Semi solid state batteries, a hybrid between liquid lithium ion and the long promised all solid design, are shipping now in power banks from Kuxiu, Zen, and BMX Hyper and in Vivo's X200 and X300 Ultra phones, with e bikes from Ride1Up and Giant slated for later in 2026, and they…
The full solid-state battery has been twenty years away for thirty years. The semi-solid-state one, a gel-polymer hybrid that is safer than lithium-ion, compatible with existing factories, and already inside products you can buy, is here now.
That distinction matters because lithium-ion's fire problem has gotten harder to ignore. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled roughly 1.9 million power banks in 2025 across Anker, Baseus, and INIU, on top of tens of thousands of e-bike battery recalls and a rare stop-use warning on Rad Power Bikes packs, according to a Verge analysis of the current battery landscape. A "miracle" solid-state battery from Donut Lab, pitched as the fix, was thoroughly debunked by independent battery experts, with a viral YouTube teardown by Ryan Inis Hughes (Ziroth) showing the cells were conventional lithium-ion in disguise, as the Verge's Thomas Ricker recounted in his Stepback newsletter.
Semi-solid-state cells sit in the middle. Instead of a liquid electrolyte (the medium that carries ions between the battery's two ends), they use a gel or polymer blend that does not flow. That makes them less prone to the thermal runaway chain reaction that turns a damaged lithium-ion pack into a blowtorch, and it lets manufacturers keep using much of the same factory tooling, which is why the cells are actually shipping, not just appearing in press releases.
You can already buy one. Kuxiu launched what Verge reviewers called the "world's first" semi-solid-state power bank in April 2025; Zen's and BMX Hyper now sell similar packs, and manufacturers claim 2 to 3 times the cycle life of standard lithium-ion power banks. On two wheels, Ride1Up's Revv1 EVO is marketed as the world's first semi-solid-state e-bike, built around a 1,040 watt-hour Heyuan Lithium Inno pack rated for 1,200 cycles (about double the typical 500) with a two-hour charge, with shipping slated for August 2026. Giant announced a partnership with T&D, a Bafang spinoff, to put Heyuan cells in at least five mass-produced e-bikes, with T&D claiming 50 percent more capacity than equivalent lithium-ion and a 21 percent weight reduction when the pack is integrated into the frame, per Bike Europe coverage cited by the Verge.
Phones got there first. Vivo's X200 series, in 2024, was the first phone to combine a semi-solid-state electrolyte with a silicon-carbon anode (a higher-capacity alternative to standard graphite), branded BlueVolt; the same chemistry now sits in the new X300 Ultra. In cars, SAIC's roughly $15,000 MG 4X EV uses SolidCore semi-solid-state cells and is heading to Europe later in 2026, as the Verge's analysis noted.
The regulatory backdrop is doing some of the pushing. China's December 2025 e-bike rules require batteries to pass a puncture test, and power banks must clear CCC-mark torture tests to be airline-eligible. The U.S. has a patchwork of state laws, city ordinances, and optional UL certifications, none of which has meaningfully moved the safety needle nationwide. With China controlling most of the world's battery supply, U.S. riders are largely waiting for whichever brands meet whichever local standard.
True solid-state, the long-promised design with no liquid electrolyte at all, remains a research project. Lotus's CEO told CNBC in May 2026 it is roughly a decade from mass production, and Factorial, a Massachusetts solid-state startup profiled by The New York Times in 2025, only just began trading on Nasdaq the week before the column ran. The semi-solid-state cell is not the destination. It is the bridge, and for the first time in a long time, the bridge is something you can actually buy.