What Is Solid State Battery? Future in Electric Automobiles
Currently, about 95% to 99% of vehicles run on Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) batteries. However, the new solid state battery is the optimal choice for safety and resource usage. Let’s learn more about solid state batteries and its applications in the automotive industry
What is a solid state battery?
Lithium-ion batteries are batteries that use liquid electrolytes and are mainly used in smartphones, electric vehicles and power tools. In contrast, a solid state battery uses a solid electrolyte, which also acts as a separator.
The safety of lithium-ion batteries is what worries many users the most. Li-ion batteries have a high risk of failure such as battery swelling due to temperature changes or leakage due to the use of liquid electrolyte. Therefore, we need an alternative that can improve this.
The electrolyte can improve the battery’s firm construction and increase safety as it maintains its form even if the electrolyte fails.
What makes a solid state battery the big thing?
Currently, the disadvantage of solid-state batteries is that it is relatively complicated to mass-produce and has high production costs. However, this type of battery will certainly develop strongly and be widely applied in the mass market because of its outstanding advantages.
The reason solid-state batteries are such a promising technology is because of their energy density. Solid-state batteries have a higher energy density than traditional Lithium-ion batteries. It has no fire hazard and is more space and weight-saving. With a full charge of the car, you can drive for a range of 800 to 1000km. And it is capable of recharging from 0% to 80% in 15 minutes.
At the same size, Solid-state batteries have 2 – 10 times more energy density than lithium-ion batteries due to the smaller area of solid electrolyte. That means solid-state batteries will be more powerful without taking up any extra capacity. As a result, electric cars have the ability to operate more powerfully while still being compact and fast charging. Solid-state batteries are also known to reduce the risk of fire.
Toyota solid state battery
A Nikkei study has shown that Japanese companies have and will continue to dominate the race to develop next-generation power sources for electric cars. Up to now, TOKYO – Toyota Motor is the leading solid-state battery patent holder in Japan.
According to a 2020 Japanese report, Toyota is investing up to $25 billion in solid-state battery technology and has confirmed that its popular hybrid models will adopt the technology by 2025.
Toyota has been working on this field since the 1990s and today has more than 1,300 patents in a wide range of applications such as battery structures, materials, manufacturing processes, etc. Toyota solid state battery promises to be widely used around the world.
Tesla solid state battery
Tesla automobiles are powered completely by the electrical charge stored in the batteries and are referred to as battery electric vehicles or evs. The reasons for Tesla’s existence are simply that lithium-ion batteries have the largest charge capacity of any feasible battery formulations in history and are highly enough to make EVs practical.
Until now, Tesla still uses this technology and continues to research the Tesla 4680 battery. Tesla solid state battery is still something uncertain and will have an answer in the future.
Conclusion
With its high thermal stability, solid-state batteries are safer and have a significantly longer lifespan than traditional batteries. Solid state battery is considered a big step forward in the new energy store device revolution race. And, it is one of the most promising solutions for the future generation of batteries. Although there are still some obstacles in terms of production cost and durability, the inventors are constantly working to solve them effectively.
Hope this article of Techiestuffph helps you with understanding about the new term in technology. Thanks for reading and see you in the next post!