Toyota targets mass production of EV with solid state battery within 4 years
– Recharge in 10 minutes. Autonomy of 1,500 kilometers. And a number of charging cycles comparable to that of traditional lithium-ion batteries. The new solid state battery (SSB) from Toyota promises to overcome the main obstacle to the spread of SSB in electric mass mobility. As early as 2027, at the latest by 2028, the Japanese company plans to market the first fully electric vehicles powered by new technology. In line with Nissan plans (2028) and ahead of BMW’s 2030 horizon.
New solid state battery for Japanese home
Like most accumulators with solid electrodes and electrolytes, solid-state batteries offer high safety and a much higher energy density than the alternatives on the market today. The other side of the coin is still prohibitive costs, difficult processes to scale, and a number of charging cycles generally much lower than that of liquid-state batteries.
The first two points, Toyota is facing them while fine-tuning the process that should lead to mass production within 4-5 years. Today, solid state batteries cost on average 4 to 25 times more than conventional batteries. While the problem of the limited number of charging cycles would be solved by the Japanese company thanks to a technological development on which the confidentiality was maintained.
The new Toyota batteries
In addition to the solid state battery, Toyota has unveiled other innovations that should definitely ferry the company into the world of electric mobility, catching up on the main competitors. The new generation of electric vehicles is based on bipolar lithium phosphate iron batteries (without casing, therefore able to ensure more capacity per unit volume). Compared to the battery model used today by Toyota, the bZ4X, the new storage systems will increase the mileage by 20%, cut costs by 40% and will have a charging time from 10 to 80% in less than 30 minutes.
In parallel, Toyota is developing another battery, named Performance, which promises a range of 1,000 kilometers, will be square, will have a higher energy density and costs 20% lower than bZ4X and a charging time of less than 20 minutes.