500 Wh/kg means Sulphur cathode, which also explains the solid electrolyte. Roughly speaking, it'll be 3x as energy dense but only a 1/2 as volumetrically efficient (so, a given capacity battery will weigh 1/3 less but take up twice as much space).
There are other approaches to Li-S (and Al-S and Mn-S) which will be less expensive. Grats to CATL for bringing this to market, but the race for sure isn't over yet.
Honestly it doesn't seem like that big a drawback. EVs for instance have reclaimed lots of space from under the hood, the gas tank, the exhaust system and more.
A lot of other comments are saying 2x as dense (that current norms are around 250Wh/kg for mass produced and widely available product)… can you square that with your 3x claim? Am I missing something?
There are other approaches to Li-S (and Al-S and Mn-S) which will be less expensive. Grats to CATL for bringing this to market, but the race for sure isn't over yet.