Cheap trick: MG’s advanced semi-solid-state batteries it will launch next year will be affordable says boss as Chinese brand gets upper hand on VW and Toyota

MG has announced it’s ready to launch its next generation semi-solid batteries as soon as next year.

And it promises they will deliver a longer range and much faster charger, compared to today’s tech.

But the best bit? They will be affordable.

Confirming the semi-solid state batteries would arrive in 2025 on his Weibo social media channel (via Autocar) MG’s general manager, Zhou Yan said the “first new model to be launched by the MG brand next year may be equipped with a semi-solid battery”, before adding:

“Let me report to you first that the price is not expensive”.

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Frustratingly, Zhou didn’t announce what car the new battery pack would be launched with, but some suggest it will be an all-new model while others reckon it will be a facelift of an existing car.

But the senior MG exec did say the semi-solid battery would be standard equipment and not an optional extra.

Full details of MG’s solid-state tech are expected to emerge in the coming weeks, but it’s thought the advanced batteries might be related to the same tech that fellow SAIC-brand IM Motors has already announced in its LM 6 saloon (pictured top).

IM’s Lightyear battery is allegedly capable of a 1000km range between recharges.

The biggest barrier to semi-solid-state and solid-state technology – considered the holy grail of unlocking EV potential – has always been overcoming manufacturing complexity and upscaling the tech to mass production.

Semi-solid means the tech relies on using both solid and liquid gel electrolytes. Pure solid state is solid alone.

They are more resilient dealing with the extremely high temperatures involved with ultra-fast charging, making them both safer and more capable of dealing with far higher currents.

Nio has already introduced its semi-solid-state battery in its line-up, but the tech is so expensive the brand will uniquely only let you rent it on a day-to-day basis thanks to its battery-swap tech.

Nio hasn’t given a precise value for the huge 150kWh battery-pack – that costs around $30 a day to rent – but has said its value is on par with what it charges for an entire Nio ET5 ($65,000).

The news that MG has made the new tech both easy to produce at scale and affordable will be sobering news to rivals like Volkswagen and Toyota.

The VW Group has still yet to confirm when its next-gen batteries will come online, despite initially declaring back in 2020 that it wanted to become known as one of the technology’s pioneers.

Toyota, meanwhile, thinks it won’t begin mass-producing cars equipped with the tech until 2027.

It is worth pointing out that both VW and Toyota want to jump straight to full solid-state cells but, until those batteries arrive, MG will have cars that go far further, are much quicker to charge, are much safer and yet still affordable, giving MG a winning edge over its rivals.