Semi-Solid-State Batteries Hit Their Breakout Year, With MG Models First to Scale

A forum dedicated to semi-solid-state battery value was held on May 30 during the Greater Bay Area Auto Show in Shenzhen, drawing academics, battery suppliers, and automakers. Participants broadly framed 2026 as the technology's first year of genuine mass deployment, with products now reaching the roughly 100,000-yuan price segment.

SAIC and its battery partner QingTao Power have moved first: a manganese-based semi-solid pack is already selling in production cars, led by the MG4 and MG 4X. QingTao says the pack has logged more than 44,000 km of durability testing with capacity fade below 5%, passed nail-penetration testing, and exceeded 3,000 charge cycles, with more MG models to carry the technology.

Speakers argued that semi-solid cells, which cut liquid electrolyte content to roughly 5–15%, strike a workable balance between safety, cost, energy density, and cold-weather performance while remaining over 90% compatible with existing lithium battery production lines. Academician Jin Yong estimated a window of about a decade before all-solid-state matures, urging China to use its existing capacity to scale semi-solid output in the meantime.

The forum's closing consensus was that semi-solid is not merely a bridge to all-solid-state: liquid, semi-solid, and solid-state chemistries are expected to coexist across different use cases, with all-solid-state small-batch production anticipated within one to two years and mass output after 2030. For MG, the technology is positioned as a lever to compete on value rather than price — including in European markets.