Nissan Research Center unveiled a brand new pilot plant for manufacturing all-solid-state battery cells on April 8, 2022. It intends to follow through with a full-scale plant by 2024. Nissan’s solid-state battery announcement comes at a time when global oil prices are rising. Although the work must have begun some time ago.
Brief Introduction to Nissan’s Solid State Technology
Electric vehicle batteries almost universally use lithium-ion technology with liquid or polymer-gel electrolyte. These chemicals are heat sensitive, and can catch fire and explode. An all-solid-state battery, on the other hand uses solid electrodes and electrolyte to produce a more stable cell.
Nissan’s solid-state battery seems set to be a game changer for the company’s electric vehicle division. Creamer Media’s Engineering News describes it as having storage density double that of conventional lithium-ion batteries.
Charging time should also be notably faster due to improved charge / discharge dynamics. Moreover, Nissan predicts less expensive materials will lower cost to $75 per kWh by fiscal 2028. This should fall further to $65 per kWh later, ‘placing EVs at the same cost level as gasoline-powered vehicles’.
Rolling Out Nissan’s Solid-State Battery Pilot Site
The project, although quite revolutionary is in line with Nissan’s Ambition 2030 Vision. This plans a solid-state-battery pilot production-line in Yokohama by 2024, and a new vehicle design by 2028.
The company expects the new model to be a ‘game-changing technology for accelerating the popularity of electric vehicles’. Moreover, it plans to ‘use all-solid-state batteries in a wide range of vehicle segments, including pickup trucks’ later.
This new development comes at an opportune time for the company. The fight to hold atmospheric warming to 1.5 degrees is becoming critical. While at the same time dependence on fossil fuels is under the spotlight again.
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Preview Image: Solid State Battery Plant
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