The reason that a lot of people are looking forward to solid-state batteries is the advantage that they hold the latest technology in terms of battery backup and safety concerns. An electric battery that provides 400kms of range charges in 10 minutes, requires no bulky heating or cooling systems and maintains 80% of its charge capacity over 800 cycles that are about 3,80,000 km. This battery is obtained just by replacing the liquid electrolytes used in current batteries with solid material. Solid-State Batteries have opened the door for much-awaited battery technology.
These kinds of batteries are far less flammable which allows them to run at a wider temperature window. Late last year, Toyota announced that it would plan to release a running prototype and now it has finally arrived. In September this year, Toyota showed off a working version of their prototype on their YouTube channel. The video was only twelve seconds long. Reportedly, the aim of the prototype creation was to test the battery and to collect performance data.
The Japanese brand, Toyota stated that by 2025 it will release at least one car equipped with this latest technology. It is notable that the company designed the battery in their labs and then tested it in the real world by installing it into a driving prototype. As we can see in the video, the prototype car is indeed running and doing what the company claimed. This would be one of the first times if not then the first time ever that a car can be seen running on a solid-state battery.
Other manufacturers are very far behind in this sector. BMW is going to launch the solid-state batteries prototypes by 2025 and Mercedes is also working on one but is far from ready. Toyota, which is the world’s second-largest automaker, released the first-ever commercially successful fuel battery hybrid car all the way back in 1997. Chief technology officer Masahiko Maeda has stated that the company’s solid-state batteries will be in production in the next three years and they are focusing on safety, long service life and high-performance batteries.