Toyota has started up the first mass production line of solid-state batteries for electric cars. They had been promising this technology for more than a decade and it is finally a reality. These batteries replace the liquid electrolyte of current batteries with a solid material, which makes them safer —they do not catch fire— and much faster to charge.
The big difference for day-to-day life is in charging times: where a current electric car needs between 30 and 40 minutes to go from 10% to 80%, these new batteries do it in less than 10 minutes. Range also takes a leap: Toyota talks about up to 1,200 kilometers on a single charge. If the numbers are confirmed in real-world tests, the “charging takes too long” argument would stop making sense.
The first cars with this technology will hit the market in 2027, starting in Japan. The price will be higher at first, as with any new technology, but mass production should gradually bring it down. If Toyota meets its deadlines, we could be witnessing the beginning of the end of range anxiety, the biggest barrier holding many people back from switching to electric cars.
— Marta, for intermittent intelligence.
