Sunwoda, a major Chinese battery maker, said on a Q&A platform for investors on October 30, 2026, that it has completed verification of its solid-state battery's product design and manufacturing process and is now conducting sample tests in coordination with customers, according to reports by IT Home and the Daily Economic News. In July 2024, the company had said it expected to "begin mass production in 2026, with production capacity reaching 1GWh." The development status disclosed this time, however, is still the pre-production sample evaluation stage, suggesting progress may be behind the original outlook.
Design verification and sample testing had already been disclosed
According to IT Home, Sunwoda replied to an investor's question on October 30 that "the solid-state battery has completed product design and process verification, and sample testing is now under way in coordination with customers." However, the reported reply does not include the names of the customers conducting evaluations, the volume of samples shipped, or the timing of mass production. The same article also covers an investor's question about how Sunwoda's earnings might be affected if Li Auto and Xiaomi switch the batteries used in some models to in-house products. The company responded that it supports its customers' business decisions and aims to expand its share within those customers. It is not clear from the article, however, whether the solid-state battery explanation was given in response to that question.
What matters in this announcement is how far development has actually progressed. On an August 28, 2025 conference call, Sunwoda said it had completed verification of the product design and manufacturing process for a third-generation solid-state battery with an energy density of 400Wh/kg (IT Home). The latest reply does not mention the "third generation" or the "400Wh/kg" specification, so it cannot be assumed to refer to the same generation of product. Even so, the completion of design and process verification itself had already been disclosed 428 days earlier.
The customer sample testing is not new either. On May 26, 2026, Sunwoda's board secretary answered an investor's question about customer adoption and orders for the solid-state battery "Xin Bixiao" (欣·碧霄) by saying, "Solid-state battery products are in the verification and sample testing stage. Please refer to announcements for specific progress" (distributed by Securities Star, carried by Sohu). In the October 30 reply, 157 days later, the description of the development stage shows no major change. It is possible that verification work has advanced in the interim, but the published information alone does not allow any specific progress to be judged.
A 1GWh mass-production plan for 2026, but only a 0.2GWh sample line is confirmed
Sunwoda first gave a concrete mass-production target for solid-state batteries on July 3, 2024. Xu Zhongling, head of the company's Central Research Institute, told China Daily that small-scale trials of a 20Ah solid-state battery with an energy density of 400Wh/kg or higher had been completed and that production line construction was proceeding in parallel. He added that mass production could begin in 2026, with capacity expanding to 1GWh. On September 6 of the same year, the company said its third-generation polymer composite solid-state battery had completed laboratory verification and that product development was expected to be finished in 2025.
On October 23, 2025, Sunwoda unveiled the polymer-based solid-state battery "Xin Bixiao." According to CnEVPost, the battery has a capacity of 20Ah and an energy density of 400Wh/kg, and achieved a lifespan of more than 1,200 cycles under external pressure of less than 1MPa. The company also disclosed a plan to complete a pilot line with 0.2GWh of capacity by the end of 2025. Then, in a Southern Finance report from around April 2026, a Sunwoda representative said the company had "connected the entire process of the 0.2GWh solid-state battery sample line," and outlined a plan to advance pilot production and full-size cell verification within the year. Xu Zhongling had also set a goal of completing development of full-size batteries during 2026 and meeting the requirements for installation in vehicles for verification.
Looking back over this history, there is a gap between the mass-production plan set out in 2024 and the development status as of October 2026. In July 2024 the company anticipated mass production and 1GWh of capacity in 2026, but the latest announcement describes customer sample testing in progress, and the only equipment confirmed as of April 2026 was a 0.2GWh sample line. Compared purely on capacity, 0.2GWh is one-fifth of 1GWh. However, sample lines and mass-production lines serve different roles, so this numerical gap does not directly measure a delay in development.
Converting to electric vehicles helps convey the scale of production capacity. Assuming a battery capacity of 75kWh per vehicle, 1GWh corresponds to about 13,300 vehicles and 0.2GWh to about 2,700. These are theoretical figures obtained by simply converting nominal capacity and do not indicate actual shipment volumes. A sample line is equipment for verifying that materials and manufacturing processes work as designed and for producing small quantities of batteries for customer evaluation. A mass-production line, by contrast, must continuously produce large volumes of batteries while maintaining consistent quality and yield. Whether Sunwoda can build a stable mass-production system after customer evaluation and adoption decisions will be a key challenge for commercialization.
The 2026 goal has shifted to "meeting mass-production conditions." How does it differ from the original plan?
That said, current progress is not necessarily behind Sunwoda's latest development plan. In the four-stage development plan reported by Southern Finance, the 2026 goal is stated as "overcoming technical challenges in materials, mass-production processes and equipment so that the polymer composite solid-state battery meets the conditions required for mass production." The plan also aims for a design freeze of a second-generation sulfide-based solid-state battery in 2027, and a design freeze of a solid-state battery with an energy density above 500Wh/kg in 2030. Seen in that light, conducting customer sample tests in 2026 can be regarded as part of the expected development process.
However, while the July 2024 explanation gave a specific timing and scale, namely "mass production starting in 2026" and "1GWh of capacity," the later plan frames the goal as a technical one: "meeting the conditions required for mass production." Starting mass production and preparing the technical conditions for it are not the same thing. The wording does differ between the two, but we have found no record of Sunwoda formally explaining that it changed its original mass-production target. It therefore cannot be said that the plan has been postponed, but it is unclear whether the earlier outlook of starting mass production within 2026 is still being maintained as is.
Looking at competitors' progress, Sunwoda is not the only one that appears to be well behind. On October 27, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) indicated that small-volume production of solid-state batteries would become possible in 2027. Chery announced on October 20 a plan to bring a solid-state battery pilot production line into operation in 2027. Every company is still working toward practical use, so in assessing Sunwoda's progress, the difference from the targets the company itself set in the past matters more than comparison with rivals.
In fact, the plan Sunwoda presented for the year in April 2026 was to advance pilot production and full-size cell verification. These are necessary steps toward mass production, but they belong to a different stage from the 1GWh-scale mass production anticipated in July 2024. The October 30 reply also reported neither mass-production shipments nor the start-up of a 1GWh-class line, so it is reasonable to conclude that the company remains at the stage of preparing for mass production. Still, two months of 2026 remain, and it is too early to judge that starting mass production within the year has become impossible.
Sunwoda's management has also expressed caution about full-scale commercialization of solid-state batteries. In October 2025, Vice President Liang Rui told Yicai that he was skeptical of the 2027 industrialization of solid-state batteries claimed by Japanese and U.S. companies. Even on the most optimistic view, he said, small-volume production would not begin until after 2030, and solid-state batteries and conventional lithium-ion batteries with liquid electrolyte would coexist for a long time. The remark reflects a recognition that the technical challenges to mass-producing solid-state batteries remain large.
Note that the comparison here concerns the third-generation polymer-based solid-state battery for which the mass-production target was set in 2024, not the second-generation sulfide-based product targeted for a design freeze in 2027. If, by the end of 2026, Sunwoda discloses through official announcements, investor replies or briefings that it has begun mass-production shipments of solid-state batteries or brought a 1GWh-class production line into operation, the view that progress is behind the original plan would need to be revised. Whether customer names, shipment volumes and a specific mass-production start date are disclosed in its first periodic report of 2027 will also be a factor in judging development status.
Sunwoda has completed product design and process verification and has advanced to customer sample testing, but the results confirmed so far fall short of the mass-production target set in 2024. What is needed next is not only the completion of technical verification but concrete results: customer adoption, mass-production line operation and actual shipments. Developments through the end of 2026 will be an important indicator of whether the original mass-production plan can be met.