German car company Mercedes-Benz and American battery startup Factorial have made significant progress on a solid-state battery that could massively improve electric vehicle ranges, the two companies announced recently. The news means that Mercedes could be selling battery-electric cars with ranges of over 600 miles by the end of the decade, TechRadar reported.
The new battery pack, which Factorial has dubbed Solstice, has reportedly achieved an energy density of up to 450 watt-hours per kilogram. As such, it is significantly more compact and lighter than existing lithium-ion batteries used in most EVs.
Solid-state batteries have been hailed as the future of the EV industry. The difference between solid-state batteries and lithium-ion batteries is the electrolytes inside the batteries. Lithium-ion batteries use a liquid electrolyte, while solid-state batteries, as the name implies, use a solid electrolyte. This allows for significantly higher energy density. Solid-state batteries are also significantly more stable and safer than lithium-ion batteries (which themselves are already much safer than many people believe).
At present, the EVs with the longest ranges that are commercially available top out at just above 400 miles. The Lucid Air leads the list at 410 miles, according to Car and Driver, followed by the Chevrolet Silverado EV and the Mercedes-Benz EQS (both 400 miles). While those ranges are certainly impressive — especially compared to where EVs were a mere decade ago — 600-plus-mile ranges could go a long way toward alleviating potential car-buyers' range anxiety.
The more people choosing electric vehicles instead of traditional gas-powered cars, the better it will be for our planet — EVs produce no planet-overheating air pollution when in use, unlike gas-powered cars, which continue to have a big negative impact on the ongoing overheating of our planet.
In what could be considered bad news for Mercedes-Benz and Factorial — but good news for the planet — Chinese companies are reportedly far ahead of them in terms of solid-state battery development. State-owned car company MG Motor has said that it plans to release an EV with a solid-state battery as early as next year.
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