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About half an hour after the opening of the market on the morning of August 21, the share price of Penghui Energy (SZ300438, share price 19.69 yuan, market value 9.911 billion yuan) rose by 20cm and maintained until the close. At the same time, many solid-state battery concept stocks rose significantly.

Shortly before the opening of the market on the 21st, Penghui Energy’s official WeChat account announced that the 2024 Penghui Energy Product Technology Conference will be held on August 28. The reporter of Daily Economic News noted thatThe related promotional poster reads "A real breakthrough in solid-state batteries", while the title of the article uses "Major breakthrough in all-solid-state batteries" and "Physical debut".

The reporter found that as early as August 15, Penghui Energy’s WeChat official account promoted a press conference, but did not mention "all-solid-state batteries" or "solid-state batteries" at the time, so it did not attract attention.

At the performance briefing in May 2021, Penghui Energy introduced that the company has technical reserves in solid-state batteries. In historical announcements, Penghui Energy did not introduce much about solid-state batteries. It only introduced the solid-state battery research and development project for wearable devices in the 2023 annual report, which is still in the experimental stage.

However, since May this year, Penghui Energy has repeatedly stated on the investor communication platform:"The company has its own research and development roadmap for semi-solid-state batteries and solid-state batteries. The current products are in the sample testing stage. The downstream application areas are mainly digital products, and subsequent iterations and upgrades will continue."

Penghui Energy announces "major breakthrough in all-solid-state batteries"

The reporter learned that according to the different electrolyte contents in solid-state batteries, they can be divided into semi-solid-state batteries and all-solid-state batteries. Generally speaking, a liquid battery is one with an electrolyte content of more than 10%; the electrolyte content in a semi-solid-state battery is between 5% and 10%. Adding electrolyte can improve the interface wettability inside the battery and reduce the battery impedance. It is the solid-state route with the fastest industrialization progress; an all-solid-state battery is a battery composed entirely of solid substances and does not contain any liquid components.In fact, it is a common practice in the industry to refer to semi-solid-state batteries and other products as "solid-state batteries".

The reporter of Daily Economic News noticed that it was not the first time that Penghui Energy had promoted the 2024 product technology conference, but it had not attracted much attention before. According to the official account of Penghui Energy on August 15, the title of the article at that time was "Work hard to build dreams, and embrace the sea of ​​stars | 2024 Penghui Energy Product Technology Conference is coming soon!", and the theme text of the poster was also "2024 Penghui Energy Product Technology Conference" and "Stay tuned on August 28", without mentioning solid-state batteries.

But in the latest publicity, Penghui Energy focused on "all-solid-state batteries". The title of the article published on the company's WeChat official account on the morning of August 21 mentioned "major breakthrough in all-solid-state batteries" and "physical debut", and the text on the poster also emphasized "real breakthrough in solid-state batteries".

Image source: Penghui Energy WeChat official account

Regarding the specific content of the "real breakthrough" of all-solid-state batteries, the reporter also contacted Penghui Energy's secretary by phone. He said that this was a preview of the press conference by the company's brand department, and the stock price trend was not expected before the release."I haven't had time to ask the technical department for details yet, so I'll wait for the online press conference on the 28th."

Penghui Energy's secretary also said,The company has long been engaged in research and development of solid-state batteries, and the actual controller is also a professional technical background. The company will not miss any technological advancement or major changes in the industry.

Regarding why the announcement was made through the WeChat official account instead of choosing a more formal announcement channel, and whether there was an information disclosure problem, the secretary replied that it was actually just a notification of the time of a press conference. Compared with the publicity of its peers, the company's publicity activities were not many."This is just a preview of a press conference and a normal business operation for the company."

On the afternoon of August 21, the reporter browsed the official website of Penghui Energy and found that the official website poster was still using the version released on August 15, and did not mention solid-state batteries.

In April this year, Penghui Energy stated on the investor interaction platform that solid-state battery products are currently in the research and development stage, and there are no mass-produced products yet. In May, Penghui Energy said that the company has its own research and development roadmap for semi-solid-state batteries and solid-state batteries, and the products are in the sample testing stage.

2023 Annual Report Disclosure:

Solid-state battery research and development is still in the experimental stage

The reporter noticed that on social media platforms, investors have both trust and doubt about Penghui Energy's breakthrough in all-solid-state batteries. Some people applaud the company's technological innovation, but many comments believe that it is just a gimmick."There is a big difference between solid-state and all-solid-state."

It is not surprising that investors have doubts. Although solid-state batteries are firmly believed to be the future direction, my country's solid-state battery industry is still in its infancy and has not been widely used in commercial applications. Huaxin Securities' research report in May this year analyzed that all-solid-state batteries have comprehensive performance, but there are problems such as high cost and poor conductivity of solid-solid interface, which limit their large-scale commercial application. Major countries in the world are actively deploying the solid-state battery industry, and various companies generally plan to mass-produce solid-state batteries between 2027 and 2030.

As a battery company in Guangzhou, Penghui Energy's products are mainly lithium-ion batteries and primary batteries, and its application areas cover energy storage batteries and systems, power batteries, consumer batteries and other fields. Last year, Penghui Energy achieved revenue of 6.932 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 23.54%, and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 43.102 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 93.14%. The annual report also introduced that the company's energy storage shipments ranked at the forefront of the industry: according to data statistics from professional institutions such as SNE research/Energy Storage Leader Alliance (EESA), the company ranked among the top six Chinese companies in global energy storage battery shipments in 2023; according to data statistics from Gaogong Energy Storage Industry Research Institute (GGII), the company ranked among the top three in industrial and commercial energy storage system shipments in 2023.

However, judging from historical announcements, Penghui Energy has not mentioned solid-state batteries many times. When participating in the 2023 Guangdong-based listed companies investor collective reception day in September last year, Penghui Energy introduced that the research and development of solid-state batteries and sodium-ion power batteries are ongoing and iteratively optimized. The last time was at the performance briefing in May 2021, when it was stated that the company had technical reserves in solid-state batteries, and the mass production of related battery products should take into account market demand, cost, industrial chain and other factors.

The reporter noticed that in the 2023 annual report, Penghui Energy introduced the company's R&D investment. Judging from the project names,Among the six R&D projects, only one is related to solid-state batteries, namely the project “Preparation of Flexible Ultra-thin Solid-State Electrolytes and Solid-State Battery Technology”, which is still in the experimental stage.The purpose of the project is to study solid-state batteries for wearable electronics and flexible electronic devices. However, there is no content related to "solid-state batteries" in the annual reports of 2022 and previous years.

Currently, Penghui Energy is also investing in a semi-solid battery project. The company just announced last month that it plans to build a 10GWh energy storage cell and system integration project and a 1GWh semi-solid battery project in the Chahar High-tech Development Zone of Ulanqab City. The fixed asset investment in the energy storage project is about 1.8 billion yuan, and the fixed asset investment in the semi-solid battery project is about 500 million yuan.