While the ranges of the EV models we see on the road are becoming closer and closer to what a gasoline-powered vehicle can offer, the charging time is still a serious problem. Some cars offer the ability to give you a partial amount of range after a time of thirty or ninety minutes, but this still doesn’t replace the ease of pumping gas and getting back on the road within ten minutes of pulling up to the gas pump. This may all come to an end in the near future, but that time is still a long ways away.
What causes the drawback to the current charging of the batteries used in the EV models we see on the road today? The battery packs used are liquid state, using lithium-ion. The liquid is where the cell’s electrolyte is stored which causes the charging to take a long time. Another issue with these particular batteries is the fact that they are prone to explosions, which can be a serious hazard. Most of the battery manufacturers in the market are the liquid, lithium-ion type and there doesn’t’ seem to be much of anything that can replace them just yet.
News from Toyota has given us the information to know that a new type of battery may be offered in the near future. This new battery will be a “solid-state” battery that is going to store the electrolytes in a solid matter instead of liquid. The greatest advantage to a solid-state battery is the fact that it can be charged in two or three minutes per cell compared to the 20 or 30 with the liquid models. This could reduce the entire charging time to as little as fifteen minutes or less depending upon the number of cells used.
The goal for Toyota is to bring this technology to the market by the year 2022. The advantage over the liquid batteries, in addition to the charging time, has to do with the range per single charge, which is expected to be much greater as well. The promise of a battery that can charge in only a few minutes and offer a range that’s much closer to what a gasoline model can do now will be a game changer if Toyota can scale it to be able to work well in all of their EV or hybrid models that need to have batteries installed.
With an uncertain future for the battery technology that will be offered in the automotive market, we will get to see this future unfold. Hopefully, Toyota will be able to scale this battery technology to give us the models we want like the Toyota Camry or Toyota Corolla by 2022 that have the battery tech that will be right for the driving we need in order to compete against the gasoline range we currently experience on the road. If Toyota can make this happen, we will see the ability for EV models to charge quickly and drive farther, which are the major drawbacks to this technology right now.
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