Europe may seem slightly more eager to electrify its vehicle fleet than the U.S., so in addition to all the hybrid and plug-in hybrid tech on display at IAA Munich 2025, there was some battery news, as well. Rimac showed off a solid-state battery pack it developed with Pro-Logium and Mitsubishi Chemical Group, Chinese battery giant CATL displayed an LFP battery promising to be so long-lived it will improve resale value, and it teased a concept much like struggling Our Next Energy proposed: a dual-chemistry battery. Click here for our Ducati solid-state battery coverage.

Rimac Next-Gen Solid State

On the press day of the show, Rimac Technology (the Tier 1 branch of the hypercar manufacturer) signed a memorandum of understanding with ProLogium to further develop ProLogium’s “Superfluidized all-inorganic solid-state lithium ceramic battery.” What’s superfluidized mean, you ask? It refers to a solid electrolyte that’s been engineered to behave at the electrode interface like a liquid while still remaining a solid. A liquid (or gel, which some “semi-solid-state” batteries use) electrolyte always stays in intimate contact with a solid electrode, whereas solid electrolytes might need to be mechanically pressed against the anode for the ions to pass from one to the other. When they don’t, that’s high resistance and low performance. We’re talking about ProLogium’s fourth-generation electrolyte called SF-Ceramion.

Despite the just-inked MoU, Rimac displayed a 100-kWh mockup of the Next-Gen pack, which suggests these new solid-state cells will be packaged as pouch in a cell-to-pack format. The chemistry is nothing exotic—nickel-manganese-cobalt in a 90-5-5 percent ratio, same as used in the “Evolution” pack displayed next to it for comparison—with a 100 percent silicon anode. The operating voltage range for the Next-Gen is 540-907, which is slightly higher; it can discharge at 850 kW, versus 824 (1,140 vs. 1,105 hp). It charges way faster: 10 to 80 percent in 6.5 minutes, versus 16 for Evolution (though this requires charging at greater than 350 kW).

Even better: It retains 95 percent of its capability at -4 degrees F (-20 C), meaning it never needs to be heated up in the winter. This simplifies the cooling system, which can simply use a refrigerant loop connected to the vehicle’s A/C system. The housing is thermoplastic, the mass is 847 pounds—189 lighter than the Evo, with commensurate improvements in power and energy density.

Rimac is targeting battery availability in the fourth quarter of 2027, but maybe don’t bet a lot of money on that delivery date until the ink on that MoU is fully dry.

CATL Shenxing Pro Super Long-Life & Long-Range Battery

This super long-life, super long-range battery is designed and built in Europe, for Europe, and specifically targets Europe’s fleet leasing market. It employs lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) chemistry and is designed to deliver 12 years and 1 million kilometers (621,371 miles) of service or 10,000 charge-discharge cycles retaining 70 percent of its capacity when new. This promises to greatly improve vehicle residual values and lower cost of ownership. The name promises great range from 122 kWh of charge, but of course that will depend a lot on the weight and aerodynamics of its “top hat.” It also promises 10–80 percent charging in 15 minutes and incorporates CATL’s NP 3.0, referring to the latest chemistry—the new or next phosphate. Some are also assigning No Propagation to those letters, because it aims to prevent fire or smoke propagation during thermal runaway, and it also retains the ability to deliver power during such an event, allowing the driver (or the autonomous drive system) to safely park in case of emergency.

CATL Freevoy Dual-Power Battery

This “Free Voyage” concept battery was unveiled at CATL’s April tech day and sounds a lot like the concept that Our Next Energy had in mind: Employ two different chemistries to achieve disparate goals in one pack. CATL’s take differs in that ONE intermixed its LFP and NMC cells, and CATL is proposing separate zones, which would more easily allow for separate cooling systems, battery management systems, high versus low voltage, dual thermal-runaway/safety systems, even two internal structures. The IAA display allowed visitors to mix and match chemistries and choose among those variables whether to split displaying spider charts summarizing each combo’s relative merits. It was an intriguing thought exercise and an instructive hands-on plaything for show-goers, but we’re not holding our breath for this one.