CATL has prepared a very interesting roadmap for us over the next few years. With an energy transition increasingly accentuated in the automotive industry, there are several battery technologies that will fight for permanence in the next decade. Wu Kai, chief scientist of CATL and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, advertisement At the Equipment and Energy Forum 2026, the company has identified lithium-air technology as the strategic front where the next great global battery battle will be fought. It is the first time that CATL makes this bet officially public.
Why this ad matters. CATL controls 47% of the global electric vehicle battery market, according to April 2026 datawhich means we are talking about the world’s largest battery manufacturer by market share. The company has also accumulated five consecutive years as a leader in global energy storage, with a share of 30.4% in 2025. So, when its chief scientist points out a technology as the battlefield of the future, the industry listens.
What exactly is a lithium-air battery. Unlike conventional lithium ion batteries, which use heavy metal compounds (nickel, cobalt, manganese) to house lithium ions, lithium-air batteries dispense with that solid cathode and replace these materials with oxygen taken directly from ambient air. The anode is pure metallic lithium.
The result is a lighter system with an open architecture, which has led researchers to call them “breathable batteries”. Without so much dead weight inside the cell, the potential energy density skyrockets.
The numbers. The theoretical energy density of this technology reaches 12,000 Wh/kg, a figure comparable to that of gasoline, which is around 13,000 Wh/kg. The lithium ion batteries that equip electric cars today offer between 250 and 270 Wh/kg. Solid-state batteries, considered the next big leap, aim for about 500 Wh/kg. The lithium-air prototypes already developed in the laboratory have exceeded 1,200 Wh/kg, more than four times the capacity of current batteries.
If this technology were commercialized, we would be talking about electric cars with ranges of more than 1,600 kilometers on a single charge.
A problem that comes from the 70s. The lithium-air battery concept is not new. And just as share CarNewsChina, its theoretical foundations were laid out in the 1970s. The problem is that taking it from theory to practice has proven extraordinarily difficult. The cells are very sensitive to humidity and carbon dioxide present in the air, which causes rapid degradation. Added to this are problems with catalyst stability and a very short useful life.
But there is real progress. In 2024, a joint team from the University of Illinois Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory and California State University Northridge managed to demonstrate a lithium-air battery capable of exceeding 700 charge cycles in an environment similar to real air. A year later, in 2025, Argonne National Laboratory and the Illinois Institute of Technology developed a prototype that reached 1,200 Wh/kg with a life of 1,000 cycles at room temperature.
According to collect CarNewsChina, this design is not expected to be ready for use in vehicles before 2030. The key to the breakthrough was, among other things, replacing liquid electrolytes (which are flammable) with a solid matrix composed of a ceramic polymer with lithium-rich nanoparticles, which stabilizes the cell during high-energy cycles.
How does this fit into CATL’s strategy. The company already has experience in converting alternative technologies into market products. An example is sodium-ion batteries, which were proposed by the company in 2020 and This same year they are already being mass producedinstalled in models such as the GAC Aion UT, the Changan Oshan 520 and vehicles from Geely, Chery and FAW.
According to explained Kai in the forum, the company’s strategy is planned in the short term to offer mature technologies to meet current demand; in the medium term, solid state batteries to improve the experience in premium vehicles; and in the long term, lithium-air with the intention of exploring the physical limits of energy storage.
Between the lines. Betting on lithium-air now is not waiting for a product for next year. Just like points out Gasgoo, for large companies, investing in these frontier technologies serves above all to accumulate patents, secure strategic positions and build technical reserves, not to generate short-term income. It is something like a move to avoid surprises in case another company decides to announce a disruptive technology.
Cover image | CATL
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