Has Toyota solved solid-state batteries?

Toyota's track record of conservative interest in an otherwise fervent competition over electric vehicle battery engineering has just turned 180 degrees with the company's shocking revelation of a solid-state battery that charges in ten minutes with a range of 745 miles.

Opting to keep a tight lid on this new development until now, Toyota has produced a breakthrough as unexpected as it is contrary to the public relations leanings of most tech and automotive companies who can't wait to start early buzz and presales before a working prototype even exists.

Much earlier than expected and for the first time in the history of mass-produced EVs, a battery-powered car will have the same driving range as one with a gas tank. Research and development departments around the world have struggled for years to store charge in a solid electrolyte that could be sized up to power a laptop, let alone cars.

Solid-state batteries do exist and have already found common use in products like pacemakers and smart watches, portable technologies that demand minimal electricity. Because they have a very high energy density, they can store more electricity than other battery types of the same size and seem like a natural fit for electric cars.

But there have historically been several unresolved shortcomings to manufacturing larger solid-state batteries; they don't do well in the cold, can quickly lose their ability to hold a charge with repeat use, and have been much more expensive to produce and recycle. Toyota is the first company that claims it may have overcome many of these drawbacks.

Slow burn

As the public appetite grows for EVs, and a rash of government incentives and internal combustion engine phase-outs make it at once cheaper and imperative to build and sell hybrid and fully electric cars, most automotive companies are developing battery and hydrogen-powered vehicles as fast as they can.

Toyota's previous attempt at an electric vehicle, the RAV4, had too short a charge range of 103 miles, the unappealing equivalent of driving on fumes to the nearest gas station. Even its last 2014 model attracted only car buyers without significant commutes.

Toyota didn't produce another EV until introducing the bZ4x crossover SUV in 2022, with a reassuring range of around 250 miles depending on the model's features, a number on par with most other EVs today. This snail's pace in the market has given the Japanese automaker time for plenty of research and development while it was passed over by the press in favor of more outgoing companies like Tesla.

Learning from its history, Toyota's first vehicles with this battery are expected to be hybrids ready for sale as early as 2027. Putting the battery into hybrids first shows sensible hindsight, as well as upholding a time-honored practice of putting groundbreaking designs into its more practical vehicles. If the new formulation doesn't hold up to daily wear and tear despite the company's famously rigorous testing, the internal-combustion backup will at least ensure an acceptable driving range.

This is the company that introduced the world to hybrid vehicles with the Prius, still a leading commuter vehicle among Toyota's other top-selling hybrids dominating the market today.

Changing of the guard

While former CEO Akio Toyoda was at the helm, he was famously quoted as saying, "Carbon is the enemy, not the internal combustion engine."

Toyota engineers under Toyoda's leadership followed up with a hydrogen combustion engine and a successful range of hybrids, among other emissions-reducing technologies.

Under its new CEO Koji Sato, however, electrification and ongoing battery chemistry research are now the priority. To date, the Japanese automaker has over 1,000 patents on solid-state batteries.

The company claims its breakthrough was achieved by simplified production of the materials required, with a significant leap forward in discoveries that enabled shorter charge times and extended driving range. All that is left is pushing the price down far enough to tempt the average commuter.

"For both our liquid and our solid-state batteries, we are aiming to drastically change the situation where current batteries are too big, heavy, and expensive," said Keiji Kaita, president of Toyota's research and development center for carbon neutrality. "In terms of potential, we will aim to halve all of these factors."

Kaita has also revealed, in all Japanese modesty, that the company had already made early breakthroughs in durability issues of solid-state batteries three years ago. "We are not very good at promoting ourselves and because we're excessively cautious, people only realize that we were working [on a certain technology] once the product is completed."

Upsetting the favorite

Tesla sales account for 65% of total EV purchases in the United States during 2022. Though the company remains on top by a far margin and has easily held its ground at the forefront of technological breakthroughs, it has thus far struggled to produce a vehicle with the same driving range as four cylinders and a full tank of gas. The prospect of road trip capability on a ten-minute charge would undoubtedly set Toyota squarely at the top of the game.

Most automakers in the EV business today are in the race to bring solid-state batteries to market out of necessity. Batteries are the heaviest, most expensive component in an EV, and the only two options for improved range have been improving the efficiency of the motor or increasing battery capacity.

Automotive engineers are in a constant struggle to balance both efficiency and range, yet even then, conventional EV batteries make up as much as 25% of the overall vehicle's weight, averaging a thousand pounds or more.

The Japanese automaker isn't solely betting on solid-state batteries, with plenty of breakthroughs in current liquid-based lithium-ion batteries on the horizon.

"We don't actually view solid-state batteries as the ultimate solution," said Toyota's chief technology officer Hiroki Nakajima.

There are still hurdles to overcome if Toyota's solid-state battery production is to meet the demands of mass production.

"Often there are breakthroughs at the prototype stage but then scaling it up is difficult," said David Bailey, professor of business economics at the University of Birmingham. "If it is a genuine breakthrough it could be a game changer, very much the holy grail of battery vehicles."