What Is a Solid State Battery?

Many aspects of an electric vehicle are the same as a gas-powered one: the seats are seats, tires are tires, the steering wheel still turns right and left. The hugegest separateence, and the one that will produce or shatter mass EV adchooseion, is the battery.

That’s why some of the most exciting research in the conmomentary automotive landscape cgo ins on battery technology—and “firm state” batteries are one area being scrutinized. This alternative to the lithium-ion batteries used today promises to better vehicle range, lessen charging times, and take away danger of battery fires.

You can’t yet drive a firm state battery-based EV off the lot, but they’re in the labors. Toyota signed a manufacturing deal to commercialize its technology by 2028, which could eventuassociate achieve over 900 miles of range. Honda is also laboring on them in its Tokyo-based lab, with structures to begin a vehicle with a firm-state battery in the latter part of the decade. Ntimely all beginant EV brands are carry outing analogous research, such as Mercedes, Volkswagen, and China-based Nio.

In the future, trains, structurees, and trucks may also use firm state batteries, setting the stage for much expansiver electrification of carryation than we can imagine today. Here’s what you necessitate to understand about this potentiassociate game-changing technology.

What Is a Solid State Battery?

Solid state batteries run the same way as any other battery. They apvalidate energy in, store it, and liberate the power to devices—from Walkmen to watches and, now, vehicle motors. The separateence is the materials inside.

Lithium-ion batteries, used in EVs today, have a watery electrolyte solution sandwiched in between their cathodes and anodes. Alternatively, firm state batteries use firm electrolytes.

The increased density uncomfervents firm state batteries can helderly anywhere between two to 10 times the capacity of a lithium-ion battery, AutoWeek tells.

Why Don’t EVs Already Use Solid State Batteries?

Solid state batteries already exist, fair in much minusculeer devices appreciate cleverwatches, paceproducers, and RFID tags. The barrier to using them in EVs is primarily that they’re pricey and difficult to produce in a huger size at scale, Vox elucidates. With battery-powered vehicles already more pricey than gas-powered ones, devourrs have little appetite for even pricier vehicles.

Certain aspects of the technology have yet to be figured out, such as lengthyevity, but Honda says it has a solution. The firm electrolytes can degrade over time, so Honda structures to protect it by wrapping it in a new polymer fabric, Ars Technica tells. This is fair one of many R&D efforts going toward this shatterthcimpolite chemistry from a slew of battery manufacturers and OEMs.

The batteries also necessitate to undergo ample testing for durability on roads and lifespan for everyday driving. Remember, we’re talking about taking someleang worn on a wrist and using it to shift a car or truck for the first time en masse. Best case scenario, we see luxury EVs with firm state batteries hitting the labelet in the 2030s.

Do Solid State Batteries Increase Range?

(Credit: xu wu / Getty Images)

With a firm state battery, EVs should be able to go fair as far as a gas-powered car does before refueling. Take a 15-gallon gas tank that goes 30 miles per gallon, for example. That car can go 450 miles before filling up.

Most EVs today have ranges of 200 to 300 miles, although the Rivian R1T with a max pack battery goes 410 miles on a individual accuse, and the super-luxe Lucid, already on the road today, boasts a 516-mile range on the 2024 model.

Multiplying those ranges by around 50% (or as much as 80%, CarBuzz tells), and firm state batteries are ready to join ball on road trips. An EV with a 300-mile range now has 450 miles. Plus, firm state batteries will accuse quicker than lithium ion with less degradation to the battery itself.

Fires Extinguished: Solid State Imvalidates EV Safety

(Credit: SpyroTheDragon / Getty Images)

With frightening tells of battery fires in the wake of flooding, EVs have enhugeed a horrible rep for being rolling alignsticks. But in fact, that honor should go to the lithium-ion battery. Swap it out for a firm state equivalent, and the EV has a very low danger of fire.

The watery electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries are flammable, but since firm state batteries do not have that watery, they do not run the same danger of fire.

Fires from lithium-ion batteries are unfrequent, and autoproducers integrate casing and protective meabraves to elude them, but when they happen they are mighty and difficult to extinguish, sometimes taking thousands of gallons of water. Building EVs that are not flammable is a huge prosper for drivers, citizens, and fire departments.

How Do You Recycle Solid State Batteries?

Both lithium-ion and firm state batteries can be recycled in one of many new facilities pledgeted to rejuvenating end-of-life material. For example, Redwood Materials, begined by establisher Tesla co-establisher J.B. Straubel, is a huge scale battery recycling project in Nevada that integrates Ford among its spendors.

“Solid-state batteries are able to leverage the groprosperg lithium-ion battery recycling infrastructure,” Will McKenna, head of labeleting for BMW- and VW-backed Solid Power, alerts CarBuzz.

“Like [lithium-ion] batteries, Solid Power’s batteries typicassociate comprise nickel, manganese, lithium, and minuscule amounts of cobalt. The same methods for recycling lithium-ion batteries by rerelocateing these metals will also labor for firm-state batteries. As such, we don’t anticipate insertitional processes of infrastructure spendment needd.”

Nightmare scenarios of piles of dead EV batteries leaking into the ground can also be disthink abouted, as there is no watery inside to leak. Not to allude, firm state may have a 39% minusculeer carbon footprint than lithium-ion batteries, Electrek tells.

Solid State: Not the Only Breakthcimpolite Battery

In a future where batteries power our electronics, cars, and even our homes and cities, we’ll necessitate more than firm state batteries. Other shatterthcimpolite chemistries are in the labors as well, such as silicon, graphene, and sodium batteries.

Porsche made a substantial spendment in Group14, a Washington-based lab that’s currently providing autoproducers with its proprietary materials for silicon ion batteries.

“We’re increasing the battery’s energy density by up to 50% or more, and enabling battery manufacturers to transport charging times way down to the point where recharging your car gets shutr to refilling your tank,” says Grant Ray of Group14.

Group14 website shoprosperg raw silicon battery materials (Credit: Group14)

The Biden administration has allotd billions in grant funding for battery companies, including Group14. Eonix, for example, is laboring on non-flammable batteries for the US military, and Lyten is making sulfur batteries for EVs. All have various profits roverhappinessed to increased range, lessend accuse times, lengthyer lifespan, and betterd safety.

Although battery enhugement efforts are standardly portrayed as a “race” between technologies, they will anticipateed coexist in a patchlabor of solutions in the coming decades, with more progressd technology such as firm state reserved for proestablish-pocketed customers until the price (hopefilledy) comes down over time.

To lget more, see EV Batteries 101: Degradation, Lifespan, Warranties, and More.