Learn about the battery startup facing China’s giants

area Lithium batteries are currently dominated by Chinese companies such as BYD and CATL. Not only are they selling the majority of the batteries that go into electric vehicles and energy storage projects around the world, but they’re also opening new factories in your backyard. When companies outside China try to compete, such as Europe’s Northvolt, they quickly realize how difficult it is.

But there is still hope for China’s rivals. If another company can break through to the next generation of battery technology, it may still be able to take the lead. The battery industry already has a consensus on what this technology is: solid-state batteries.

Today, almost all batteries contain liquid electrolytes that hold ions between the positive and negative sides. But the liquid can spill, evaporate and even catch fire. So, scientists have tried for decades to replace them with a solid electrolyte that could make batteries safer, stronger, and more resilient to cold temperatures.

Solid-state batteries have been manufactured in laboratories, but they are expensive and difficult to manufacture on a large scale. Many companies are trying to find the right chemical composition that will make this technology commercially viable. That’s also the goal of Vincent Yang, founder and CEO of ProLogium, a Taiwanese company that claims it will start mass producing solid-state batteries by 2027.

I recently met Yang in New York City. (Although he has the same last name, there is no relationship.) With a PhD in materials science and more than 20 years of experience researching and manufacturing batteries, he has seen it all. “I have made almost every type of battery,” he says. “You can call me a living fossil of some ancient technology.”

Until recently, ProLogium was one of the smaller companies in the battery space. Then, at the beginning of this year, the company introduced its fourth-generation solid-state battery product, which it claims will be cheap and easy to mass produce. Now, ProLogium is expanding rapidly: In February, it began construction on a massive factory in Dunkirk, France, after receiving a €1.5 billion local government grant to produce solid-state batteries in Europe. In May, ProLogium announced its merger with TDAC, a US blank check company, to go public on the Nasdaq for $3.8 billion.

ProLogium solid state battery cells.

Courtesy of Prologium

For solid-state battery researchers, the current moment seems full of opportunity. To be sure, Chinese companies like CATL are also investing in solid-state battery research, and have the advantage of having more resources and more customers. But the fact that solid-state batteries use completely different materials and production methods means there’s a new playing field where startups have a chance to take on institutional players. “We’re racing against the greatest people in the world,” says Yang. “But even for the world’s greatest companies, this remains a difficult technical challenge to solve.” Competition provides pressure, but also an adrenaline rush.