Toyota solid-state battery EVs ‘a couple of years away’

A senior Toyota executive has revealed that its next-generation solid-state battery technology is only a “couple of years away”, contradicting an earlier announcement from the world’s largest car-maker that they wouldn’t be rolled out for mass production until after 2028.

The pioneering tech will dramatically improve EV driving range, safety (reducing the fire risk) and charge much faster than today’s batteries, helping Toyota catch up on leading brands in the electric vehicle segment, including Tesla and BYD.

“We will be rolling out our electric vehicles with solid-state batteries in a couple of years from now,” said Vikram Gulati, head of Toyota India’s distributor.

“[It] will be a vehicle which will be charging in 10 minutes, giving a range of 1200km (750 miles) and life expectancy will be very good.”

Gulati was speaking at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, an event where the Indian government was reportedly attracting more investments to scale up EV manufacturing in the fast-growing Indian market.

Solid-state batteries have fast become the holy grail over the past five years as all car-makers race to develop what is generally perceived as one of the final pieces of the puzzle that will allow the industry’s full transition from combustion to pure-electric cars.

The Volkswagen Group recently announced it had also made huge progress with its solid-state cells, claiming that its next-gen batteries would be capable of covering up to 500,000km with very little loss in range.

Without a liquid electrolyte on board, there’s said to be a far lower risk of explosion and fire with solid-state batteries, allowing them to tolerate higher temperatures associated with ultra-fast charging.

Replacing the electrolyte and separator, solid-state cells use a separator made of ceramic, glass or polymer composites.

While lab tests have proved time and again the advantages of the emerging tech, car-makers have struggled to ramp up the tech to full-scale production.

Despite lifting the lid on Toyota’s solid-state plans, Gulati stressed that the car-maker still had various sustainable technology options to draw on – and in India, Toyota will continue to invest in biofuels.

Just two per cent of all new cars sold last year in India were EVs, but the country plans to ramp that up to 30 per cent by 2030, which equates to an incredible 10 million vehicles.

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