Nissan plans to bring its solid-state battery in 2028, with the pilot program starting in 2025. As reported by Autocar UK, the company claimed to start its engineering work on the project, and finish by 2026. The automaker is not the only one working on solid-state batteries.
Nissan’s vice president for R&D in Europe, David Moss, has said that solid-state batteries will substantially improve the battery power technology. The solid-state batteries are claimed to come with three times faster charging speed, reaching up to 400 kW. Also, this battery technology is claimed to offer double the energy density compared to the conventional current range of lithium-ion batteries. Also, this technology is claimed to bring down production costs by 50 percent as compared to the current generation of lithium-ion batteries.
The report further states that Nissan, along with the University of Oxford, has already created 10-centimeter square cells that would be used in the solid-state batteries. The final battery cell is claimed to come around the same size as a laptop. This would further help the EVs with significantly reduced size and weight, enhancing the overall performance of the vehicles. In these solid-state batteries, all liquid elements will be removed. Nissan aims to bring large electric pickup trucks and SUVs in the coming days. The solid-state battery technology will help the automaker to achieve that goal, claimed Moss. However, he did;t reveal which electric vehicle will be the first to use solid-state batteries.
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Moss has given a hint that it would be a completely new model. He said that in a bid to accommodate the solid-state battery, a completely new architecture is necessary. There would be two different sizes for the new battery, he mentioned. While the solid-state battery will be taking the front seat in the Nissan EV lineup in the future, the automaker is not up for abandoning the lithium-ion batteries completely. Moss said that both technologies would coexist for a while. Nissan will use a new generation of lithium-ion battery packs that will be ready around the middle of the decade, with a cobalt-free battery slated to follow in 2028. The latter generation is estimated to slash production costs by up to 65 percent compared to today’s batteries.
Such degradation is a challenge for any battery, but Nissan said it was on the brink of an actual breakthrough. As Doi explained, dendrite formation is one of the main factors of battery aging. Doi took the anode to paint the picture – there, lithium dendrite occurs as “needles” that break through the separator between the anode and solid electrolyte. This breach can lead to short circuits. Therefore, the anode needs a protective layer that must not interfere with ion conductivity and prevent dendrite. It was here that Nissan claims NASA’s AI provided results beyond expectations – still, the research was ongoing, so Doi, who would also not reveal which exact material combination was looking that promising.
