Solid Power, a developer of all solid-state batteries for electric vehicles, announced that its Louisville, Colo. facility is producing 20 Ah multi-layer all solid-state lithium metal batteries on the company’s continuous roll-to-roll production line.

In October, Solid Power had announced the production and delivery of the company’s first-generation multi-layer, multi-ampere hour all solid-state lithium metal cells. Solid Power’s sulfide-based all solid-state lithium metal batteries are manufactured using lithium-ion industry standard processes and automated equipment. Every cell that Solid Power produces is free of any liquid or gel. (Earlier post.)

The 330 Wh/kg, 22-layer cells have higher energy density than any commercially available lithium-ion battery manufactured today with a roadmap to surpass 400 Wh/kg by 2022. Solid Power’s all solid-state cells can be manufactured at commercial scale using industry standard lithium-ion roll-to-roll production equipment.

Solid Power’s 22-layer, 20Ah all solid-state lithium metal cell compared to the company's first-generation 10-layer, 2Ah cell.

The 20Ah cells are currently being produced to validate large-format cell production processes in partnership with its automotive partners. Solid Power anticipates entering the formal automotive qualification process in early 2022 with even larger capacity all solid-state battery cells.

Solid Power has shown that our all solid-state cell design can be produced using scalable processes on industry standard lithium-ion equipment, and early multi-layer prototype cells using a highly conservative cell design have already exceeded the energy performance of today's lithium-ion cells. Proof of successful scale-up is key to realizing the potential of any next-generation battery technology, which is why lithium-ion roll-to-roll compatibility has been our mission since day one.

—CEO and co-founder Doug Campbell

Solid Power’s 22-layer cell production comes after more than 400 prototype all solid-state cells were shipped to external parties for independent performance validation.

Solid Power has extensive partnerships with both BMW and Ford to jointly develop all solid-state batteries. The company is backed by prominent investors including Samsung, Hyundai, Ford, Volta Energy Technologies and Solvay.

In addition to enabling continuous discharge rates (up to 5C) that go beyond electric vehicle acceleration performances, Solid Power’s 10-layer 2Ah pouch cells are showing stable early cycling at near room temperature while the corresponding double layer pouch cells have already surpassed 250 stable cycles. Further advancements are anticipated before entering the formal automotive qualification process.

Solid Power has also demonstrated even more impressive results with the company’s latest electrode compositions, which will move to the production line in 2021, including:

• -10 °C operation

• 50% fast-charge in 15 minutes at room temperature

• Separator thickness as low as 25 microns

The transition of Solid Power’s new electrolytes, binders and electrode designs to the company’s continuous roll-to-roll production line will result in further improvements to specific energy, energy density, cycle life and charge rates. These improvements will translate into increasingly larger capacity cells culminating in full-scale cell demonstration by the end of 2021, the company said.