Breakthrough 1000km driving range semi-solid state battery reaches production: New Chinese electric car beats Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen to beating range anxiety

The electric car industry is rushing to find better batteries for EVs, and we’ve learnt that Chinese carmaker IM is only weeks away from rolling out a mass-produced model with a revolutionary semi-solid state battery called the Lightyear in its L6 sedan.

The world is growing out of the lithium ion packs which have been powering electric cars for the past decade and by that we mean buyers are now demanding faster charging batteries that are safer and of course offer more range. 

Lithium ion batteries use a liquid or gel electrolyte which has charging speed and range limitations and is potentially flammable. Semi-solid state batteries, on the other hand, use a solid material suspended in a liquid electrolyte making them more stable. Fire-risk is reduced because leakage is less likely.

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This electric car from China boasts breakthrough tech: 2025 IM L6 to use semi solid state batteries to eclipse the BYD Seal performance and rival the Audi e-tron GT for just $100k Solid state batteries are not the game-changing future of mass production electric cars, according to Audi powertrain engineers New Chinese car is the first to use "solid state batteries" to trump Toyota, BYD and Tesla

Other advantages of semi-solid batteries is their ability to store more energy within the same sized space and that means more range for electric cars.

One of the first cars to roll into production with these new semi-solid state batteries will be the IM L6. We know this because by law in China car manufacturers need to provide the specifications of upcoming models which are then published on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s (MIIT) website.

IM Motors is a joint venture between SAIC Motors, Shangjiang High Tech Park, and the Alibaba Group and the L6 is their Tesla Model 3-sized sedan.

Now we know the latest L6 Max Lightyear Edition will have a semi-solid state battery. The big deal is the fast charging and range.

According to the specs the “Lightyear” battery will offer a staggering driving range of 1000km (CLTC) in the dual motor, all-wheel drive variant. This is thanks to the L6's the Lightyear semi-solid battery fitting 133kWh of energy capacity in the same space regular tech gets 100kWh.

2025 IM L6 Lightyear Edition (Image: CarNewsChina)

The L6's 900V architecture allows for a charging rate of 400kW, a long way clear of even Tesla, Porsche and Audi, which works out to be about 400km of range delivered in 12 minutes.

CarsGuide reported on the L6 and its semi-solid state battery back in May this year, but the publishing of the vehicle's specifications on China’s MIIT website means the model’s arrival is now imminent.

Whether the IM L6 Lightyear Edition will come to Australia is not yet known, but given the influx and popularity of new Chinese brands such as BYD, Xpeng and Zeekr here, there’s a very real possibility.  

If the L6 Lightyear was to arrive Australians would pay less than $100K given the current exchange rates, shipping and taxes taken into account.

IM isn’t the first car maker to come up with semi-solid state batteries but it is the first to offer the technology on a production car.

Other carmakers, including Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, GWM and Volkswagen, are vying to get full solid-state batteries into production. Some are suggesting 2027 or 2028 for the first models.