Solid-state battery cost of US$42,000 per EV discouraged earlier adoption

During the InterBattery 2023 expo earlier this year, Samsung SDI talked about its work on a solid-state battery with its proprietary Super-Gap Edge technology. It listed EV battery pack weight reduction as one of the biggest advantages of solid-state cells, but cited cost as the main drawback still. 

Li Auto – one of the popular EV startups in China – reiterated that notion, saying that the company considered using solid-state batteries in its electric cars as early as 2019. At the time, the local EV industry, Li Auto included, was on the hunt for batteries that would offer longer range than the 130-160 Wh/kg energy density available then.

While solid-state batteries, whose energy density can hit 500 Wh/kg, seemed suitable, they were prohibitively expensive. One battery pack with solid-state cells would’ve come up to US$42,000, for instance, which made the company reconsider the idea altogether.

Despite all the announced advancements in lowering the solid-state battery production costs since then, like Toyota’s recent breakthrough, they are still rather pricey. NIO, for instance, divulged that the 150kWh 600-mile range battery with solid-state electrolyte elements that it developed for its performance sedans costs nearly as much as the ET5 car itself, tangentially confirming Li Auto’s conclusions.

Several battery companies have commenced the execution of their mass solid-state battery production plans with the hope that economies of scale will make the technology hit cost parity with current lithium cells that use liquid electrolyte. They are only expected to ramp manufacturing in the 2025-2027 period, though, or exactly when Toyota says its cheaper solid-state cells will enter mass production, too.

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Wooed by tech since the industrial espionage of Apple computers and the times of pixelized Nintendos, Daniel went and opened a gaming club when personal computers and consoles were still an expensive rarity. Nowadays, fascination is not with specs and speed but rather the lifestyle that computers in our pocket, house, and car have shoehorned us in, from the infinite scroll and the privacy hazards to authenticating every bit and move of our existence.