Toyota has unveiled plans to create a solid-state battery capable of 1,500km on one charge. Speaking at its annual technical conference, where engineers described being inspired by hypersonic aerodynamics, the Japanese carmaker has revisited the next-gen battery chat.
Toyota thinks it’s made a technological breakthrough in durability, catalyzing some new ambitions.
Initially targeting 1,000km by 2026, Toyota eventually wants to get cars up to the 1,500km point. Not only that, it wants to do it with a fast-charge time of around 20 minutes by 2028. All sounds pretty good...and very grand. The fact that ‘challenge to launch’ is scribbled all over the data tables is another story.
This isn’t actually the first time Toyota has mentioned such technology—keen-eyed consumers will remember the time it said it’d be launching a solid-state battery by 2021—and for good reason.
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Solid-state batteries use a gel-like electrolyte instead of a liquid one. They’re more lightweight and more energy dense than the current lithium-ion batteries. What’s more, they’re safer and they don’t need to be liquid-cooled. All the right things for automotive use, hence why BMW, Fisker, Nissan and any other electric car maker with a shred of ambition is throwing research funds in their direction.
Right now, however, solid-state batteries are not cheap, and clearly, they’ve been too easy to thrash the life out of in charge and discharge cycles.
Back in 2021, the Prius pioneer presented a ‘future Toyota/Lexus showroom,’ with ambitions to have 30 new all-electric models by 2030. But in April 2023, the brand reaffirmed its commitment to plug-in hybrids, so it looks like all the cars are still on the table—at least for the time being.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
