Solid State Batteries: The Next Big Thing In Electric Cars

Plug-in vehicle sales have been seeing sizable growth in recent years, with Tesla grabbing most of the attention. Now the race is on with Toyota and several other global automakers taking steps forward in being truly Tesla-competitive for the first time.Electric Vehicle Battery technology

At 2.1 million sold worldwide last year, sales of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles only saw a peak moment of 3.8 percent of new vehicle sales in December — and only 2.2 percent of sales for the year. For that number to reach 10 percent or higher, they’ll need to go 400 or more miles per charge and able to be recharged in about 10 minutes. That’s still a long ways off, but Toyota, Jaguar, Audi, Volkswagen, and Porsche are making real strides toward that benchmark.

Toyota’s announcement this month of dedicating much of its new vehicle build to plug-in vehicles will be based on the introduction of solid-state batteries, which Toyota believes could happen as soon as 2020 — two years earlier than originally planned by the company. It will be part of reaching 5.5 million electrified vehicles sold — a target now moved up five years from 2030 to 2025. That will include battery-electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, and hybrids.

While Toyota is best known for its love of hybrids like the Prius, and its more recent Mirai fuel-cell vehicle, much of Toyota’s expanded vision will be made up of electric vehicles. Solid-state batteries offer greater energy density than the lithium-ion batteries being used by Tesla and other competitors. These EV batteries use a solid electrolyte instead of the liquid electrolyte used in the lithium-ion batteries.

“If possible, by the time we have the Olympic games next year, we would like to make sure that a solid-state battery can be unveiled to the public,” Toyota research and development boss Shigeki Terashi said during a recent presentation.Automakers using solid-state batteries will be able to increase the range of electric cars without having to make battery packs bigger. Solid-state electrolytes are also expected to be nonflammable, unlike current lithium-ion batteries. Tesla, Nissan, and General Motors, have had their share of battery pack fires to deal with.

The Japanese automaker is poised to share its battery technology with three partners, Subaru, Suzuki, and Mazda. Subaru and Suzuki established a technology-sharing relationship with Toyota years ago, and some industry experts say that Mazda will be next. Toyota has convinced them to join an alliance that shares common platforms, technologies, and batteries, with solid-state batteries likely to take the lead.