Samsung SDI has reportedly developed a novel way for mass production of its solid-state battery that would greatly decrease the manufacturing time and costs. It is now so confident that it will be able to start mass solid-state battery production to match Toyota’s much touted 2027 release plans, that it has already started pitching its solid electrolyte cells to electric vehicle makers.
“We have already explained the all-solid-state battery roadmap to major automakers since last year and have begun active promotions,” tipped one Samsung SDI insider. The solid-state battery production technology breakthrough that Samsung seems to be banking on is the so-called roll pressing. Instead of only using the slow and cumbersome Warm Istactic Press (WIP) process to fuse the electrodes and solid electrolyte under water, Samsung has added roll pressing.
It eschews the need for sealing the battery cell before dunking it in a water tank and applying up to 600MPa pressure under high temperature to sinter the electrode and electrolyte materials into a solid state for stable performance. Otherwise, sealing the cells against water penetration with only the WIP method involved takes 30 minutes, which gets in the way of productivity and manufacturing costs of solid-state batteries.
NIO, which just did a road test of its 150 kWh hybrid solid-liquid battery, said that the pack itself cost almost as much as an ET5 sedan to make when produced slow in limited batches. Other EV makers also looked at solid-state batteries a few years back and concluded that, at $42,000 a pop, they were still too expensive to use in production EVs at the time.
That is why whoever develops methods for cheaper mass solid-state battery production could become a king of this nascent EV market, and Samsung seems to be on track to master the process. It remains to be seen which EV maker will sign up for Samsung’s solid-state batteries, but the dedicated task force it created last year seems to be bearing fruit.
If the roll pressing tests go well, Samsung will reportedly be ready for the start of mass solid-state battery pilot production by moving its new S line from Suwon’s R&D lab factory into the Ulsan automotive battery plant next year.
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