Ford Partnering with Solid Power to Develop Solid-State Batteries for Next-Gen EVs

Ford Motor Company is teaming up with Solid Power (earlier post) to develop all solid-state batteries (ASSB) for next-generation electric vehicles.  The announced partnership will focus on further developing ASSBs toward automotive requirements.

Solid Power’s solid-state technology combines a cathode, metallic lithium anode, and a safe, inorganic solid electrolyte layer.  Solid-state batteries offer improved energy and safety as compared to current industry-standard lithium-ion batteries.

This partnership will heavily leverage Solid Power’s first fully automated, roll-to-roll production facility, which is anticipated to be fully operational in Q2 2019.

ASSBs have the potential to provide greater energy, which translates to greater run-time per charge or in the case of an electric vehicle, greater range from a fully charged battery.  By combining state-of-the-art cathodes with metallic lithium anodes, ASSBs can achieve up to a 50% increase in cell level energy vs. current lithium-ion cells while even greater energy improvements are possible with more advanced cathodes, which is an additional area of development for Solid Power.

—Doug Campbell, Solid Power’s co-founder and CEO

Potential benefits of Solid Power’s ASSBs include:

• Fifty percent higher energy vs. current state-of-the-art (SOTA) lithium-ion, which can increase at the module- and pack-level due to design simplicity.
• Substantially improved safety due to the elimination of the flammable liquid electrolyte as used in lithium-ion.
• Low-cost battery-pack designs through minimization of safety features and simplified thermal management.
• High manufacturability due to significant compatibility with automated, industry-standard, roll-to-roll production.

Read more at Ford Partnering with Solid Power to Develop Solid-State Batteries for Next-Gen EVs