IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2020 - 17

at a lower cost. The addition of silicon alone over the
next seven years will grow the EV installed base from
8 million vehicles in 2019 to 40 million in 2025, as consumers' range anxiety slowly eases" [1].
During the past few years, several players announced
prototype cells and expected commercialization dates,
only to withdraw their claims or postpone the results.
"Despite decades of development, many technological
challenges remain unsolved," stated Dr. Milan Rosina,
principal analyst for power electronics and batteries at
market research firm Yole Développement (Yole), Lyon,
France. Yole's latest SSB report indicates that mass production will begin by 2022 and account for less than 1% of
the traditional Li-ion battery market by 2025. However, this
scenario will change when large SSB manufacturers enter
the arena. In fact, according to Rosina, "To commercialize SS batteries, four different technology players are joining forces to share knowledge and overcome challenges"
(Figure 1). Those companies produce SS electrolyte technology, equipment, battery cells, and vehicles. However,
with work still remaining, there is no commercially available bulk SSB today.
According to Yole, the key technology areas that need
to develop include electrolyte-material screening, ionicconductivity enhancement, electrolyte/electrode-interface
stability, Li-metal anodes, cell- and pack-manufacturing
methods, battery-management systems, and batterypack designs. Yole's analysts have identified more than
100 companies and R&D groups that are involved in SSB
development [2].

SSB Developers

Yoshino is an honorary fellow at the Asahi Kasei Corporation and a professor at Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan. He
shared the Nobel Prize with John B. Goodenough, University of Texas at Austin, and M. Stanley Whittingham, State
University of New York at Binghamton.
LIBTEC is the first organization to gather automotive, battery, and materials manufacturers in an effort to
develop a standard SS Li-ion battery that has a capacity of
800 Wh/L. By setting standards for SSBs, Japanese companies hope to reclaim their global dominance. During the
past several years, Japanese automotive-battery manufacturers have lost market share to manufacturers from China
and South Korea.

More Investors
To speed up the development of SSBs, automotive OEMs,
including battery manufacturers, have begun to invest in the
technology. While the progress is encouraging, there are still
many hurdles that must be overcome before SSBs can be
adopted in automobiles. German automaker Volkswagen,
for example, announced a US$100 million investment in
QuantumScape, an SSB start-up that spun out of Stanford
University, California. In a statement, QuantumScape Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) Jagdeep Singh said, "We think the
higher range, faster charging times, and inherent safety of
SS technology will be a key enabler for the next generation
of electrified powertrains."
Likewise, automaker Ford invested US$20 million in
SSB developer Solid Power (Table 1). The partnership is
expected to capitalize on Solid Power's fully automated,
roll-to-roll production facility (Figure 2), which became
operational last year. "From initial 2-Ah cells, Solid Power's
automated pilot production facility will be capable of producing 20-Ah cells for larger battery packs by the end of the
first quarter," said Solid Power's Dean Frankel, a strategic
business development executive. He added that the company hopes to commercialize the technology in the next
five to nine years with a target of 2027 for large batteries
for automotive applications. In fact, according to Frankel,
the company hopes to demonstrate the commercially ready
EV SSBs by 2022. According to Solid Power, "By combining

Established automotive manufacturers, such as Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler, and Hyundai, as well as newcomers
Dyson and Fisker have joined SSB developers to commercialize EVs/HEVs with batteries that will be safer, lighter, and
longer running than conventional Li-ion batteries. As a result,
the number of companies and consortiums developing SSBs
has risen. One example is Japan's Lithium Ion Battery Technology and Evaluation Center (LIBTEC), a consortium consisting of 30 companies, including heavyweights such as Toyota, Nissan, Honda, and Panasonic. "Sharing
know-how from the four main technology
areas is crucial for commercializing SSB,"
asserted Rosina.
R&D
With support from Japan's Ministry
of Economy, Trade, and Industry and the
New Energy and Industrial Technology
Development Organization, LIBTEC hopes
to develop an SSB that doubles the range of
EVs from 400 km (249 mi) to 800 km (497 mi)
1) Technology 2) Equipment
3) Cell
4) Automotive
by 2030. For the time being, it is targeting a
Provider
Supplier
Manufacturer
OEM
more modest range of 550 km (342 mi) by
2025. The effort is led by Dr. Akira Yoshino, FIG 1 Companies in four different technology areas must share knowledge to overa winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemis- come the challenges of SSB commercialization. OEM: original equipment manufactry for the development of Li-ion batteries. turer. (Source: [2]; used with permission.)
March 2020

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IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2020

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