Solid-state battery: Toyota’s revolutionary quick-charging solution

It’s official. Generation “Green” is a go-go. From veganism to Greta Thunberg, we are heading towards a cleaner, greener world. Naturally, carmakers are getting on board. We’ve got the EVs, we’ve got ElectriCity, and, in Toyota’s case, hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (H&HFCV?). The automobile giants have explored the EV’s technological limitations, and are currently working on a prime solution: the solid-state battery.

The EV conundrum

Picture this. You’re cruising around the country in your Tesla EV, when suddenly you realise that you’re running low on charge. You open an app, it pulls up thousands of charging stations near you (not a problem in 2020). You rock up to one, swipe your credit card and pull out the charger from its dock. And…

…it doesn’t fit. To add salt to the wound, you’ve left your charging pin adapter at home. Now what? Panic. Stress. Mayhem. But hold on, your app shows that there’s another charging point tucked behind an apartment a few hundred meters down the road. Maybe they will have a Tesla charging adapter?

So you finally get hold of an adapter, you’re all set to go, but then…

…only residents can use said charging point. Yep, different companies run different charging points, so consistency equals zero. You now have to barter your six pack with Joe one-eye so he can give you access to said charging point, but…

…this one uses a CCS charging pin, which needs another kind of adapter for Tesla cars, which, by the way, they don’t have in the US of A. At least Joe one-eye in number thirty-eight has a spare couch you can crash on.

Now while Toyota still have their EV lineup, with six releases set for the near future, they’re redirecting some of their spare charge (pun intended) towards a more solid alternative.

Toyota’s solution

Solid-state batteries charge quicker, last longer, and have greater energy density. Toyota was going to show off a working prototype of said battery at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but public enemy number one, AKA COVID-19, has pushed that back to some time in 2021.

It does have its own limitations, mostly around safety and durability, which means its still not harnessing the full potential of a solid-state battery. Put it this way, if you repeatedly charge and discharge the battery, it’ll go bust.

Mitigation strategies are in place, however, as Toyota’s powertrain company are tweaking anodes and other materials to try and find a workaround.

One of the things they’re exploring is a sulfur-based electrolyte that would allow for a more efficient ion transfer between electrodes. That’s great, yes, but they still need to create an electrolyte that won’t lead to pack failure after repeated charging.

Maybe they ought to take a leaf out of Samsung’s Note, with the tech titans replacing the lithium anodes with a silver-carbon composite to counter the depletion of electrolyte while charging.

Mo’ battery, mo’ problems

Here’s the other problem with this battery. It needs to be made by hand in an ultra-dry environment. At the moment, they’re producing these in compact booths, with workers fiddling and twiddling the cells through sealed rubber gloves.

Not the best for large-scale manufacturing, unless you’re willing to pay these guys massive over-time for the thousands of hours they’ll spend doing this. Pretty sure that’s unethical too.

Somehow, they’re still on track for limited manufacturing by 2025. The batteries will be expensive, that’s for sure, and the challenge would be for Toyota and partners Panasonic to figure out how to produce these en masse. Without killing off their worker bees. If they can, that would be a revolutionary breakthrough for the EV and hybrid markets.