GAC-Backed Greater Bay Technology Starts Solid-State Battery Production

Greater Bay Technology, a GAC-backed battery maker in Guangzhou, China, started production on a line for all-solid-state battery cells on October 13, 2026. It marked the start with a ceremony at its headquarters in the city's Nansha district, Xinhua Finance reported. The company did not build a new factory. Instead, it converted part of an existing 4 GWh line that makes conventional lithium-ion cells. Xinhua Finance called it the industry's first gigawatt-hour-scale solid-state line built this way. No carmaker has been named as a customer.

What did Greater Bay Technology announce?

A battery's electrolyte is the material that carries lithium ions between its two electrodes. Today's lithium-ion cells use a liquid. An all-solid-state cell uses a solid instead. Greater Bay says its cells use a composite solid electrolyte that it developed and makes itself.

The main claims, as the company and the reports describe them:

• Capacity. Chinese reports describe the line only as gigawatt-hour scale. Electrive, citing information it received by email, gives an initial capacity of 1 GWh. It says the rest of the 4 GWh plant can be converted if demand rises.
• Flexibility. The converted line can switch between liquid lithium-ion cells and all-solid-state cells, according to Gasgoo.
• Energy density. The company cites 260 to 480 Wh/kg, depending on the cell generation and materials. Energy density is how much energy a cell stores for its weight.
• First product. Electrive says the first generation uses pouch cells for cars, with established electrode materials. Later generations are expected to use lithium-metal anodes.

By the company's account, the cells moved quickly from prototype to production. In April 2026, Greater Bay said its A-sample cells had come off its line, CnEVPost reported. A-samples are an early prototype stage. Founder and chief technology officer Huang Xiangdong said the project went from A-samples in April to series production in October, electrive reports.

How was the all-solid-state label checked?

China now has a national definition of the term. Standard GB/T 48093.1-2026 sets out terms and classes for solid-state batteries in electric vehicles. China's standards platform lists it as issued on August 28, 2026. It takes effect on January 1, 2028. It is a recommended standard, not a mandatory one, overseen by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Greater Bay says a third-party lab found that its cells meet the standard's test for an all-solid-state battery. Electrive reports that two of its production cells passed. Xinhua Finance names the lab as the testing center of the National Power Battery Innovation Center. Gasgoo reports that the cells lost less than 0.5% of their weight after six hours of baking at 120°C in a vacuum. ProLogium, a Taiwanese battery maker, describes 0.5% as the maximum weight loss for the all-solid-state class under a Chinese test method.

Gasgoo also reports that the cells passed all the safety tests in GB 38031-2025. That is China's mandatory battery safety standard. It took effect on July 1, 2026, CnEVPost reported. It requires no fire and no explosion after a single cell goes into thermal runaway, an uncontrolled overheating. Gasgoo adds that a steel needle driven through a fully charged cell caused no fire or explosion.

Dong Yang chairs the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, an industry group. Gasgoo reports that he called the cells the world's first solid-state battery off a mass-production line with third-party certification. Others have made similar claims. On September 2, 2026, ProLogium said its own all-solid-state battery was in mass production in Taiwan. It cited a UL Solutions test under China's method that found weight loss below 0.05%.

Why does this matter?

Fully solid cells have been uncommon so far. In its Global EV Outlook 2026, the International Energy Agency said all-solid-state cells were at the prototype stage. It said they were being made in small volumes for testing. It added that their range and safety advantages had not yet been shown in real-world use.

Cost is one obstacle. Greater Bay chairman Pei Feng said solid-state production usually means very heavy spending on new plants, Xinhua Finance reported. He also cited long lead times before output starts and high production costs. Converting an existing line is meant to reuse capacity and cut that spending.

The chemistry is another. Dong Yang said solid-state research mainly uses sulfide, polymer, oxide or chloride electrolytes. He said most of those efforts are still at the lab or pilot stage. Greater Bay's material is a different, composite type.

The government has set a goal too. Seven government bodies have issued a five-year plan for the battery industry. Its goals for 2030 include initial large-scale use of all-solid-state batteries. The industry ministry published an explainer of the plan on September 28, 2026.

Who is Greater Bay Technology?

Greater Bay was founded in Nansha in September 2020. It has focused on fast-charging batteries. It installed 0.21 GWh of batteries in China in March 2026, CnEVPost reported, citing industry data. That was a 0.37% share, ranking 15th.

GAC Group, the Guangzhou carmaker, is one of its backers. In December 2024, GAC agreed to sell its direct 15.82% stake to its own controlling shareholder for about 1.118 billion yuan, Gasgoo reported. GAC would keep an indirect 15.6% stake through its investment arm, GAC Capital. GAC Capital would no longer have significant influence over the company.

GAC also has its own solid-state work. In November 2025, it said it had begun pilot production of car-grade all-solid-state cells, Yicai reported. It planned small-batch trial installations in cars in 2026. It said it would then move gradually to mass production between 2027 and 2030.

What is still unknown, and what comes next?

Several key facts have not been published:

• Customers. Greater Bay has named no carmaker that will use the cells. It says it is in advanced talks with several major automakers, electrive reports.
• Output. No production volumes, prices or delivery dates have been given. Pei Feng said only that the company will steadily ramp up capacity and move to batch deliveries.
• Performance. The energy density range is the company's own figure.

Greater Bay did sign agreements at the ceremony. One partner, Hubei Liming, is to build the cells into battery systems for vehicles and energy storage. Another is a Shenzhen innovation center for vertical takeoff aircraft. In Europe, electrive says, the company works with the commercial vehicle startup Flynt.

Rivals have set their own dates. The site's solid-state battery tracker lists these targets:

• Dongfeng plans to start fitting a semi-solid-state battery to production cars in the fourth quarter of 2026.
• CATL, BYD and Gotion each target small-scale production in 2027.
• Samsung SDI aims to begin mass production in the second half of 2027.
• Toyota aims to launch its first EVs with all-solid-state batteries in 2027-28.

All of these are company targets, not results. For background on how the technology works, see the solid-state batteries explainer.