Report: Toyota Plans EV with Solid-State Batteries by 2022

Toyota Motor Corp. is developing an electric vehicle powered by solid-state batteries that can significantly improve driving and recharging performance, reports Chunichi Shimbun.

The vehicle will be built on an all-new dedicated platform and use solid-state batteries in place of current lithium-ion packs, the Japanese newspaper says, without citing its sources. The technology promises to reduce charging times to as little as a few minutes, while allowing EVs to travel at least as far as piston-powered cars can drive on a tank of gasoline.

Toyota hopes to launch the vehicle in Japan as early as 2022, according to the report. Toyota confirms it is working on solid-state battery technology and aims to commercialize the technology in the early 2020s, but the company declined to comment on specific product plans.

Several other carmakers and battery companies also are developing solid-state systems, but most have indicated the technology still is about a decade away. John Goodenough, the co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery, is part of a team at the University of Texas developing a solid-state system that can generate three times the energy density of current batteries.

Solid-state batteries use glass electrolytes rather than liquid material, which proponents say makes them safer than current chemistries and allows them to operate more efficiently over a broader temperature range.

Last November Toyota created a team led by President Akio Toyoda to spearhead its EV efforts. The company, which had been focusing its alternative propulsion plans on plug-in hybrids and fuel cell vehicles, has lagged other automakers in terms of pure-electric models.