Recently, as an individual, I was invited to some battery companies for some exchanges. I want to sort out some of the current cutting-edge batteries.

Solid Power

Let’s start with Solid Power, which recently collaborated with SK Innovation. At the same time, Hyundai Motor Company is also cooperating with Factorial Energy for development.

SK Innovation actually strengthened its cooperation with start-ups in the United States and jointly developed and manufactured solid-state batteries for electric vehicles using Solid Power’s proprietary electrolyte technology. The goal is to verify Solid Power’s all-solid-state battery and electrolyte production process and jointly develop the technology.

Basic Situation of Solid Power

Solid Power was established in 2012 with funding from the University of Colorado Boulder and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In recent years, the company has also received funding support from the US Air Force, the National Science Foundation, and the Missile Defense Agency.

The company’s top executives include CEO and company founder Doug Campbell, and technical director Joshua Beuttner-Garrett.

This company has grown mainly due to investment from Ford and BMW, and BMW and Ford will purchase trial car solid-state batteries from Solid Power in 2022.

Solid Power and Toyota are taking the sulfide route, and as shown in the PPT before Toyota, the choice of sulfide route has not changed. Currently, it seems difficult to go from trial production to pilot production and then to large-scale production.

As a comparison, QuantumScape, another solid-state battery company in the United States, chose the oxide route (the electrolyte is LLZO), which has better compatibility with lithium metal.

Solid Power 2Ah situation

Currently, Solid Power’s products range from 2Ah to 20Ah, and a plan for 100Ah in 2022 has been added to the October analyst conference. If this plan is really completed, the battery can produce some samples in 2022, and these small batches can be used for laboratory testing by two automakers or even installed on a few cars for testing.

I put all the relevant development, manufacturing, and product timelines together, and currently, it is relatively expected to have a result by 2025.

From the data on the last page of the above figure, 100Ah is a major node, and the main focus is on the evolution of energy density and fast speed. If it can achieve 3C+100Ah+340Wh/kg, overall, it can realize the practicality of high-performance battery cells.The cycle life of a 20-layer pouch cell at 45° (C/5) exceeds 1,000 cycles (80% capacity retention), and from the data, it appears to be better than QS’s progress.

In conclusion, the collaboration between Solid Power and SK is still valuable.

Most importantly, this is a collaboration between a battery company with large-scale production capabilities and a startup solid-state battery company, which can bring about practical acceleration. It is hoped that the introduction of solid-state batteries can accelerate the promotion of high-nickel batteries.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.