We Believe Polymer is the Sweet Spot for Solid-state Batteries

Adrian Tylim, Head of Business Development, Blue Solutions

Blue Solutions makes solid-state batteries in France and Canada. Series production is scheduled to begin in 2029, with significant advantages in energy density, cost, and safety, says Adrian Tylim, Head of Business Development. On the CTI Symposium Novi in May 2025, we discussed the prospects for solid-state batteries, and the company’s polymer-based technical approach.

Mr. Tylim, what are the functional challenges when developing solid-state vehicle batteries?

There are several. It’s a very competitive industry that attracts money, specifically for advanced and solidstate batteries. Many companies say they have solid-state batteries, but some may just produce small samples in a lab. When you start putting them into an application, it’s tough to increase the size of the cell and maintain or improve the performance. In the lab, the cell is usually the size of a coin, and increasing the size, voltage, etc., is a challenge. The second challenge is that you want to produce quickly, and on a large scale. For that, you need to develop a perfect process, which requires a lot of innovation. Then you have requirements in terms of safety and performance, and issues with decoupling from risky material supply chains. And of course, you want to produce the best product. Not many companies can meet those requirements in line with customer expectations.

In terms of production, what advantages do you have compared to ‘conventional’ Li-Ion batteries?

Lithium-ion batteries are easy to produce and have become very cost-competitive on a large scale. They are made all over the world, they have been manufactured and deployed for decades, and the technology is still improving. So anything we design to replace Lithium-ion must have specific advantages. One main focus is safety. Lithium-ion batteries have a liquid electrolyte. When a cell is defective, you get thermal runaway: the cell ignites, and the fire propagates from cell to cell. Our solid-state batteries have a solid electrolyte that doesn’t catch fire as with lithium-ion cells. We chose an electrolyte that surpasses the melting point of the lithium anode, which is the key variable in terms of thermal stability. The second main focus is manufacturing at cost and integrating the technology into the vehicle. Other solid-state advantages are longevity, more charging cycles, and higher energy density.

What kind of electrolyte material do you use?

Our material is a solid-state polymer. In the battery world, we talk about solid-state materials and semisolid-state materials, which contain a little liquid. For strictly solid-state, you have either ceramics or polymers. And within ceramics, you have oxides and sulfides. We chose a polymer material for several reasons. One is that Blue Solutions has a legacy of making films and ultra-thin films. We have developed a very simple process with a small manufacturing footprint. We make everything from raw materials. We extrude the lithium metal anode, the polymer electrolyte, and cathode. In the case of the anode, we start with a lithium metal cylinder. We extrude it at high speed, make it very thin, wide, and consistent, and then roll it. We do similarly with the polymer electrolyte. For the cathode, we have different dry coating or extrusion processes. And then we slit them and stack them to form our cell.

Speaking of so-called semi-solid-state technology, how do you rate its prospects?

Automotive batteries often have 100 layers, or 50 double layers. Whenever you charge and discharge the batteries, the stack basically expands and contracts. It’s a process we call ‘breathing’. So let’s say a vehicle is going to be out there for ten years. To ensure longevity, you must ensure all the interfacial contact between those layers stays intact. With ceramic materials, you need a lot of pressure to maintain that contact – between 5 to 20 bar. For that, you need a lot of mechanical components such as springs. But the more mechanical components you use, the less space volume is available to put energy storage inside the car, and the more complex and expensive it becomes. So we opted for a polymer material, which is elastic, so the interfacial contact remains intact with very little pressure and minimal components needed. Semi-solid attempts to do the same thing as we’re doing with our polymer, only using a ceramic material with a porous structure that contains some liquid. So while polymer may not be the best ionic conductor, when we look at all other beneficial aspects, we believe polymer is the sweet spot.

What are the USPs of your Gen 4 technology and Blue Solution’s capacities?

So far, we’ve made more than three million cells. Most of them fitted to commercial vehicles starting in 2011. Since then, there have been many improvements and lessons learned, which we have integrated in line with the requirements of our automotive customers. For example, the ability for the electrolyte to work at room temperature, even as the battery functions in temperatures from -20 to 60 °C. Additionally, our cells have been performing over 3,000 cycles, far exceeding the typical OEM benchmark of 1,000. This allows us to use an even thinner anode. The thickness is now <20 μm, compared to 60 μm in the third generation. Also, we can now service different vehicle market segments by using different cathode materials, like NMC or LMFP, and varying energy densities of up to 450 Wh/kg. After all, a Ferrari and a Fiat have different requirements. And by varying the cathode materials, we can scale the costs and performance of our cells. We are currently working with three automakers: BMW, and two others in the Top Five. We’re also cooperating with a Taiwanese electronics company, and we’re looking at twowheelers and other areas. Right now, we are at a point where we’re tweaking the chemistry and the form factor, for example, prismatic or pouch cells, etc. We are in the validation phase and expect to start series production around 2029.

How is the supply situation for the raw materials in your cells?

Sustainability is a core development goal for us. At the end of life, we can reuse all critical materials to produce new cells. We have also filed a new patent to extract lithium metal from the cells. The good thing is that we never use materials like copper. For our cathode current collector, for example, we only use aluminium. And for the anode, the collector is the lithium-metal foil itself. Also, polymer materials are not rare, so we have several suppliers – not just China. I don’t see any problems with the supply chain. And we have 20 years of experience in locating and sourcing materials for iron phosphate, lithium, and so forth.

How do energy density and costs compare to current state-of-the-art batteries?

That’s one of the most critical questions for customers! I could give you today’s figures, but it wouldn’t help much because our goals for series production in 2029 are 20 to 40 % higher density than the best lithium-ion battery, at unit costs of 20 to 40 % less. That’s the target we think we can achieve. When visitors tour our manufacturing plant, they are amazed at how simple our manufacturing is, with such a small footprint. For example, there’s no need for the calendering process used by lithium-ion battery manufacturers . And there is no need for an electrolyte filling process. So we save money on equipment, around 20 or 30 % of the CAPEX which should impact the price of the final product. And finally, another benefit is that there are fewer environmental requirements due to our simpler, which again lowers the costs.

When will we see your technology on the streets, and what market penetration do you expect?

As I said earlier, our goal is to start production in 2029. It’s hard to predict, but we think solid-state batteries can reach a market penetration of 5 % in 2030 and about 8 % in 2035. Based on what we see, and on analyses from some of the best sources, that seems realistic.

Interview: Gernot Goppelt

If you have Vehicle-to- Home, Vehicle-to-Grid is an Easy Add-on

Joe Tolkacz, Chief Engineer, Stellantis

The Stellantis RAM 1500 Ramcharger is the first of its kind in the US market – a light truck with a pure serial range extender drive, a range of 690 miles, and two e-drives providing 647 hp in total. We spoke to Chief Engineer Joe Tolkacz, who presented the Ramcharger at the CTI Symposium 2025 in Novi. We were particularly interested in the additional utility value, compared to a conventionally powered light truck.

Mr Tolkacz, you could have built a ‘classic’ parallel plug-in hybrid. Why did you pick a serial hybrid?

When you switch from electric to serial hybrid drive, when the engine starts making torque, the start-stop capability and smoothness are very transparent to the customer. The other thing is that we are working on a battery-electric-only version, and we will be able to reuse many of the components from the range extender on the BEV. The electric drive modules and the charger work very well in both the electric rangeextended vehicle and the BEV version. Basically, you could take the Ramcharger, take the engine out, and you have a BEV. Those were two big factors for us.

Some people say P2 hybrids have better load and towing capacity, because there are no thermal issues with an engine drive. How did you handle that with the serial hybrid?

The first thing we did was a lot of analysis. We have capable tools for estimating our towing capacity and other performance attributes. These tools helped us to work backwards to design the motors, the batteries, and other components. With the tools, we can do more than just typical EPA cycles. We have the capability to simulate the Davis Dam test, which includes towing on an 11.4-mile slope with a 3500-foot altitude difference, for example. We can also simulate 65 miles cross-country towing, and we can simulate the Eisenhower pass in Colorado. So we have a lot of great simulation capabilities. We broke the results down to the subsystem level. We tested the heck out of all components, put it all back together, and now we’re finishing up on the vehicle side to ensure that the simulations correlate well with what we saw in the vehicle. If we find things that don’t quite correlate, we can go back to the simulations and correct them. That helps us to preverify design changes. You know, we want to have a no-compromise vehicle for the customer, so that was our guiding principle from the start – from the simulation through the vehicle design and testing.

Given the traction requirements, why don’t you have gears for the e-drive, or for parallel hybrid mode?

One of the things you get into when you have these additional gears, such as when you have a multispeed gearbox or multi-speed e-drive, is where the shifts occur. It’s challenging to make those shifts transparent. But the key point is, we don’t need any gears for traction reasons. Another advantage of having no gearbox for the engine drive is that we have a lot of flexibility with engine positioning. We saw that multi-gears were not needed, the complexity was not needed, and the drive disturbance was certainly not desired. One of the main reasons for studying a multi-speed gearbox for the e-drive is when you are limited in your motor capabilities. Fortunately, for this vehicle, the top speed isn’t crazy – it is in the region of 115 mph – so our motors were able to achieve that with a 15:1 gear ratio. You may need multispeed gearboxes for some performance cars with higher speeds, where you may have an issue with the motor speed. So we are pretty comfortable with where we ended up.

The generator has much less power than both drive motors. How do you continually ensure full power supply during serial operation?

We do have modes where the battery power plus generator power can result in the electric drive units being capable of making 500 kW. If we claimed that we had e-drives that could achieve 500 kW theoretically, but not in any practical situation, that would look awkward. As for steady-state conditions with continuous power requirements, for me it was pretty surprising that we can tow our max Trailer cross-country at 65 to 75 mph, and our generator keeps up with our power requirements. We don’t ever deplete the battery in these conditions. As I mentioned in my speech here at the CTI symposium, we have some special modes. For instance, if we’re towing a trailer uphill, say, up Davis Dam at 120 °F (49 °C), we know we have a lot of thermal load. So when a customer anticipates such a scenario, he can push the ‘tow’ button, and we pick a different state-of-charge point that allows for maximum load towing in charge sustaining mode. Or we have the ‘e-save’ button that preserves the state-of-charge, and so forth. So there is a lot of flexibility there. We’ll have to do a good job of educating drivers to make sure they take advantage of all these opportunities.

Which axle design did you choose to enable off-road capacity?

We designed the Ramcharger with independent front and rear suspension and frame-mounted drives. Ordinarily, that’s not the choice for off-roaders. We did that intentionally because we didn‘t want to compromise the on-road experience. Many people never go off-road; they don’t even tow anything. The ramcharger is their family vehicle. They want it to be luxurious and comfortable. However, we added some features to balance that trade-off, for instance, the electronic locking differential, or active suspension, so you can raise or lower the vehicle. These features are good ways to satisfy our off-road customers.

What extra utility value does the Ramcharger offer, compared to traditional powertrains in this segment?

You know, 14,000 pounds is a pretty nice towing capacity! If you compare that to some of our competitors, it’s close to medium-duty capability, it’s really a lot for a light truck. We have 690 miles of range, which is not far off from diesel territory. I took a compass and drew a circle around Auburn Hills, to see how far I could get with those 690 miles. It covers a lot within the USA. You can get to Kansas City, St. Louis, or up to Quebec City in Canada. Then we have these V2X features that conventional drives cannot offer. That, to me, is a huge selling point for a truck. I love the idea of having a power panel to plug stuff in at my cabin in northern Michigan. You don’t always have extension cords to reach from where the outlets are. I can move the car around my property and use it for any kind of electric equipment I have. It can be useful when people are building homes before electricity reaches the site. So they can run their circular saw, their tile cutters, or whatever they need to run, off the battery of their truck. And there are also these guys on primitive campsites in a national forest area, for example, without any electric outlets. Another thing in the US, especially in college football, is tailgating. That’s when people drive their trucks to the stadium and sit in a parking lot for a picnic. Sometimes you see people with television sets, electric pots with barbecue pulled pork, or other things. For that kind of adventure, there’s the word glamping, which means glamorous camping. The Ramcharger supports all these activities.

The front and rear e-drives, engine-generator unit, and the battery of the Ramcharger are mounted in a frame structure with independent front and rear suspension. (© Stellantis)

What do you offer in terms of vehicle-to-home or even vehicle-to-grid, and how much of a future will this technology have?

Currently, we can do what’s called vehicle-to-home or V2Home. If you assume 30 kW, which is quite a lot, you can power a house from the gasoline and the battery for about 11 days. And if you cut that down to 15 kW, it’s about 22 days. The next thing that is coming in the future is vehicle-to-grid. The requirements haven’t stabilized yet, so we decided not to chase that. But technically, it’s quite easy to do with our baseline. Once you have V2Home, vehicle-to-grid is an easy add-on.

Interview: Gernot Goppelt

From Stress to Strength: Restructuring for Financial Resilience of Automotive Suppliers

How automotive suppliers turn crisis pressure into liquidity, innovation and long-term competitiveness.

Matthias Müller, Partner Restructuring and Finance, Dr. Wieselhuber & Partner GmbH
Dr. Dirk Artelt, Managing Partner Industrial Goods and Automotive, Dr. Wieselhuber & Partner GmbH

1. When Transformation Meets Pressure

The automotive supply industry is under historic pressure. Electrification, digitalization and sustainability requirements are reshaping value chains, while inflation, volatile call-offs and financing constraints are compressing margins and liquidity. Many suppliers are struggling to balance transformation investments with short-term financial stability.

At the same time, traditional commercial banks are increasingly withdrawing from the sector, reducing credit exposure and tightening risk criteria. This structural shift in financing markets further limits access to liquidity precisely when suppliers need it most – to stabilize operations, fund innovation and manage volatility.

However, crisis and transformation are not opposites. If managed systematically, short-term stress can become a catalyst for structural improvement, turning liquidity pressure into financial resilience and innovative strength.

2. Creating Transparency: Assessing Position and Potential

Every restructuring and transformation process begins with a clear understanding of the current position. The foundation is a pragmatic and well-founded assessment of the status quo: Where does the company stand today in terms of its business model and financing structure?

Two analytical dimensions form the core of this assessment:

• Business Model Score: evaluation of the robustness, cash generation capacity and future viability of the business model.
• Financing Score: analysis of equity strength and debt maturity as key indicators of stability and crisis sensitivity.

Together, these dimensions provide a concise view of both the company’s operational performance and its financial resilience. They answer the essential question: How robust is the business model – and how stable is the financing architecture that supports it?

Once this position is defined, ongoing and planned transformation projects are mapped into the model. This reveals how each initiative contributes to strengthening either the business model or the financing structure, and where gaps or additional fields of action remain.

Based on this analysis, a target scenario is developed that quantifies the impact of the transformation on the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow. This target scenario becomes the anchor for strategic alignment, prioritization of further measures and structured communication with key stakeholders.

By linking transparency with strategic direction, the company turns diagnosis into dialogue – and establishes a measurable path from short-term stabilization to long-term financial resilience.

3. When Financial Covenants Are at Risk

In times of stress, financial covenants such as leverage, equity ratio or interest coverage are often the first early-warning indicators of structural imbalance. A potential breach does not necessarily mean failure, but it must be managed with precision and foresight.

From recent restructuring cases several practical lessons can be drawn:

• Understand the implications. Especially in bilateral financing structures, one covenant breach may trigger cross-default effects in other contracts, including factoring, leasing or supplier-financing agreements. Every interdependence must be understood before entering discussions.
• Communicate early. Transparency towards financing partners should begin as soon as a breach becomes likely, not after it has occurred. Delayed communication undermines trust; proactive dialogue maintains credibility and optionality.
• Be transparent. Clearly explain the reasons behind deviations and present realistic countermeasures. Transparency builds confidence and shows that management remains in control.
• Adopt a forward-looking stance. Update the financial plan and scenario analyses early. Bankers rarely ask, “What happened?” – they ask, “What will happen next quarter?” Demonstrating foresight is the single most important trust factor.
• Safeguard liquidity. Regardless of the covenant concerned, liquidity must be ensured under all scenarios. “Cash is king” remains the guiding principle in every restructuring.
• Keep the long-term perspective. Covenant discussions are not only about short-term waivers. They are part of a broader dialogue about the company’s transformation path and future viability.

Experience shows that most banks do not terminate financing merely due to a covenant breach. Their intent is to bring management to the table and jointly evaluate options. Calm analysis, disciplined communication and a clear liquidity plan are far more effective than defensive reactions.

4. From Transparency to Action: Turning Stress into Structure

Once the initial position is clear, the focus shifts from analysis to implementation. Typical stress patterns in the automotive supplier industry include liquidity bottlenecks caused by uneven OEM call-offs and high working capital, margin pressure from rising material costs and price rigidity, investment strain due to electrification or automation, as well as tightened financing terms and covenant restrictions.

Addressing these challenges requires an integrated, interdisciplinary process that combines financial, operational and strategic measures. Key elements include:

• Liquidity planning: rolling 13-week cash forecasts to ensure solvency and negotiation capability.
• Integrated business planning: linking P&L, balance sheet and cash flow to ensure funding adequacy.
• Restructuring concepts: developing financial turnaround roadmaps with measurable milestones.
• Comparative analyses: quantifying continuation versus liquidation scenarios for stakeholder alignment.
• Operational implementation: translating financial targets into performance and footprint measures.
• Financial advisory and M&A: structuring refinancing, asset-based lending or selective divestments to restore flexibility.

This systematic approach transforms reactive crisis management into structured, data-driven decision-making.

5. Financing Transformation: The Missing Link

In many companies, restructuring and innovation are treated as separate topics, one defensive, the other offensive. In reality, however, they are mutually dependent: without innovation, restructuring remains temporary; without restructuring, innovation remains unfunded.

Automotive suppliers therefore need financing structures that support both stability and transformation. Alongside classical bank loans and syndicated facilities, alternative instruments are increasingly relevant:

• Factoring and leasing to free tied-up capital
• Asset-based lending secured by inventories or receivables
• Private debt, mezzanine or continuation funds to close equity gaps
• OEM or strategic investor participation models to stabilize critical suppliers

Integrating such elements into the financial architecture enables suppliers to fund new technologies even under pressure, thereby securing the link between liquidity, innovation and long-term competitiveness.

6. The Restructuring Advisor as a Transmission Belt for Transformation

Restructuring advisors play a crucial intermediary role between financial stabilization and strategic renewal. Their tools, from liquidity and integrated business planning to comparative analyses and operational implementation, form the transmission belt that translates financial recovery into lasting transformation.

Through structured planning, they provide a quantitative foundation for decision-making: Which product lines can be financed? Which sites are sustainable? Which investments generate the highest cash impact. By integrating refinancing and M&A processes, advisors align short-term liquidity measures with long-term portfolio strategy. They turn transparency into traction, ensuring that every step in the restructuring process contributes to the company’s future viability.

In this capacity, the restructuring advisor bridges multiple disciplines: economics, law, operations and corporate finance. The goal is not only to repair what is broken but to design a financial and operational architecture that can carry innovation. Restructuring thus becomes the operating system for transformation.

7. Continuous Transformation: Managing Change as a System

In the automotive sector, restructuring is no longer just a one-time crisis response, but a continuous management responsibility. Market volatility, technological change and supply dependencies demand permanent financial steering.

The dual perspective of business model quality and financing architecture provides a simple yet powerful framework for this purpose. It helps companies visualize where they stand, prioritize transformation projects and communicate clearly with lenders and investors. Over time, this transparency builds trust both internally and externally and becomes a key component of long-term competitiveness.

8. Conclusion: From Stress to Strength

Crisis and transformation are two sides of the same coin. Automotive suppliers that manage to quantify their financial resilience, align stakeholders and fund innovation systematically can turn pressure into progress.

Restructuring, in this sense, is not about short-term survival but about designing financial structures that enable long-term agility and competitiveness. Transparency becomes the bridge between liquidity management and innovation strategy.

Those who master this balance will not only withstand the transformation of the automotive industry but help shape its future.