solid-state battery

In a letter to shareholders outlining its progress through Q1 of 2022, solid-state battery manufacturer QuantumScape has shared some exciting updates. These include a new 16-layer, solid-state cell – an initial proof of concept of the company’s proprietary cell format. Additionally, QuantumScape shared news of scaled manufacturing and plans for increased production capacity. There’s lots to unfold here, so let’s hop in.

During a livestream out of Japan this morning, Nissan Motor Company unveiled plans to bring laminated solid-state batteries to market by 2028, beginning with a prototype production facility. The decision is part of Nissan’s “Ambition 2030” strategy, which will now include plans to launch an EV powered by solid-state batteries in 2028.

After sharing long-term electrification goals during a recent financial report, new details of future Porsche EVs have emerged including plans for an electric 911. What might be even more mouth-watering (if true) is that the German automaker has been working with Quantumscape to integrate solid-state batteries into future Porsche EVs like the electric 911.

LG Energy Solution is looking to universities and research institutes around the world to help push the next generation of battery technologies forward in the form of a contest. Its international “Battery Innovation Contest” (BIC) will be hosted by LG Energy Solution with open entries through September. The contest is open to all topics pertaining to batteries, and the winner will receive a prize up to $150,000 annually for continued R&D.

A team at University of Science and Technology of China has developed a new material that could potentially help lower the production costs of solid state lithium batteries and accelerate their commercialization into EVs. The new material, lithium zirconium chloride, offers a reduced material cost and necessary performance, all while remaining stable.

Researchers at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) have developed a lithium-metal, solid-state battery they claim can hold significantly more energy within the same volume of traditional lithium-ion batteries while charging in a fraction of the time. While this is welcomed news around a potentially world-changing technology, questions surrounding cost effective scalability remain uncertain.

In a press release this week, solid-state battery manufacturer QuantumScape announced it’s seeking additional funds to expand its QS-0 pilot line. The company plans to use the funds to double the size of the originally announced pilot line. QuantumScape will use this pilot line to manufacture prototype cells for its partner Volkswagen Group and other potential automakers.

Japanese industrial manufacturer Hitachi Zosen has developed a solid-state battery claimed to harness one of the highest capacities in the industry. Additionally, the Osaka-based company states this new solid-state battery can operate under a larger range of temperatures. It will soon be tested in industrial machinery and space.

John Goodenough, the co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019. But two years earlier, he announced that he made a breakthrough on a solid-state battery that could mean the end of internal-combustion cars. Goodenough, now 97, is self-isolating from the coronavirus and working on Nobel-related commitments. But the job of commercializing the potential breakthrough is being carried forward by the public utility Hydro-Québec.

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Several automakers interested in electric vehicles are turning to solid-state batteries for next-gen electric cars in the “post Li-ion era.”

Now a startup developing all solid-state batteries (ASSB) secured backing from several high-profile investors, including several automakers, as it claims a breakthrough for the technology that will enable better electric cars.
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John Goodenough, who is credited as the co-inventor of the li-ion battery cell, and his team at the Cockrell School of Engineering have released their findings of what is being described as a “breakthrough” for solid-state batteries.

We don’t really like to report on battery “breakthroughs” since most of them are usually just sensationalist statements that don’t really qualify as “breakthroughs” or amount to anything, but it appears that Goodenough’s findings could be good enough to qualify as a breakthrough if you can excuse the bad pun. 
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Dyson, a British technology company best known for designing and manufacturing vacuum cleaners, is reportedly building an electric car following investments in solid state batteries. Last year, we reported on the company acquiring Michigan-based solid-state battery startup Sakti3 for $90 million and announced plans to build an important $1 billion battery factory to mass produce the next generation battery technology.
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