Dry cathode solid-state battery breakthrough to bring Mercedes EVs with 80% longer range

When Mercedes-Benz invested millions in solid-state battery maker Factorial Energy back in 2021, it probably wasn't envisioning a commercial success to come any time soon.

The startup, however, is now supplying the first samples of its Solstice solid-state battery breakthrough to Mercedes, which will start installing them in its next generation of cars. "Solstice offers further improvements in energy density and safety features that will help us develop electric vehicles that set new standards in range, cost, and performance," announced Mercedes.

The Solstice solid-state battery cells are made with the revolutionary dry cathode production method that Tesla only now mastered for the Cybertruck's 4680 batteries. It eschews the costly wet coating that uses toxic solvents, as well as the sprawling electrode baking facilities, and thus lowers the cost of a battery pack significantly.

Another way that Factorial's solid-state battery invention will make packs in Mercedes cars cheaper, is the decreased need for cooling. Its cells with solid-state sulfide electrolyte are stable even at operating temperatures ofover 90°C (194°F), requiring a much more compact cooling system.

Other solid-state battery makers cite the greatly increased, up to 500 Wh/kg energy density that the technology brings, nearly double what mainstream EV batteries now carry. Factorial's Solstice cells come with 450 Wh/kg energy density, which will bring an 80% increase in the range of future Mercedes EVs equipped with them.

It remains to be seen if those 600-mile electric cars will be in the affordable segment, though, as solid-state batteries have proved costly to make.

Their price prompted the world's largest battery maker CATL to rate them 4 out of 10 on the scale of mass production readiness, though it pegged 2027 as the year that rate will go to 8 or even 9.

Coincidentally, 2027 is the year when Toyota plans to launch its electric vehicles with an all-solid-state battery, and the Japanese government just approved Toyota's first solid-state battery factory.

As for Factorial, it expects to see not only Mercedes, but other automakers releasing electric cars with its dry-cathode solid-state battery in the next five years.

The above is the detailed content of Dry cathode solid-state battery breakthrough to bring Mercedes EVs with 80% longer range. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!