Toyota solid-state battery technology will debut in 2021

SMM net: 10 minutes of full charge, a charge of 500km, safety risks to a minimum, Toyota said that the company's upcoming solid-state battery will not only change electric vehicles, but also change the landscape of the entire industry.

Electric vehicles driven by traditional lithium-ion batteries have shorter mileage and longer charging time on a single charge, while solid-state battery technology can solve these shortcomings very well. Under the same conditions, Toyota's electric vehicles have more than twice the mileage of conventional lithium-ion battery-powered cars, reducing charging time by 2/3; even in compact cars, solid-state batteries do not sacrifice internal space. Solid-state batteries are expected to be a viable alternative to lithium-ion batteries, reducing the risk of electric vehicles catching fire and increasing energy density (a measure of the ratio of the energy the battery can provide to the weight of the battery).

Toyota plans to be the first company to sell solid-state battery cars in the early 1920s and will launch a prototype next year. Toyota has more than 1000 patents in the field of solid-state batteries, ranking first in the world. Nissan also plans to develop its own solid-state battery to power a non-simulated car by 2028.

The shift to new battery technology will also have an impact on companies downstream of the supply chain. Japanese car materials manufacturers are eager to build the necessary infrastructure to supply carmakers. Mitsui Mining and smelting will start a pilot plant to produce solid electrolytes for batteries. The plant, located at an R & D center in Saitama prefecture, will be able to produce dozens of tons of solid electrolytes a year from next year, enough to meet orders for prototype cars.

Idemitsu Kosan, an oil company, is installing solid electrolyte production equipment at its plant in Chiba prefecture and aims to start operating next year. The manufacture of solid electrolytes requires curing sulfides, a specialty of the metal and chemical industries. Sumitomo Chemical is also developing this material.

Japanese manufacturers such as Sony and Panasonic have been in the vanguard of commercializing car batteries. But since the late 2000s, Chinese competitors have come to the fore. Ningde Times is now the world's largest supplier of lithium-ion batteries, while Japan's Asahi Kasei (Asahi Kasei), a global leader in battery separator materials, surrendered the crown to Shanghai Energy last year.

With the gradual reduction of carbon dioxide emissions around the world, electric vehicles are expected to become very common. The Japanese government has been encouraging the development of solid-state batteries, arguing that if the status quo remains the same, most technologies related to car performance will depend on China.

The Japanese government is setting up a fund of about 2 trillion yen ($19.2 billion) to support decarbonization technology. Policymakers will consider using the fund to provide hundreds of billions of yen in subsidies to fund the development of new batteries with the aim of supporting the development of large-scale production infrastructure in Japan. As solid-state batteries use the world's limited reserves of lithium, the government will help acquire the material.

The rest of the world is following suit. Germany's Volkswagen plans to start producing solid-state batteries as early as 2025 through a joint venture with an American start-up. Chinese technology company Qingtao (Kunshan) Energy Development Co., Ltd. will invest 1 billion yuan ($153 million) in research and development in areas such as solid-state batteries. The investment will last for three years starting in 2021.