Solid-State Battery Breakthroughs

Solid State Batteries could be a game-changer for EVs and their adoption, because the potential with solid state batteries is fast charge time and long distance range. The most pressing hurdles for drivers considering electric vehicles is the limited range per charge, and the time required for charging.

Toyota has announced breakthroughs in solid state technology, and estimates are that their first solid state battery will offer a 620 mile driving range with an 80% fast charging rate of 10 minutes. By contrast, the Tesla Model Y has a 336 mile range with a 15 minute fast charge time.

The major hurdles for solid state proliferation through the EV market include its manufacturing process, because of the sensitivity of component meterials, and its long term durability issues. Repeated charging and discharging cycles can cause cracks between battery components and limit lifetime use of the battery. Toyota claims its breakthroughs on the technology are solutions to both these problems (a flexible, crack resistant solid electrolyte) but we wont know the details until real world vehicles sporting the technology start to be rolled out.

I wrote an article for Oil & Energy magazine describing a lot more of the specifics on this new tech and what Toyota & Idemitsu are doing to move it forward. You can read that article here: Toyota’s Breakthrough in Solid State Batteries