Toyota Motor Corporation is collaborating with Kyoto University researchers to develop new batteries for future electric vehicles (EVs). They recently announced that the next-generation battery technology they’ve been working on could cram more energy into a more lightweight and compact package than today’s standard lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries.
The group’s fluoride-ion solid-state battery (FIB) has up to seven times the energy density—which means more power and a more extended range in the same-size package. (Or smaller batteries with comparable performance to a Li-ion cell.) An EV equipped with a FIB could run 1,000 km on a single charge!
Solid-state batteries have a solid electrolyte instead of liquid. They can’t catch fire—one of its key advantages—so they don’t need complex cooling systems to prevent overheating. For a complete comparison of the two technologies, see our solid-state battery vs. lithium-ion guide. Eliminating that requirement lowers costs—yet another advantage.
The team made a prototype FIB, and it works well. The anode consists of fluorine, copper, and cobalt, while the cathode is lanthanum. The cell works by shuttling fluoride ions between electrodes through a fluoride-ion-conducting electrolyte.
Despite the positive outcome of this research, the technology will likely take several years to move from lab to commercial production. Toyota says it doesn’t expect to be using FIB in their production cars until sometime in the mid-decade. Meanwhile, experts suggest FIB technology won’t be ready for widespread adoption until at least 2030. Take the debut of li-ion batteries; for example, a prototype was developed in 1985, but they didn’t hit the market until 1991.
Nevertheless, Toyota is dead-set on having ready-to-use solid-state batteries by 2025. It’s also working together with Panasonic to bring them into production by then.
Plus, there are other companies, like Samsung, and university teams working hard on developing different versions of the technology. Brown University scientists are experimenting with graphene to make solid-state batteries stronger, and MIT researchers are designing new battery architectures to improve efficiency.
