Toyota's Radical EV Battery Edges Closer To Production

The postponed Tokyo Olympics was meant to be taking place right now, but it's not only the athletes that will have to leave a disappointing year behind. It was at this event that Toyota had intended todebut a solid-state batteryfor electric vehicles.

However, despite the setback,Automotive Newsnow reports that Toyota has produced a working prototype of the battery tech and has gone as far as installing them in concept vehicles for testing. This is promising news as solid-state batteries offer several advantages over more common lithium-ion batteries used in models like theToyota RAV4 Prime.

For starters, solid-state batteries aren't as negatively affected by extreme temperatures, after numerous reports of EVs having areduced rangein bitterly cold winter weather. These batteries should also save weight while proving more durable than the batteries currently in use. A big plus is faster charging (zero to full in under 15 minutes for Toyota's current design) and a longer range; earlier this year, Samsung's solid-state battery was estimated to provide an EV with a500-mile range.

Keiji Kaita is executive vice president of Toyota Motor Corp's powertrain company, as well as field general manager of its battery business, and said that Toyota still plans for limited production of the batteries by 2025, but there remain challenges still to be overcome.