Solid-state battery development has been touted by several automakers involved in EV production for years. Brands like Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, CATL, and others have been working on producing them for some time, but all of the above are currently at different stages of development, with no concrete arrival times anywhere.
BYD is at a different, much further-along stage. Stella Li, an executive with the company, recently announced that the Chinese brand is targeting a small-scale production rollout set to begin sometime in 2027, in which roughly 1,000 EVs are to be built using solid-state tech. However, words are meaningless unless action backs them up, which raises the question: Will BYD be the first to the finish line in the solid-state battery race, or will it fall behind despite its confident announcement?
Keep in mind that BYD was officially found in 1995. It’s five years younger than Taylor Swift, and even richer.
BYD Has Put A Concrete 2027 Production Target On Its Solid-State Program
BYD 1,500-kilowatt Flash Charge stationBYD Fans
BYD, along with its subsidiary, FinDreams, has been hard at work developing its sulfide-based, solid-state battery tech over the past few years. Apparently, all the hard work may be paying off in the near future, as BYD looks to produce roughly 1,000 solid-state EVs at some point during the 2027 model year, all of which would likely employ the brand’s sulfide-based tech.
Li had even more news to share with the world. By 2030, the Chinese automotive conglomerate aims to shift most of its EV production over to solid-state battery tech. This means we can look at the 2027 small-scale rollout as a sort of test run before the big push begins a few years later, giving the brand time to tweak anything that needs to be tweaked, and scrap what doesn’t work.
BYD Denza Z9 frontBYD
Solid-state batteries have a lot going for them, too. They have a higher power density, meaning they can store more energy with less overall battery required. They also don’t rely on liquid electrolyte mixtures as lithium-ion units do, making them less susceptible to thermal runaway and other failure modes typically associated with liquid electrolyte batteries. As the name suggests, solid-state units use solid matter instead of liquid, cutting down on volatility. They also tend to resist things like crushing, bending, or piercing much more effectively than Li-ion units.
BYD itself has an ace up its sleeve in the world of EV production, too. It already has a massive amount of battery production knowledge and capability, as well as the infrastructure to support it. For some context, all EV batteries produced by BYD in 2025 equated to roughly 194.8 GWh, placing it behind only Contemporary Amperex Technology Co, Limited (CATL) in worldwide battery production. That means the Chinese brand’s batteries grabbed 16.4% of the global EV market share.
It’s Not Difficult To Build A Solid-State Cell, Until You Try To Build Millions Of Them
Stellantis and Factorial are road testing solid-state EV batteriesStellantis
BYD’s 2027 target sounds credible on paper — but its own production history can’t fully prepare it for what solid-state manufacturing actually demands. Producing large quantities of lithium-ion EV batteries has become a highly mature, industrialized process in recent years. Many automakers are currently able to do so with relative ease, and processes have been streamlined to near perfection. Solid-state batteries are very different, and the increase in difficulty lies chiefly with its use of a solid electrolyte, as opposed to a liquid one.
Solid electrolytes inject a whole host of challenges into battery production. They are hard to interface with existing systems, for one thing, and material consistency is – at this stage – posing an issue as well. Many brands involved in solid-state testing have complained of moisture intrusion issues, which can render an entire solid-state unit inoperable if left unchecked. To make things even harder, solid-state batteries require each and every solid electrolyte plate found within the unit to be in constant, consistent contact in order to work properly. Easier said than done.
BYD’s battery development and production have been pushing the boundaries of what is possible in recent years. It has not been relying on luck or wishful thinking to gain an edge in the difficult arena of solid-state battery production. Instead, it created a gigantic, established battery development and production network that can adequately handle a partial shift toward solid-state production. BYD has also proven itself to be adept at conventional lithium-ion production, as evidenced by its recent Blade Battery 2.0 tech, which reportedly can deliver over 1,000 km (621 miles) of range and extremely rapid charging.
The brand has some key bases covered for a potential shift toward solid-state tech. It’s got a battery design in the works, that being a sulfide-based solid-state unit. It’s also got a massive catalog of models at its disposal, along with a proven track record of huge mass production numbers. Roughly 4.7 million BYD models rolled off the production line last year – more than Ford managed to build.
Toyota Has The Runway, Mercedes Has The Test Data, And CATL Has The Scale – But None Has A 2027 Date
2027 Toyota Highlander EVToyota
BYD’s solid-state competition is far from easy. Toyota is hard at work trying to reliably mass-produce batteries, working alongside a company called Idemitsu toward that goal. According to the Japanese automaker, its mass-production timeframe target sits right around 2027 to 2028. Like BYD, it also plans to use sulfide-based solid-state electrolyte tech.
Mercedes-Benz appears to be somewhat ahead of Toyota, simply because it has already produced a road-going solid-state EV prototype. The brand fitted a working battery into an EQS and ran tests, in which the mule achieved a roughly 750-mile drive without needing a single charge. Notably, this was not just a 750-mile circuit run until the battery was depleted – Mercedes-Benz had the vehicle out on real roads.
Mercedes-Benz EQS Solid-State Test Car from the front three-quarter angleMercedes-Benz
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited, or CATL, has a solid standing in the solid-state race, too. It’s currently the single largest producer of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, meaning it’s got the production might to back it up. The company has recently said it’s targeting a small-scale production rollout in 2027, but genuine mass-production likely won’t begin until 2030.
Let’s take stock: Presently, Toyota has loads of experience in long-running commercialization, and has the know-how and low-debt financial backing to get things done when it sets its mind to it. Mercedes-Benz, on the other hand, has real-world testing to show off – with promising results to boot. CATL’s advantage is its ability to mass-produce at levels seldom seen in the automotive world, giving it a significant edge when its solid-state tech is ready for the market.
As for BYD, it has specific 2027 and 2030 targets, along with a head start in the high-volume automotive battery business.
The First Solid-State Cars Won’t Be Revolutionary, But They Will Serve As Proof
BYD Seal rear 3/4BYD
Let’s say BYD’s 2027 target of roughly 1,000 solid-state EVs does come to fruition, which it very well could. It would be more like a drop in the bucket rather than a game-changer because it would not actually prove that solid-state batteries are ready for mass production. All it would prove is that BYD can make them. 1,000 cars is a significant number, but for a brand that makes roughly 4.7 million a year, it is a small fraction of total output.
However, it could demonstrate that BYD can align all of the necessary elements. Things like battery cell production, battery pack integration, vehicle controls, thermal management, and road-worthiness would all need to be sorted out to a sufficient extent to make the vehicles roadworthy. It is one thing to make a car that runs on new technology; it is another to make that technology safe, practical, and efficient enough for everyday consumers.
CATL
CATL, Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota will all face the same difficult transition from laboratory testing to real-world use at some point within the next few years. Reliable, repeatable mass production is not something that will come naturally for a new, complex automotive technology. Plus, whichever vehicles are among the first to offer solid-state tech on the mass market are likely to be expensive and built in limited numbers, likely making profits harder to come by in the first couple of years.
2027 is set to be a significant year for electric vehicles regardless, so long as BYD’s small-scale rollout actually happens – though anything can happen when deadlines arrive.
Sources: ChinaEVHome.com, CarNewsChina.com, Mercedes-Benz, CATL, Toyota, BYD, CNEVPost.com.
