Toyota invents a “solid” battery with incredible autonomy
Las, in April 2022, two of them caught fire in Paris, leading to out of traffic 148 vehicles in the same series. “The most likely cause is not linked to a design problem, but to a poor positioning of insulation which can create a short circuit under certain specific conditions. Since then, we have enormously learned from these events and the critical capabilities of the process have been secured ”, explains the director general of Blue Solutions, Richard Bouveret.
“Solid” batteries, the new technological bet for electric vehicles
The so -called solid batteries make the news with massive investments in Prologium, Volkswagen or Toyota. Their promises are enticing and 20 % of the accumulators should be of this type by 2030.
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Presented as more efficient, less polluting and safer than lithium-ion, solid batteries for electric cars are the subject of billions of euros in investments. The avowed objective is to launch industrial production before the end of this decade. In France, a factory adopting this technology would today be studying.
The Taiwanese company Prologium plans to invest 5.2 billion euros by 2030 in a solid electrolyte battery plant in Dunkirk. A real bet when the production of these new accumulators is not completely controlled. This technology is actually validated in the laboratory, but not on a large scale, explains Jean-Marie Tarascon, professor at the Collège de France, at AFP.
For Prologium, production could start at the end of 2026. Volkswagen also invested in this technology via the company Quantum Space to produce its own in 2025, and Toyota aims at the same calendar. “The transition to the industrial scale will not be done before the end of the decade, even rather by 2035, anticipated M. Tarascon. The main locks are controlling pressure during assembly and interface with solid electrolyte.» In other words, it is difficult for manufacturers to pass the electric current through a solid material without administering very high pressure during manufacture, a difficult art at the industrial level.
These new electrolyte batteries promise to transport the current via a hard driver, and not liquid, between the anode (terminal plus) and the cathode (minus terminal). In theory, we gain safely in the face of fire risks, but also in volume, speed of load and energy density compared to current batteries with liquid electrolyte (lithium-ion). They would also generate a reduction of 24 to 39 % of the carbon footprint, according to the NGO Transport and Environment (T&E).
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This environmental gain could only be generated condition that “Strong laws supervise metal extraction methods”, tempers the person responsible for batteries in terms of T & E supply chain, Cecilia Mattea, with AFP.
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These numerous advantages remain theoretical and only verifiable with Blue Solutions (Bolloré group), the only company to market solid batteries in the world. In 25 years, she has managed to equip the Bluecar (old Autolib ’) and BlueBus, coaches notably operated by RATP.
Las, in April 2022, two of them caught fire in Paris, leading to out of traffic 148 vehicles in the same series. “The most likely cause is not linked to a design problem, but to a poor positioning of insulation which can create a short circuit under certain specific conditions. Since then, we have enormously learned from these events and the critical capabilities of the process have been secured ”, explains the director general of Blue Solutions, Richard Bouveret.
Another drawback, the Blue Solutions batteries only worked at 60 ° C, which required to always leave the vehicle connected when it was not used, otherwise its battery was unloaded. “Thanks to a whole new formula of the polymer constituting solid electrolyte, the fourth generation works at room temperature”, specifies Richard Bouveret to AFP.
With an investment of 145 million euros over three years announced at the end of 2022, Blue Solution wants to ensure industrial production of this new formula by 2028. For its part, Prologium estimates that its batteries will not be affected by this preheating problem, because it is made up of silicone. A solution “Hybrid located halfway between lithium-ion and all solid in terms of advantages”, explains Jean-Marie Tarascon.
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Toyota invents a “solid” battery with incredible autonomy
The Japanese brand Toyota has just made a size innovation. With this solid battery the autonomy is simply doubled.
The biggest obstacle to the purchase of an electric car is still based on the autonomy of the latter today. Manufacturers know this better than anyone, they must offer vehicles capable of traveling hundreds of kilometers on a single charge to seduce the general public.
In order to improve the autonomy of an electric car, manufacturers can play on three factors. The first is based on engine consumption. The lower the latter, the greater the autonomy will be. Brands can also review the drawing of their cars to make them as aerodynamic as possible.
Finally, it is possible to work on the battery to increase the capacity of the latter. This is precisely what Toyota just did. The Japanese brand has just presented the very first “solid” battery in its history. Unlike conventional batteries used today on electric cars, this model does not use liquid electrolyzes, but a variant of these latter “solids”.
With this change in the design of the battery, Toyota announces that he can exceed the 1200 kilometers of autonomy bar on a single load. But the advantages of this new technology do not stop there. Indeed the Japanese manufacturer explains being able to perform a large part of the car recharging (from 10 % to 80 %) in just 10 minutes.
A high -risk battery ?
But everything is not rosy in the world of solid batteries. If they are lighter and more compact than their liquid counterparts, they are also much more unstable. The movement of lithium ions during recharging can cause battery dilation. Size changes that will quickly alter battery chemistry and considerably reduce its optimal lifespan.
Toyota is well aware of this problem. The teams in charge of developing this new battery have tried to find new alloys to get around this major concern. The manufacturer did not reveal all its secrets during the presentation press conference, but the brand ensures that the battery is stable.
Mass production should start in 2027 for arrival on the market the following year. Toyota hopes that this change in technology at the battery level may have a significant impact on the purchase price of the car. The firm ensures that a solid battery costs a “classic” model halfway.
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10 comments
Wandapanel July 6, 2023 at 17:51
Incredible finally someone who tackles the real problem the number of kilometer and the price thank you Toyota. It remains more than solved the problem of people who have an apartment that has no underground parking with electrical outlet, there are a lot. I think the best solution has managed to recharge at 100% of the battery in 5 minutes which would be worth filling a full of gasoline. and therefore have electric posts rather than petrol stations.
Paul Tsakok July 6, 2023 at 22:09
Toyota is the most innovative in the automotive world and has always made petrol, hybrid, hydrogen and electric cars .
DICENTIM July 7, 2023 at 8:54
That Toyota is starting to solve the current problem of hybrid vehicles whose batteries fall like flies from 60k kms here in Reunion.
Jean July 7, 2023 at 16:00 AM
Those who promise charges in MD10 seem to forget the laws of thermodynamics. Impossible without triggering spontaneous combustion.
With the capacities/autonomies of current batteries, a range of 1200km would correspond to a battery of ~ 200kWh.
10 to 80% would correspond to 140kWh of energy transferred in 10min.
Whether “liquid” or “solid”, chemical reactions to convert so much energy in such a short time require a huge heat of heat.
@wandapanel
You can forget your full load in 5min �� In general, the batteries, whatever the technology will never be able to compete with the fabulous energy density of petrol. A full of 70L (50kg) gives you an autonomy of 1000km, while with 700-1000kg you have barely 600km of autonomy.
And it’s very nice to promise gigantic autonomy to go on vacation with family, but if you can put anything in the (huge) trunk it is what.
The payload of a Tesla Model 3 varies between 335kg (large battery/autonomy) and 486kg (small battery/autonomy).
I let you do the calculation for a family of 5 how much they can load the trunk before the tires let go …
William July 7, 2023 at 18:11
Jeans@
And? You know a lot of sedans with huge useful loads? The Model 3 A, has little near, the payload of a BMW X3…..I don’t see the owners of an x 3 s zn complain
Gilles Provençal July 8, 2023 at 0:42
Hydro Quebec has developed a much lighter dry battery a few years ago a few years ago than those produced currently; whose cold would have no impact with a km. more than 1000 . What does Hydro QC expect. To put this famous battery on Quebec ? Do they want to repeat what they did with the engine-wheel patent; Sell it for peanuts.
Gilles Provençal July 8, 2023 at 2:24
Krimo July 8, 2023 at 14:48
The car elect.. c a chimera … Imagine 10 cars filling up with Electrons Dabs a station … It would take a power plant … Millions of amps to manage with what cooling … What a cable section ..
Electric without superconductivity will remain reserved for toys ..
Jean Claude Levesq August 1, 2023 at 21:43
Well done. You should never doubt the progress, change and improvement of quality of life. It’s inevitable. We are witnesses.
Franck September 13, 2023 at 1:33
@Jean Too bad the energy densities of fossil fuels go up in smoke on engines with an average yield of 11% (and not the 40% “in optimal condition”) Besides that, NaCl market the year of batteries with a property next year Better energy density (close to 500W per kilo, and advances on the batteries at the grafe are very interesting)
Three battery technologies that could revolutionize our future
The world needs more energies, preferably clean and renewable. For the time being, our energy storage strategies are dependent on the lithium-ion batteries, which are at the cutting edge of this technology. But what innovations are looming for the years to come ?
Let’s start with battery basics. A battery has one or more elements, each with a positive electrode (the cathode), a negative electrode (the anode), a separator and an electrolyte. Depending on the chemical components and the materials used for these elements, the properties of the battery will be different and will have an impact on the amount of energy stored and delivered, the power supplied as well as on the number of charges and discharges made ( called cyclability).
Battery manufacturers are constantly looking for more economical, dense, lighter and more powerful electrochemical systems. We met Patrick Bernard, Director of Research at Saft, who presented us three new battery technologies at high stake.
New generation lithium-ion batteries
What is this ?
In lithium-ion batteries (Li-ion), energy storage and release are ensured by the movement of lithium ions from positive electrode to the negative electrode in both directions via electrolyte. In this technology, the positive electrode acts as the initial source of lithium and the negative electrode as the host of lithium. Several chemies are grouped under the name of Li-ion batteries, the fruit of decades of selection and optimization, close to perfection, of positive and negative active materials. Lithied metal oxides or phosphates are the most commonly used materials as current positive materials. Graphite, but also graphite/silicon or lithiated titanium oxides are used as negative materials.
With real cell materials and conceptions, Li-ion technology should reach an energy limit in the coming years. Nevertheless, the very recent discoveries of new families of disruptive active materials should unlock the current limits. These innovative compounds can store more lithium in positive and negative electrodes and will allow for the first time to combine energy and power. In addition, with these new compounds, the scarcity and criticality of raw materials are also taken into account.
What are the advantages ?
Today, among all advanced storage technologies, Li-ion battery technology allows the highest level of energy density. Performance such as rapid load or temperature operating window (-50 ° C to 125 ° C) can be refined thanks to the wide choice of designs and chemicals of cells. In addition, Li-ion batteries have additional advantages such as very low self-discount and a very long service life and cycling performance, generally thousands of load/discharge cycles.
When should they see the light of day ?
The new generation of advanced Li-ion batteries should be deployed before the first generation of semiconductor batteries. They will be ideal for use in applications such as energy storage systems for renewable energies and transport (navy, railways, aviation and off -road mobility) where high energy, high power and safety are compulsory.
Lithium-soufre batteries
What is this ?
In a Li-ion battery, lithium ions are interspersed in the host structures of active materials during the load and the discharge. In a lithium-soufre battery (Li-S), there is no longer any host structure. During the discharge, the anode lithium is consumed, and the sulfur is transformed into different sulfur materials and lithiés. During the load, the opposite process takes place.
What are the advantages ?
A LI-S battery contains very light active materials: sulfur for positive electrode and metal lithium for negative electrode. This is why its theoretical energy density is extremely high: it is indeed four times higher than that of a Li-ion battery. It is therefore perfectly suitable for aeronautical and spatial industries for example.
Saft has selected and privileged the most promising LI-S technology based on solid electrolyte. This technical route brings a very high energy density, a long service life and upsets the main drawbacks of the liquid LI-S-S (limited lifespan, high self-discharge, etc.).
In addition, this technology is complementary to the lithium-ion to the solid state thanks to its higher gravimetric energy density (+30% in play in Wh/kg).
When should they see the light of day ?
Major technological barriers have already been surmounted and the level of maturity progresses very quickly towards life -size prototypes.
For applications requiring a long battery life, this technology should arrive on the market just after Lithium-ion in a solid state.
ALL-SOLIDE BATTERIES
What is this ?
A whole-solid battery is a real paradigm shift in technology. In the current Li-ion batteries, the ions move from one electrode to another through the liquid electrolyte. In a whole-solid battery, the liquid electrolyte is replaced by a solid inorganic compound which allows the diffusion of lithium ions. This concept is far from new, but in the past ten years, new families of solid electrolytes with strong ion conductivity, close to that of liquid electrolytes, have been discovered, which has made it possible to lift a technological lock important.
Today, SAFT’s research & development efforts are focused on 2 main types of materials: polymers and inorganic compounds, targeting the synergy of physico-chemical properties such as treatment, stability, conductivity ..
What are the advantages ?
The first big advantage is a clear improvement in safety in batteries and batteries: unlike their liquid counterparts, solid electrolytes are unflamalmable when heated. Second, they allow the use of high -voltage and high capacity innovative materials, for poorer and lighter batteries with better lifespan due to reduced self -discomfort. In addition, at the system level, they will provide additional advantages such as simplified mechanics as well as better thermal management and reinforced security.
As these batteries have a high power/weight ratio, they are ideal for use in electric vehicles.
When should they see the light of day ?
Several technologies of all-solid battery should appear over the technological advances. The first generation could first consist of batteries with graphite anodes, offering better energy performance and increased security. Later, lighter all-solid batteries, with a metal lithium anode, could be marketed.