Electric vehicles have had a rough time lately. After rapidly gaining market share, probably due to the interest of early adopters, EVs hit a roadblock this year and the predictions for the imminent future aren’t promising. Perhaps the biggest issue is how different they are from internal combustion machines – EVs have a significantly lower range, charge more slowly, and cost more. For quite a long time, we’ve been led to believe that solid-state batteries will solve the range and charging issues, though manufacturing them at scale was a real problem.
Fortunately, we are now one step closer to having battery-electric vehicles with solid-state batteries. According to Taipei-based intelligence provider TrendForce, Toyota, the automaker that’s the most vocal about its achievements in developing state-of-the-art solid-state batteries, started pilot production. But the Japanese giant isn’t alone; according to the same research, Nissan and Samsung SDI are also doing the same.
Crucially, according to TrendForce, this should result in the ability of these companies to produce GWh levels of solid-state batteries by 2027. This seems like a very optimistic take, though not entirely surprising. Toyota was already targeting 2027-2028 for the commercial launch of its solid-state battery technology, though many insiders doubted the Japanese automaker’s ability to achieve such a feat. Not to mention, QuantumScape, a California-based startup, financed by Volkswagen Group, is also working on a solution and wants to reach the market in the same timeframe.
TrendForce’s projections say that by 2030, the cost of SSBs will be around 14 cents/Wh. Again, this is a very optimistic take, because it’s the same price as Li-ion batteries in 2023. Not only that, but the research firm predicts the price to reach 10 cents/Wh in 2035.
It’s important to note that various companies work on different SSB configurations. Sulfide-based SSBs, for example, developed by Toyota, Samsung SDI, and BYD, have an ionic conductivity similar to Li-ion batteries. Meanwhile, oxide SSBs have higher internal resistance but are cheaper to produce. Finally, polymer-based SSBs offer additional cost advantages, though they also have lower ionic conductivity.
Regardless of the technology, an SSB should provide significantly higher energy density in a smaller package when compared to a Li-ion battery. Toyota predicts that its solution will bring EVs with a 750-mile range to the market, which should charge in minutes. Still, the Japanese automaker might first put its SSB technology in plug-in hybrid vehicles, because they require smaller batteries, resulting in a smaller cost discrepancy.
Article & Image Source: Trendforce
