The world's second-largest automaker has announced a significant breakthrough: solid-state batteries with a range of over 745 miles that can charge in 10 minutes.
Toyota, the world's second-largest automaker, just unveiled a potentially groundbreaking contribution to the world of electric vehicles (EVs) — a solid-state battery that could reshape not just the automotive industry, but the wider energy and battery sector as well.
The company claims to have discovered an innovative way to cut the weight, size, and cost of solid-state batteries by half — a game-changing development that might bring electric vehicles one step closer to widespread adoption.
If true, the company envisions this could lead to a solid-state battery ready to begin production by 2027 with a range of 745 miles that can charge in under 10 minutes. Toyota also estimates that it will be able to make an advanced solid-state battery that’s capable of offering over 900 miles of range after 2028.
According to a report by The Financial Times, Toyota made the announcement on Tuesday, July 4th, and claimed to have simplified production of the material used to make its advanced solid-state batteries (which are intended to go into production in 2025).
This news comes shortly after Toyota unveiled its aims to build an all-new EV-only architecture to spawn a series of new vehicles beginning in 2026. The new architecture will start with a Lexus model using 600 mile range next-gen lithium-ion batteries and has 10 other EV models planned. With this new architecture and Tesla-inspired giga-casting vehicle production, it plans to produce 1.7 million EVs by 2030.
Toyota has been working on its solid-state batteries in a partnership with Panasonic. The pair has at least 1,776 solid-state patents between them, although that’s not a clear indicator of progress; only R&D effort.
Panasonic has had quite the success in the battery industry, as the industrial conglomerate has seen robust battery sales, and expects its net profit to grow 32% thanks in part to tax credits from the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act for its EV battery operations in the U.S.
In addition to working with Toyota, Panasonic is a major supplier of Tesla and just announced it would boost its output of batteries at Tesla’s Nevada gigafactory by 10% over the next three years. It also has plans to build two more factories for Tesla by the end of the decade.
Solid-state batteries, the acclaimed "holy grail" of battery technology, offer benefits over traditional liquid-based batteries, such as lower risk of fire (due to the removal of the flammable liquid electrolyte in current lithium-ion batteries), shorter charging times, and increased energy capacity. They are distinguished by their use of solid electrolytes to shuttle lithium ions between electrodes, differing from prevalent liquid electrolyte lithium-ion batteries.
Such a battery would revolutionize the EV market, making electric cars more competitive with internal combustion engine (ICE) counterparts in terms of range and charging time — two of the main obstacles to wider EV adoption.
Here’s why: the ability to offer increased energy storage, and therefore extended driving range on a single charge, is a critical aspect for EV consumers. A poll from March showed that 35% of Americans preferred EVs with a driving range over 500 miles. This might explain why there’s a build-up of unsold EVs even despite sales growth of 50% in the first half of 2023. And a 10-minute recharge time would also be a significant reduction compared to Tesla's Supercharger network, which provides an equivalent of 199 miles of charge in 15 minutes.
But Toyota and Panasonic aren’t the only major companies developing these batteries. Nissan Motor, Honda, QuantumScape (backed by Bill Gates and VW), Automotive Cells Co (a partnership between Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and TotalEnergies), as well as Ford, BMW, and Hyundai Motor (who've invested in U.S.-based start-up Solid Power), are among the key players targeting mass production within this decade. For its part, Tesla remains focused on its 4680 cells.
To maintain momentum, Toyota needs to convert its technological breakthrough into a marketable product that can withstand real-world conditions — a feat that's proven challenging in the past. Skeptics advise caution with Toyota's claims, citing the company's previous issues with EV production mishaps and public communication of its capabilities.
From recalling its initial line of EVs to penalties for misleading advertisements about charging times, Toyota has to overcome some reputational hurdles before industry experts get too excited. On that last point, the UK advertising watchdog Advertising Standards Authority banned ads from Toyota (as well as Hyundai, to be fair) for what it believed were misleading statements about the number of fast chargers available in the UK and the speed at which its batteries could be charged.
And according to the FT report, Toyota’s own Chief Technology Officer Hiroki Nakajima is being cautious of pitching solid-state technology as the “ultimate solution” for battery fixes. Instead, he posited that the company will ultimately go with whichever type of battery adds the most value to the car, and (more importantly), whichever can be produced the most effectively at scale.
This statement acknowledges the reality that transitioning solid-state battery prototypes to mass production has proven challenging for automakers and technology firms. Wide-scale adoption has been hindered due to high production costs and manufacturing complexities. Key hurdles lie in the ability to craft a solid electrolyte that is stable, chemically inert, and maintains efficient ion conduction between electrodes. The complexity of these batteries often leads to fabrication issues like cracking, and results in considerably higher production costs than their liquid lithium-ion counterparts.
Striving to resolve the durability issue, Toyota anticipates beginning solid-state battery production by 2027-2028 but has not disclosed the estimated costs or additional investments required to upscale production. If Toyota has succeeded in streamlining the manufacturing of these batteries, the company has not only edged closer to the production of a battery that can charge in under ten minutes but also potentially flipped the cost-effectiveness ratio in favor of solid-state technology.
Beyond the confines of the EV market, Toyota's development could also be a boon for the wider energy and battery industry. As the world grapples with the realities of climate change, demand for energy storage solutions — both for grid storage and renewable energy integrations — has been growing rapidly. A cheaper, more efficient, and safer solid-state battery could offer a highly viable solution to these storage needs.
The safety benefits, greater energy density, and extended lifespan are key attributes that could help grid-scale deployments of battery storage. The use of solid electrolytes permits higher energy density materials, enhancing storage capacity. And solid-state batteries' longevity adds value in renewable energy storage contexts where long-term energy preservation is crucial. Their ability to operate at higher voltages leads to increased power output for the same battery size, which is another benefit for grid-scale deployments.
A shift to solid-state technology could also impact the lithium-ion supply chain. Over the past decade, there's been a global scramble for lithium, driven by the rise of lithium-ion batteries. If solid-state batteries become the new industry standard, there’s no guarantee that lithium will remain their key ingredient. This could alter the demand dynamics for lithium against whatever associated minerals become the dominant compound in the most viable solid state battery chemistry.
Toyota's solid-state battery breakthrough* is undeniably a significant development for the EV, energy, and battery industries (*if true). If they deliver on their promises, we could witness a substantial shake-up in these sectors in the coming years, potentially clearing the path for a more sustainable, electric-powered future.
It's taken just about 30 years since the commercialization of the first lithium-ion battery (thanks in part to the work of the late John Goodenough) for the batteries to become cost-effective enough to power the automotive industry. But building off of what Deakin University professor Maria Forsyth said about the state of sodium-ion batteries, the decades of research that brought us to this point could very well accelerate the development of solid-state batteries as well.
While it seems like the world is always “one more breakthrough away” from a commercially viable approach to solid-state batteries, it does seem like we’re getting closer. While none of the automakers are disclosing what composition of compounds they’re using, one of the most promising candidates is a class of compounds called argyrodites.
Researchers at Duke are using machine learning and experimental spectroscopy to make faster progress across a suite of projects aimed at testing argyrodite compounds across different recipes. The use of AI allows them to simultaneously investigate an entire family of compounds and simulate these materials in only a couple of years.
The researcher's first test of a compound involving silver, tin, and selenium had some interesting results, but more interesting is the method. Accelerating chemistry research has long been touted as one of the key benefits of smarter AI systems, as well as the nearest-term application for quantum computers.
Hyundai has begun to test quantum tech to analyze and simulate the compounds for the company's lithium-air batteries (a chemistry that the US Department of Energy is also exploring), and Ford, Mercedes, and Mitsubishi have all tested IBM's quantum computer for their own EV battery experiments. More powerful quantum computers are needed before we start to see real results, but if Google and IBM stick to their quantum roadmaps, "real results" might happen sooner than we expect.
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