Is This Solid State Battery Too Late?

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Personally I am a big believer in research, just for science. You can't predict what might pop up, or if research in one battery may be the a ha moment for a researcher on another battery or even in another field. That is also the risk with corporate driven research, so many battery ideas are likely to be dropped in favor of the one that promise the most profit. I hope at least the research gets published and not stashed away in a companies IP drawer.

I've worked on solid state batteries for an automotive OEM. The amount of work that went into testing and proving solid state batteries for mass production has been immense. The fact that we have major OEMs publicly announcing strategies for adoption within 2 years shows how far along they are. It can't really be compared to new developments just coming out of labs, as they are at least a decade away from being implemented in EVs.

personally, i think the abundance of technologies is good on its own, as competing technologies increase overall supply. Even if one battery is slightly worse, it still works. Like, when solid state batteries do hit the market, even if they are only in ~5% of EVs, that still means without them there would just be the added demand from the people without those vehicles.

It does seem pretty clear that we need all of these technologies moving ahead at whatever speed they can. And that there isn't just one holy grail.

One factor I'd like to learn more about for all of these upcoming technologies is recyclability. If a solid state battery can have it's component materials separated relatively easily at the end of it's life, that relatively low charge cycle number becomes less of an issue. But if they end up being even more difficult and costly to recycle at end of life than more conventional batteries, then that would be another significant drawback.

The thing to remember is that each time these avenues of technology are explored in the lab, the more things are discovered like this sulphur breakthrough. You could conceive of some sulphur infused solid state battery that gets even better performance than both. And yes, this thought is just a 'for instance', not based on my research. But the point is that tons of research leads to more possibilities. The one really important aspect of solid state batteries is to hopefully get to a point where you don't have degredations due to the interaction of components like the electrolyte and dendrite formation. Batteries that can be cycled without degredation is really good news for the environment if possible. Then you're not constantly sourcing the elements needed to replace them, and all the waste that is associated with that.

I don’t really think it can ever be too late. Research in better batteries in general is good, so I wouldn’t worry too much about whether or not this is the silver bullet. We’re too early in the research and adoption of these batteries to pick one as “the best” (long term, not at our current research level)

Considering my first EV was a Nissan Leaf back in 2011, and it only went 85 miles on a charge. And these days Tesla's "low end" battery (the Chinese LFP packs) get 267 miles per charge, probably at a fraction of the cost of those early Nissan batteries, I'd say we have already arrived with the technology to achieve mass adoption. And while that's no reason to stop research and advancement, I think people need to stop waiting for the magic battery that may or may not happen, and jump on the bandwagon now.

Energy storage and delivery needs to be developed in-depth. One battery type may not be better for everything: a drill vs an auto, etc. It’s interesting to see how this develops.

12:57 "... still something to keep an ion." 🤣 I see what you did there

In the long term, two of the most important considerations are availability of materials (safely, justly) and end of use recycling or disposal. Battery tech should help us leave our planet better than we inherited it, not something that makes our environment more toxic. Solid state batteries may help with this goal. But some of the other new battery technologies might as well.

Hey Matt, I like how your always talking about stuff. as an chemist i apriciate that a lot, but there is one thing that kinda bothers me which is that I wish you would have a citation in the discription from what sources you've used instead barely show it in the vid itself. Keep up the good work!

SSB may only be for increased safety, weight savings and simpler setup, the energy density and charging time advantages may be close to nil in just a year or 2 thanks to advancements in traditional batteries like LFP, NMC and NCA.

I personally think of solid state as as structure not a chemistry. It seems that the best structure / chemistry has yet to be fleshed out but as different companies bring better and better batteries to market it is the consumer and society that will ultimately benefit.

I don't know about EVs... But for smartphones the solid state batteries would be fantastic.

Right tool for the job. Absolutely. I think there will need to be a portfolio of energy delivery, storage and battery technologies to fulfil different requirements. Solid state batteries I have little doubt will be part of that.

The battery breakthrough news has me jaded. I'll believe it once it on the market. So solid state is still amazing since it's starting to hit the market

I love this style of video giving the current state of competing technologies, comparing pros and cons, and covering a topic that's been on all of our minds. While your videos always highlight the fanciful future of things to come, this very practical style really kept me riveted. Now do the same thing with grid scale energy storage please! 😁

One of the biggest issues that I have with battery packs, particularly in EVs, is the recycling and safe disposal of them. If we’re all going to be driving EVs in the next 20-30 years that technology is the most important part of the consumer experience for me.