Chery unveils ‘Rhino Battery’ product family
The Rhino S solid-state battery series includes the models S1000, S1200, and S1500. The company has announced a significant breakthrough in the energy density of its solid-state cells, which has now reached 400 Wh/kg and enables a range of over 1,500 kilometres. Chery aims to further increase this to 600 Wh/kg.
As early as January this year, Chery announced plans to launch its first electric vehicle with a solid-state battery by the end of 2026. During the ‘Chery Automobile Battery Night 2026’ event, the company provided an update: in the fourth quarter of 2026, a hybrid battery with a semi-solid electrolyte will debut in the Exeed EX7, a luxury SUV. The Exeed ES8 is set to become the first electric vehicle to feature an ‘all-solid-state battery’, with vehicle testing expected to be completed within a year.
However, portals such as CarNewsChina have noted that Chery provided few details about the solid-state battery during the event. For instance, the charging rate of the new Rhino cells with solid electrolyte was not disclosed. This ‘silence from the developers’ is seen as an indication of unresolved challenges. For example, Dongfeng began winter tests in extreme cold with solid-state batteries in vehicles in January, with the cells offering an energy density of 350 Wh/kg. However, their charging rate is only 1C, which would be extremely slow from a customer perspective in 2026.
The vehicle tests in the Exeed models represent an important milestone, as they allow for stress tests under real-world conditions. However, it remains unclear how close the cells are to becoming an attractive mass-produced product. Despite this, the pace of development is rapid: Chery has 1,200 developers working on solid-state cells, 90 per cent of whom, according to event statements, hold a master’s degree or doctorate. The company has invested over ten billion yuan (approximately €1.3 billion euros) in development.
As mentioned, the ‘Rhino Battery’ family also includes cells with liquid electrolytes. Chery offers these in three formats: as a short blade battery with LFP chemistry, as a prismatic cell with LFP or NMC chemistry, and as a large-volume cylindrical cell with an NMC cathode. Chery specifies a lifespan of 5,000 charge cycles and an eight-minute charging time to add 500 kilometres of range. CnEVPost mentions potential charging power of up to 1,200 kW – though, once again, without providing key details about the battery pack to contextualise this figure.
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