Nissan bets on solid-state batteries

The fully solid-state battery will replace the lithium-ion batteries currently used in Nissan’s electric cars. The automaker will set up a trial production line in 2024 at its facility in Yokohama.

The advantages of solid-state batteries are far greater than current lithium-ion batteries. First, their energy density is twice that of lithium-ion batteries and can safely operate under high temperatures.

Next, the charging performance is also significantly improved. Finally, solid-state batteries can significantly increase the distance traveled on a single charge and reduce the charging time compared to lithium-ion batteries. Nissan says it will use these batteries in many vehicle segments, including pickup trucks.

In addition to internal research, Nissan is working with NASA as well as the University of California San Diego to test different materials for electric vehicle batteries.

Nissan and NASA are using technology called “primary materials informatics”, a computerized database, to test different combinations to check which works best out of hundreds of thousand materials.

The aim is to avoid the use of expensive materials such as rare metals, which reduces costs. Nissan believes it can reduce production costs to $75/kWh by 2028. Essentially, they believe a price tag of $65/kWh could bring costs on par with gasoline-powered vehicles. .

Nissan is also building on the same battery technology as the Leaf, which first hit the market in 2010 and has sold more than half a million units globally. The Leaf’s battery hasn’t had a major accident on the road, and some parts of the technology are still in good working order, like the lamination of the battery cell.

Other automakers, including Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford or General Motors, are working on fully solid-state batteries. However, Nissan executive vice president Kunio Nakaguro said that Nissan is very hopeful about the battery it is developing that promises to become a “game changer”.

Sunshine (according to Autoblog)