Are BYD's Solid State Plans Already Screwed?

Dear Reader,

Last week, officials from Chinese lithium battery and EV giant, BYD Lithium Battery Co, LTD., stated that they were set to roll out all-solid-state batteries in 2027, with mass-implementation set to take place by 2030. 

This is indeed big news, as BYD controls almost 20% of the lithium battery space — second only to CATL — and occupies the number 1 spot, globally, in EV sales. 

But what does it mean for the battery industry as a whole? Are we looking at a major shift away from the lithium standard? 

Not exactly. 

The 'solid state’ in solid state batteries pertains to the electrolyte — the medium through which electrons pass from anode to cathode. 

Solid State Batteries: Same Lithium, But With less Incendiary Potential

In traditional lithium-ion batteries, the electrolyte is either liquid or gel and contains, among other things, dissolved oxygen, and organic compounds — quite literally an incindiary combination when exposed to the right amount of heat. 

As batteries age, their charging efficiency degrades and resistance increases, which produces more and more heat with every charge cycle. 

That’s where the danger of lithium-ion batteries stems from. 

Solid state batteries, as the name suggests, have solid electrolytes composed of ceramics or polymers, or combinations thereof, and offer advantages not just in safety, but in performance. 

Solid state batteries are longer-lasting, quicker-charging and possess an overall higher energy density. 

What they don’t do is get rid of lithium, which remains the chief ingredient of the battery electrodes, the anode and the cathode. 

Why China Wouldn't Replace Lithium, Even If it Could

And that makes perfect sense, especially when viewing the battery industry as a whole in context with today’s global economics and politics. 

Lithium batteries have always been, and remain a Chinese sector, with the Chinese Communist Party exerting at least indirect control over close to 70% of the lithium battery industry starting with lithium refinement. 

Replacing lithium isn’t just impractical from an engineering and infrastructure standpoint (it has a high energy density and hundreds of billions have been poured into the industry since the 1990s), but not advantageous from a geopolitical perspective either. 

The Chinese know that the world is hooked on their batteries. They’ve been planning for this since the 1990s, and are now doing everything they can to stay at the vanguard of the industry — solid state being a fine example. 

But their innovations, whatever they may be, will have to be built around their own lithium monopoly. 

Graphene Crushes All

Moving to anything else would effectively level the playing field — which is the last thing the CCP would want. 

Right now, there is a company operating out of Brisbane, Australia, that has seen this opportunity and is developing exactly what the Chinese fear: a lithium free battery. 

With its guts composed of space-age graphene, there is no lithium to speak of in these next generation batteries, and it won’t be missed for a nanosecond, because the performance stats are off the charts. 

Nevermind marginal improvement in charge speed and cycle life, these graphene-based batteries are fully expected to last between 3-5 times as long as lithium batteries, hold 2-3 times as much charge and charge up to 70 times as fast. 

Just imagine charging your phone once per week or your EV once per month, for less than a minute. 

With regard to fire risk… There is virtually none. These batteries can absorb bullets and keep working. 

Is China's $270 Billion/Year Lithium Monopoly At Risk?

That’s the sort of performance difference we’re talking about, and it shouldn’t come as too much of a shock to anybody familiar with graphene.

At 200 times the strength of steel, and the highest heat and electrical conductivity of any material known to man, everything graphene goes into dramatically improves. 

With innovations like these, however, there is real society-evolving potential here. 

It’s enough to completely change the landscape of the automotive industry, for example, as charge delay and fire risk remain two of the biggest concerns for reticent buyers. 

And it will do the same for distributed energy storage and consumer electronics. 

All in all, over a quarter trillion in annual sales by the year 2030 could be changing hands.

The Next Trillion Dollar Industry Nobody Knows About

It’s great news for everyone, except, of course, the Chinese, who have everything to lose when these batteries hit commercialization as early as this year. 

This Australian company isn’t some tech giant or multi-billion dollar corporation with a dozen divisions. It specializes in graphene, period.

It produces its own material in house using a proprietary method that brings down costs by orders of magnitude. 

Right now, the company’s stock trades quietly on two north American exchanges. 

Few even know it exists. 

Soon, however, and it may already be happening, the story is going to go viral. You’ll see it everywhere in the MSM. 

For investors, the trick is to find it before that happens. 

Get the full story, right here.