China’s state-owned FAW Group has begun equipping a production sedan with a 142 kWh semi-solid-state battery pack, a milestone that pairs one of the largest onboard energy stores ever fitted to a passenger car with a chemistry designed to resist the brutal range losses that plague conventional lithium-ion cells in winter. The pack, supplied by Ganfeng Lithium, has appeared in filings on China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) catalog linked to the Hongqi EH7 sedan, according to Chinese automotive outlet reports from early 2025. Separately, a research team at Nankai University says a lithium-rich manganese battery it developed can push a test vehicle past 1,000 kilometers (roughly 621 miles) on a single charge at 0 degrees Celsius, a claim that, if validated under standardized conditions, would set a new benchmark for cold-weather EV performance.
What FAW and Ganfeng have put on the road
The 142 kWh figure is not a laboratory aspiration. MIIT catalog entries, which Chinese automakers must file before selling a vehicle domestically, have listed a long-range variant of the Hongqi EH7 with a battery capacity in that range. Ganfeng Lithium, one of the world’s largest lithium producers and an increasingly aggressive cell manufacturer, is the named supplier. The company has invested heavily in semi-solid-state technology at its facilities in Chongqing and Jiangxi province, positioning itself as a competitor to CATL and BYD in the race to commercialize next-generation cells.
Semi-solid-state batteries replace part or all of the liquid electrolyte found in conventional lithium-ion cells with a solid or gel-like material. The practical payoff is twofold: higher energy density, because solid electrolytes can enable the use of lithium-metal or high-nickel anodes that store more energy per kilogram, and improved thermal stability, which can simplify pack cooling and reduce fire risk. The tradeoff, historically, has been manufacturing complexity and cost. Ganfeng’s ability to get a 142 kWh pack into an MIIT-cataloged vehicle suggests the company believes it has crossed the threshold from prototype to producible product, though production volumes and pricing have not been disclosed as of June 2026.
FAW itself has said little publicly about the pack’s specifications beyond what appears in regulatory filings. The Hongqi EH7 is a mid-to-large sedan that already sells in China with smaller lithium iron phosphate and ternary battery options. Adding a 142 kWh semi-solid-state variant would give it a claimed range that dwarfs most competitors, but the official CLTC-rated range for the new pack version has not been confirmed through FAW’s own press channels.
Nankai University’s cold-weather claim
Running parallel to FAW’s hardware push is a research program at Nankai University in Tianjin. Chen Jun, a professor of chemistry and a delegate to the National People’s Congress, told attendees during the NPC’s “representative channel” session in March 2025 that his team had achieved a goal he set publicly at a prior session: building a battery capable of powering a vehicle 1,000 kilometers at freezing temperatures. The university’s news office confirmed the claim, describing the cell as a high-specific-energy lithium-rich manganese battery.
Lithium-rich manganese cathodes are a different animal from the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells that dominate the Chinese mass market or the nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cells common in premium EVs. They offer theoretical energy densities above 400 Wh/kg at the cell level, roughly double what today’s best LFP cells achieve. The catch is that lithium-rich manganese chemistries have long struggled with voltage fade and capacity loss over repeated charge-discharge cycles, problems that have kept them largely confined to laboratories.
Chen’s team has not published the test protocol behind the 1,000-kilometer figure. Key unknowns include the vehicle’s curb weight, the driving cycle used (China’s CLTC standard is notably generous compared to Europe’s WLTP), cabin heating load, and speed profile. At 0 degrees Celsius, a conventional lithium-ion pack can lose 20 to 40 percent of its rated range depending on chemistry and thermal management, so a battery that genuinely holds 1,000 kilometers in those conditions would represent a significant leap. But without protocol details or third-party verification, the number remains a first-party claim rather than an established specification.
How this fits the broader battery race
FAW and Nankai are not working in a vacuum. Several Chinese companies have already shipped or announced semi-solid-state packs:
- NIO began delivering its 150 kWh semi-solid-state battery pack, developed with WeLion New Energy, to customers in limited quantities starting in late 2024. The pack uses a hybrid solid-liquid electrolyte and is rated for over 1,000 kilometers on the CLTC cycle in NIO’s ET7 sedan.
- CATL unveiled its “condensed matter” battery in 2023, claiming energy densities up to 500 Wh/kg, though initial applications targeted aviation rather than passenger cars.
- BYD has focused on scaling its lithium iron phosphate Blade battery for affordability but has filed patents related to solid-state research, signaling longer-term interest.
The competitive pressure is real. China’s EV market is the world’s largest, and domestic buyers, especially in the northern provinces where winter temperatures regularly hit minus 20 degrees Celsius, rank cold-weather range among their top purchase concerns. A battery that meaningfully narrows the gap between summer and winter performance would carry outsized commercial value in that market.
What still needs to happen
Several pieces must fall into place before the 142 kWh Hongqi variant or Nankai’s lithium-rich manganese cells can be judged as genuine production milestones rather than promising prototypes.
Independent testing. No third-party laboratory, government certification body, or automotive testing organization has publicly confirmed either the 142 kWh pack’s rated range or Nankai’s 1,000-kilometer cold-weather result. CATARC (the China Automotive Technology and Research Center) oversees standardized testing for MIIT catalog vehicles; its published data for the long-range EH7 variant has not yet appeared in publicly accessible databases as of June 2026.
Cycle life data. For lithium-rich manganese cells in particular, the question is not just how far the battery goes on day one but how much capacity it retains after 500, 1,000, or 1,500 full cycles. Nankai’s published materials emphasize energy density and cold-weather performance but have not disclosed cycling durability figures. Buyers and fleet operators need that data before committing.
Volume production and pricing. A single MIIT filing does not guarantee mass production. Ganfeng must demonstrate that it can manufacture semi-solid-state cells at automotive-grade yields and costs competitive enough for FAW to price the EH7 variant within reach of its target market. The gap between catalog listing and dealer lot can span months or longer.
Thermal management integration. Semi-solid-state cells behave differently from conventional liquid-electrolyte cells under fast charging and extreme temperatures. FAW’s engineering team must validate the pack’s thermal management system across a full range of operating conditions, including fast charging at sub-zero temperatures, a scenario that stresses both the cells and the battery management software.
Why it matters beyond China
If FAW delivers a mass-market sedan with a 142 kWh semi-solid-state pack at a competitive price, the ripple effects will extend well beyond the Chinese domestic market. European and North American automakers have generally placed fully solid-state batteries on timelines stretching to 2027 or 2028, with Toyota, BMW, and Samsung SDI among the most visible programs. A Chinese production vehicle shipping sooner with a semi-solid-state pack, even one that falls short of a true all-solid-state design, would intensify pressure on those timelines and force a reassessment of supply chain strategies.
Cold-weather performance is equally relevant in Scandinavia, Canada, and the northern United States, markets where EV adoption has been slowed partly by range anxiety in winter. A battery architecture that demonstrably holds more of its capacity at freezing temperatures could shift consumer calculations in those regions, assuming the vehicles or the underlying cell technology eventually reach export markets.
For now, the strongest defensible summary is this: FAW has cataloged a Hongqi EH7 variant with a 142 kWh semi-solid-state battery from Ganfeng Lithium, and a Nankai University research team claims to have demonstrated 1,000-kilometer range at 0 degrees Celsius using a lithium-rich manganese cell. Both developments point toward a meaningful advance in EV battery capability. Neither has been independently verified under standardized, transparent test conditions. The next milestones to watch are CATARC test results for the EH7 variant, peer-reviewed publications from Chen Jun’s lab detailing cycle life and test protocols, and a confirmed production start date from FAW. Until those arrive, the story is one of credible ambition meeting the hard reality of scaling advanced battery technology from the lab to the road.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
