Solid Power, a developer of all solid-state batteries for electric vehicles, announced a $130-million Series B investment round led by the BMW Group, Ford Motor Company and Volta Energy Technologies. Ford and the BMW Group have also expanded existing joint development agreements with Solid Power to secure all solid-state batteries... Read more →

Factorial Energy, a start-up solid-state battery technology company, emerged from stealth mode with a 40Ah solid-state battery cell for electric vehicles (EVs) and other applications. Factorial also announced the appointment of senior industry leaders with deep technical and automotive experience to its leadership team. Factorial Energy is naming Joe Taylor... Read more →

UK-based OXIS Energy, a developer of Li-S battery technologies (earlier post), says it will deploy solid-state Lithium Sulfur (Li-S) cells and battery systems to its clients and partners worldwide by Autumn 2021 for use in trials, proof of concept and demonstrator battery systems for the Aviation, Marine, Defence and Heavy... Read more →

Saint-Gobain, the global technical material expert, will partner with the Israeli battery technology start-up Addionics to develop next generation solid-state lithium-ion batteries with novel electrode components under the Israel - US BIRD Energy program. The partnership aims to offer major improvements in EV battery performance, such as longer driving range,... Read more →

In March, BMW presented the Neue Klasse generation of vehicles, to be launched by the middle of this decade, which will be clearly focused on all-electric drivetrains. For the Neue Klasse, the BMW Group is developing the next generation of its battery technology. (Earlier post.) With the Neue Klasse, we... Read more →

Ampcera Inc., a developer of solid electrolyte technologies for advanced electric vehicle batteries (earlier post), announced a new, low-cost, energy-efficient internal heating battery architecture that directly targets the solid electrolyte separator, the key component in solid-state batteries. This novel technology enables solid-state batteries to deliver superior performance, including starting and... Read more →

Hercules Electric Vehicles—a Detroit-based startup—is opening a $20-million Series A investment round managed by CMD Global Partners, a boutique investment bank. Hercules is developing an all-electric sport pickup truck, the Hercules Alpha, which will be available in late 2022. Hercules expects to demonstrate its first drivable architectural mule in April... Read more →

Interest in higher energy-density batteries that pair alkali metal electrodes with solid electrolytes is high; however, such batteries have been plagued by a tendency for dendrites to form on one of the electrodes, eventually bridging the electrolyte and shorting out the battery cell. N A team of researchers from MIT,... Read more →

RoboSense (Suteng Innovation Technology Co., Ltd.) has launched China’s first automotive-grade solid-state LiDAR production line and will start mass production and delivery of the automotive-grade solid-state LiDAR RS-LiDAR-M1 for contract projects in Q2 this year. At CES2021 in January, RoboSense officially unveiled the SOP version of the automotive-grade LiDAR RS-LiDAR-M1,... Read more →

ion Ventures, a modern utility and energy storage infrastructure specialist, and LiNa Energy, a solid-state battery technology developer, concluded their first successful trial of LiNa’s proprietary solid-state sodium-nickel battery platform at an undisclosed location in South East England last week. LiNa Energy is commercializing a safe, ~$50kWh (at mass manufacturing),... Read more →

A new fabrication technique could allow all-solid-state automotive lithium-ion batteries (ASSLBs) to adopt nonflammable ceramic electrolytes using the same production processes as in batteries made with conventional liquid electrolytes. The new technique, reported March 8 in the journal Nature Materials, could allow large automotive Li-ion batteries to be made safer... Read more →

Market analysis firm FutureBridge expects that cost-parity between Li-ion and solid-state batteries could be achieved in another five years. Solid-state batteries (SSBs) promise a leap forward, compared to incremental gains from Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs), with improved safety, higher energy density, faster charging times, and longer life. However, today their commercialization... Read more →

A research team from Japan has recently developed a novel electrode material for all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) by combining lithium sulfate and lithium ruthenate, which results in improved performance. An open-access paper on their work is published in Science Advances. An all-solid-state lithium battery using inorganic solid electrolytes requires safety assurance... Read more →

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Tohoku University, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and Nippon Institute of Technology, have demonstrated by experiment that a clean electrolyte/electrode interface is key to realizing high-capacity solid-state lithium batteries (SSLBs). Their findings could pave the way for improved battery... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding an additional $47 million in funding for seven projects as part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential (SCALEUP) program. Three of the projects (Sila, 24M and Ionic Materials) are scaling up... Read more →

At NIO Day, in Chengdu, NIO launched its first autonomous driving model, the smart electric flagship sedan NIO ET7. The ET7 has a pre-subsidy price starting from RMB 448,000 (US$69,000), or from RMB 378,000 (US$58,400) with BaaS (Battery as a Service). The ET7 features a 180 kW permanent magnet motor... Read more →

Bremen’s public transport provider Bremer Straßenbahn AG (BSAG) has ordered five new Mercedes-Benz eCitaro electric buses equipped with solid-state batteries. Delivery of the locally emission-free eCitaro buses will take place in early 2022. The batteries combine a very high energy density with a particularly long service life. Seven battery packs... Read more →

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... Read more →

Velodyne Lidar introduced the Velarray M1600, a solid-state lidar sensor designed to serve mobile robotic applications. The sensor is the latest in a new line of Velarray products and first in the new M-series. It is built using Velodyne’s proprietary micro-lidar array architecture (MLA) and leverages Velodyne’s manufacturing partnerships for... Read more →

QuantumScape Corporation, a Volkswagen Group-backed developer of next-generation solid-state lithium-metal batteries for use in electric vehicles (EVs), released performance data demonstrating that its technology addresses fundamental issues holding back widespread adoption of high-energy density solid-state batteries, including charge time (current density), cycle life, safety, and operating temperature. A commercially viable... Read more →

The Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) in Austria has launched the Christian Doppler (CD) Laboratory for Solid-State Batteries. The focus of the new CD laboratory is the reduction of interface resistances within the solid-state battery. The aim is to make this particularly safe energy storage system fit for electric... Read more →

Solid Power announced the production and delivery of the company’s first-generation multi-layer, multi-ampere hour (Ah) 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... Read more →

Miltec UV International has been awarded a contract from the Defense Logistics Agency, to demonstrate the cell technology to produce solid-state lithium-ion batteries using Miltec’s UV cured Gel Polymer Electrolyte. This technology will accelerate the advancement of solid-state lithium batteries. Miltec is working in partnership with Saft America, Inc.’s Cockeysville,... Read more →

Stanford University scientists have identified a new solid-state Li-ion electrolyte predicted to exhibit simultaneously fast ionic conductivity, wide electrochemical stability, low cost, and low mass density. The low-cost materials—made of lithium, boron and sulfur—could improve the safety and performance of electric cars, laptops and other battery-powered devices, according to the... Read more →

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that Dr. Kyung-Joong Yoon and Researcher Ji-Su Shin from the Center for Energy Materials Research, together with Professor Yun -Jung Lee from Hanyang University (Hanyang University, President Woo-Seung Kim), have developed a single-atom Pt catalyst that can be used for SOFCs.... Read more →

Researchers from the University of Western Ontario (UWO), University of Toronto and Glabat Solid-State Battery Inc. have clarified the phase evolution of a prenucleator (MoS2) in all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs) for promoting fast Li nucleation and selective Li deposition. A paper on their work is published in the journal Advanced... Read more →

QuantumScape Corporation, a developer of next generation solid-state lithium-metal batteries for use in electric vehicles, and Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), announced a definitive agreement for a business combination that would result in QuantumScape becoming a publicly listed company. Upon closing of the transaction, the... Read more →

ams and Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH announced that they have made progress in bringing to market solid-state LiDAR technology for autonomous driving. ams and Ibeo began joint LiDAR development in 2018 on ibeoNext Solid State LiDAR. Their aim is to provide solid-state LiDAR to the automotive market for advanced driver... Read more →

Switzerland-based Blackstone Resources AG announced that it has achieved a series of important milestones for producing any kind of printed battery cells. The company has been investing in the next generation of battery technology through its German subsidiary Blackstone Technology GmbH. This includes patented 3D-printing techniques and research into the... Read more →

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, have reported in the journal Nature Materials a new class of soft, solid electrolytes made from both polymers and ceramics that suppress dendrites in that early nucleation stage, before they can propagate... Read more →

University of Colorado Boulder researchers, with colleagues at Boston University, have developed a new optical phased array concept—the serpentine OPA (SOPA)—that could support medium- to long-range lidar. An open-access paper on their work appears in the journal Optica. Optical phased arrays (OPAs) implemented in integrated photonic circuits could enable a... Read more →

Addressing the ongoing migration towards autonomous driving, Toshiba has introduced a high-resolution, long-range light-receiving technology for deployment in solid-state LiDAR systems. By removing the need for bulky mechanical components, the technology realizes cost and space savings and enhances operational reliability. At its heart is Toshiba’s proprietary compact, high-efficiency silicon photo-multiplier... Read more →

Silicon-Valley-based Ampcera announced a low-cost flexible solid electrolyte (SE) membrane technology for solid-state batteries (SSBs). Unlike conventional lithium ion batteries (LIBs) that include a flammable liquid or gel polymer electrolyte, SSBs use a safe SE and promise to double the driving range of electric vehicles when loaded with the same... Read more →

A team of Brown University researchers has used reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to enhance the toughness of an oxide-based solid-state lithium-ion conductor. In an open-access paper in the journal Matter, they report demonstrating materials with a greater than 2-fold enhancement in the average fracture toughness (KIC). To our knowledge, this... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group is increasing its stake in QuantumScape and making an additional investment of up to $200 million in the US battery specialist. (Earlier post.) The goal is to drive forward the joint development of solid-state battery technology. In the future, solid-state batteries are expected to significantly increase range... Read more →

Inorganic NASCION‐type Li conductors have great potential to bring high capacity solid‐state lithium batteries (SSLBs) to realization, due to properties such as high ionic conductivity, stability under ambient conditions, wide electrochemical stability window, and inexpensive production. However, despite the merits, the integration of NASCION-type electrolytes in SSLBs is still hampered... Read more →

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have developed a thin-film, highly conductive solid-state electrolyte made of a polymer and ceramic-based composite for lithium metal batteries. Solid electrolytes are promising in enabling lithium metal to replace the conventional graphite anode to significantly increase the capacity and energy density of lithium-ion batteries. There... Read more →

Scientists at Kyoto University’s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) have developed a new coordination polymer glass membrane for hydrogen fuel cells that works just as well as its liquid counterparts with added strength and flexibility. A paper on the work is published in the journal Chemical Science. PEM hydrogen... Read more →

Researchers from the University of Western Ontario (UWO), the University of Toronto and Glabat Solid-State Battery Inc. have proposed a novel strategy to extend the electrochemical stability window (ESW) of PEO-based solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) based on their new understanding of the ESW limiting factor. A paper on their work... Read more →

Researchers at Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan have developed an active sulfur material and carbon nanofiber (S-CNF) composite material for all-solid-state Li-sulfur batteries using a low-cost and straightforward liquid phase process. In a paper published in the journal ACS Applied Energy Materials, they report that in an all-solid-state Li–S... Read more →

Researchers in Europe, with colleagues from Samsung R&D Institute in Japan, have developed a highly stable Fe3O4/C composite for use as a conversion electrode in all-solid-state Li-ion batteries. The material shows shows high specific capacity values of 506 mAhg−1 after 350 cycles at a specific current of 250 mAg−1, with... Read more →

Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University have developed a new practical method to make a flexible composite Al-doped LLZO (Al-LLZO) sheet electrolyte (75 μm in thickness) for Li-metal batteries, which can be mass-produced at room temperature. This ceramic-based flexible sheet electrolyte, with an ionic conductivity of close to 1.0 × 10-4... Read more →

Researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have developed a superionic halogen-rich Li-argyrodite (HRLA) that works well as a promising solid electrolyte (Li5.5PS4.5Cl1.5) in all-solid-state batteries without a decreased intrinsic electrochemical window in various electrode configurations. This HRLA exhibits the highest Li-ion conductivity among Li-argyrodites (10.2 mS... Read more →

UK-based Ilika, a developer of solid-state battery technology, successfully completed a £15-million (US$19-million) equity placement to support its growth strategy. Ilika launched its cm-scale Stereax technology for industrial wireless sensors in 2016 and followed up with mm-scale micro-batteries for miniature medical devices in 2019. In response to demand from the... Read more →

In an open-access review paper published in Nature Nanotechnology, researchers at the University of California San Diego offer a research roadmap that includes four challenges that need to be addressed in order to advance all-solid-state batteries to commercialization. The article summarizes the team’s work to tackle these challenges over the... Read more →

Researchers from the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) and the Samsung R&D Institute Japan (SRJ) have developed a new high-performance all-solid-state lithium metal battery that uses, for the first time, a silver-carbon (Ag-C) composite layer as the anode with no excess Li. The team found that incorporating an Ag-C... Read more →

Canadian battery material specialist Hydro-Québec is partnering with Mercedes-Benz as part of the automaker’s research and development activities on future EV technology. The Hydro-Québec Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage is a leading research and development institute for advanced battery materials, focusing on solid-state battery technologies. With... Read more →

Researchers at MIT and their colleagues are proposing a new design for electrodes that, based on the long-sought goal of using pure lithium metal as the anode, could lead to longer-lived batteries with higher energy densities. The new electrode concept comes from the laboratory of Ju Li, the Battelle Energy... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation and Panasonic Corporation have decided to establish Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, Inc., a joint venture specializing in advanced automotive batteries, including prismatic Li-ion, solid-state and next-generation automotive batteries other than the first two, including batteries based on new principles. This decision comes just over a year... Read more →

Hydro-Québec and The University of Texas at Austin signed an agreement for the transfer to Hydro-Québec of patents co-invented by Dr. John B. Goodenough, a professor at The University of Texas at Austin and the 2019 Nobel Laureate in chemistry and Dr. Maria Helena Braga, an associate professor at the... Read more →