Electric Vehicle Batteries Eye Solid-State Technology: Prototypes Promise Lower Cost, Faster Charging, and Greater Safety

The global pressure to cut carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles is driving more and more buyers toward electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid EVs (HEVs). As the market for EVs and HEVs slowly grows with lithium-ion (Li ion) as the battery technology of choice, for reasons well known, there is another technology emerging. Researchers are developing a solid-state (SS) version of Li-ion batteries for EVs that promises to charge and discharge rapidly, offer longer life cycles, provide a much higher energy density, cost less, and provide greater safety. Besides the performance improvement, safety is a major factor driving automakers toward SS technology. In SS batteries (SSBs), the flammable liquid electrolyte, which passes the charge that carries Li ions during charge and discharge cycles, is replaced by a solid electrolyte. These ongoing improvements in battery technologies will pave the way for an installed EV base of 100 million vehicles by 2028, according to global technology market advisory firm ABI Research Oyster Bay, New York. In fact, ABI's principal analyst James Hodgson says, "Lithium-silicon and SS are the future EV battery technologies that will improve performance, hold more energy, and last longer at a lower cost. The addition of silicon alone over the next seven years will grow the EV installed base from 8 million vehicles in 2019 to 40 million in 2025, as consumers' range anxiety slowly eases".