mention in March last year that it was building a 0.2 GWh automated production line for lithium solid-state batteries in Chongqing's Liangjiang New District, which would go into production in September 2022.

Talent's phase II plant in Chongqing, with an annual capacity of 2 GWh, is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, and a 10 GWh annual capacity industrial park project in Huainan, Anhui province, is also under construction, its press release today said.

Samples of Talent's semi-solid-state batteries have been jointly tested with a number of automakers, and further cooperation is in communication, it said.

In addition, Talent has signed an agreement with a two-wheeled electric vehicle company, which is among the top three in China in terms of sales, to become its power battery supplier, it said, without disclosing the name of the two-wheeler maker's name.

EVs with all-solid-state batteries expected to be in mass production by 2030, doubling range from today, TrendForce says