News about the development of new types of batteries that are free from the shortcomings of lithium-ion batteries appear almost every month, but the situation on the market has not changed for many years, since new products are not implemented. But this time the situation is completely different – Samsung has really made a big step forward in the field of battery technology for electric vehicles. And we are not talking about the distant future – at the SNE Battery Day 2024 exhibition held in Seoul, the company announced the launch of a pilot line for the production of new batteries has already been put into operation. The first batches of batteries have been sent to electric vehicle manufacturers for testing. However, mass production will not begin until 2027.
Samsung has released its first solid-state batteries for electric vehicles. Photo source: interestingengineering.com
Solid-state batteries from Samsung
According to the manufacturer, the new Samsung solid-state oxide batteries outperform existing lithium-ion batteries in all key parameters. They will be able to power electric vehicles, providing a range of almost 1000 km. Charging such a battery takes only 9 minutes, that is, the process takes only a little longer than, for example, refueling gasoline cars.
However, it is not yet known whether we are talking about charging from 0% to 100% or from 10-20% to 80%, which is the standard indicator. The fact is that after the 80% mark, the charging speed is greatly reduced, which helps protect the battery from rapid wear and tear, and thereby significantly extend its service life.
Samsung has launched a pilot line for the production of new batteries. Photo source: trauto.ru
But that's not all – a serious disadvantage of lithium-ion batteries is their explosion and fire hazard, as well as a relatively short service life. New batteries are free of these disadvantages – they do not explode, and their service life, according to the manufacturer, reaches 20 years. In addition, they should be smaller and lighter than existing analogues.
All this provides batteries with great potential, allowing them to radically change the electric vehicle industry. In fact, cars will lose all their main disadvantages. Therefore, they could become a full-fledged alternative to cars with internal combustion engines. However, this is unlikely to happen in the near future due to one significant disadvantage of solid-state batteries, which we will discuss below.
What are oxide-solid-state batteries
Unlike traditional batteries, which use liquid or helium polymer electrolytes for ionic conductivity between the electrodes, solid-state batteries, as the name suggests, use solid electrolytes. For example, salts, acids, or even polymers can be used.
The solid-state battery will charge in 9 minutes. Photo source: octa.energy
In the case of Samsung batteries, the solid electrolyte is made of metal oxides. It provides an energy density of 500 Wh/kg. For comparison, the density of conventional electric vehicle batteries is approximately 270 Wh/kg. This is why electric car manufacturers will be able to almost double the range of their cars without changing the battery volume.
Why Samsung Solid-State Batteries Won't Change the Electric Car Industry
Samsung solid-state oxide batteries are superior to lithium-ion batteries, as we found out, in many important parameters, but not all. Their serious disadvantage is their high cost. Therefore, the manufacturer itself states that they will be used in expensive cars of the “super-premium” segment. This means that the new batteries, at least at first, will not be widely distributed.
In addition, Samsung will introduce batteries with a high nickel content for the premium segment. And for more budget cars, Samsung is developing lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and cobalt-free batteries, and is also working on dry electrode production technology. According to the idea, they should be more affordable than existing lithium-ion batteries, which will allow electric car manufacturers to reduce their cost. However, there is no talk yet about their other serious advantages.
Many companies, such as TDK, have announced the creation of their own solid-state batteries. Photo source: ru.futuroprossimo.it
But this does not mean that solid-state batteries will not be used in mid-range cars for a long time. Chinese researchers have already developed a model of a solid-state battery that should be much more affordable than the Samsung one. Its main component is a sulfide electrolyte, which uses a new material LPSO, instead of the expensive lithium sulfide used in analogs.
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In addition, many other manufacturers are working on the creation of solid-state batteries, for example, the Japanese TDK Corporation, which has also announced the successful development of a solid-state battery with an energy density of 1000 Wh/l. This means that Japanese batteries will be able to contain even more energy than Samsung batteries. Thus, the mass introduction of solid-state batteries in electric vehicles and gadgets is a much more realistic prospect than, for example, batteries made from nuclear waste, which we talked about earlier.