The vehicles, the Dongfeng E70, will enter service in cab markets in Jiangxi, Guangzhou, Zhejiang and Jiangsu.
(Image credit: Dongfeng Motor)
Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor announced today that it has completed delivery of the first 50 electric vehicles (EVs) with solid-state batteries, jointly developed with lithium producer Ganfeng Lithium, in Xinyu city, Jiangxi province.
These Dongfeng E70 vehicles, which will be put into demonstration operations in the cab market in Jiangxi, Guangzhou, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, are the first of their kind in the world, according to the company.
The EV is powered by a solid-state battery from Ganfeng Lithium, the world's largest lithium producer by market capitalization.
The battery uses solid-state flexible diaphragm technology, and the individual cells have passed puncture and 50 percent crush deformation tests and have been subjected to a hot box environment at 180 degrees Celsius without abnormalities, according to Dongfeng.
The battery module uses an aluminum alloy frame with high-precision seam laser welding technology to achieve a pack efficiency of more than 86 percent, the company said.
Dongfeng did not announce the range of the model, or the energy density of the battery.
Notably, Ganfeng Lithium had announced the battery in early December as its first-generation solid-state battery, a solid-liquid hybrid lithium-ion battery.
The battery has an oxide electrolyte and uses graphite for the negative electrode. It has a diaphragm, but unlike traditional diaphragms, it uses a solid electrolyte diaphragm, Ganfeng Lithium previously said.
Ganfeng Lithium is working on a second-generation all-solid-state battery with an energy density of more than 360Wh/kg, the company said at the time, without mentioning the energy density of the current generation of batteries.
Ganfeng Lithium has a production line for the battery up and running, with volume production capacity. The production currently has a capacity of 0.3 GWh and will continue to ramp up in the future, it previously said.
On January 22, Ganfeng Lithium announced the start-up of its new 10 GWh per year lithium battery project in Xinyu, which includes a lithium iron phosphate square hard shell cell production line, a soft pack cell production line and a solid-state battery production line.
Back at Dongfeng, it started setting up its solid-state battery project in 2018 and began working with Ganfeng Lithium on the development of first-generation solid-state battery systems in July 2019.
In June 2021, Dongfeng signed a strategic partnership agreement with Ganfeng Lithium to create a solid-state battery demonstration operation project.
The Dongfeng E70 is a model primarily aimed at the cab market and sold more than 30,000 units last year.
Lithium supplier Ganfeng unveils its first-gen solid-state battery
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