The promised land of electric vehicles is inherently tied to our ability to mass produce vehicular-grade solid-state batteries. I know, I know, there are keyboard warriors right now queuing up in our comments to say, "bUt wE AlReAdy hAvE eVs tHaT WoRk fOr eVeRdAy LiFe!"
Well, for quite a few people, they don't. So much so, despite the online rhetoric of the EV revolution, and my own belief that they're likely the future, only 1.9% of the cars on the road right now are EVs. That's still quite a few vehicles, something north of what's likely 5 million cars, trucks, and SUVs. But these machines still struggle both in terms of range and charging, as well as public charging infrastructure. Two, however, could theoretically be solved with solid-state batteries, which due to their energy density, efficiency, and ability to be rapidly recharged, would moot both range and charging speeds.
And all this would be a boon to the EV powersports industry, as while cars, trucks, and SUVs can hide large batteries and weight, you can't do that with EV motorcycles, ATVs, or UTVs.
But solid-state batteries are the white whale of EVs, as many have promised breakthroughs, many have shown off concepts, and billions have been poured into their development, yet none have seen the light of day. Yet, being the operative word, as that day may have finally come, as a Mercedes-Benz-backed battery company called ProLogium recently announced that not only has the company build an EV-ready solid-state battery, but it's already putting it into mass production.
According to our siblings over at InsideEVs, "All-solid-state battery cells, which promise longer driving ranges, faster charging times, and increased safety, are now being mass-produced. That’s what Taiwan’s ProLogium, which has seen investments from Mercedes-Benzand other big industry names, claims."
The outlet adds that, "[ProLogium's] Generation 3.5 large-format 185.4 ampere-hour Lithium Ceramic Battery (LCB) cell, which is now rolling off the Taoke assembly line at its facility in Taoyuan, Taiwan, has been tested by Germany’s TÜV, showing a gravimetric energy density of 381 watt-hours/kilogram and a volumetric energy density of 903 watt-hours/liter." But does that mean that it's a true solid-state battery?
That's still unclear, as while the energy density is better than basically anything being mass-produced right now, we don't charge times, lifecycle of the cell, cooling needs, cost-per-cell, weight, or anything else. It's just dense as hell, and looks to be, on paper, a true EV-ready solid-state battery. Even more interesting is that InsideEVs says that this isn't the battery's final form.
As the cell's name implies, this is only the 3.5 iteration. According to the company, the 4.0 version is right around the corner, and "promises even faster charging times and better low-temperature performance." To that end, however, sending the solid-state battery to Germany's TÜV is a smart play, as the organization is world-renowned and ain't some third-party client of the battery maker. They're independent to the core, unlike say, what's been going on with Donut Lab and its claimed solid-state battery.
Now we have to wait and see, as if this is a true solid-state battery, we could finally see the EV revolution take hold like many had hoped it would've two decades ago. And it could finally mean real-world applications for EV powersports, and not just dirt bikes and their ilk as being the only ones that work.
