Japan’s major carmakers pushing for solid-state batteries
Japan’s leading manufacturers such as Toyota, Nissan and Panasonic have teamed up with the government to develop solid-state batteries in a joint effort. The Libtec centre by commission of the consortium has taken up its work to enable truly long range EVs.
The consortium essentially includes the entire industry of Japan, namely Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Panasonic and GS Yuasa. Together with the government in Tokyo, they are to develop solid-state batteries for the next generation of electric cars.
Therefore, they have launched the Lithium Ion Battery Technology and Evaluation Center, Libtec in short, which is to oversee the project. Work is starting this month and the project is funded with 16 billion Yen (about 122M euros) through the Japanese government.
The partners aim to launch solid-state batteries by 2025 that allow electric cars to drive 550 kilometres on one charge first with range to increase to 800 km by 2030.
The project is based on solid-state technology Toyota has been working on for some time but so far has failed to commercialise. Libtec is to change that by combing all members’ expertise. Panasonic and Toyota already have a longstanding cooperation when it comes to EV battery development. Also Nissan and Honda had been looking to develop solid-state batteries but had yet to forge a cooperation of the sort that has now come about in Libtec.
Apart from capacity, also the safety of solid-state batteries is to increase. The latter is of particular interest to Japan’s industry ministry that is eager for the country to set global standards for solid-state batteries. Libtec may seek to register related technologies with the International Electrotechnical Commission (ICE).
Libtec is not the first project that sees key players of Japan’s industry come together. Just this March, Eleven companies, including Toyota, Nissan, and Honda have jointly set up the planned Japan H2 Mobility (JHyM) business. They aim to install infrastructure for filling fuel cell vehicles across all of Japan and are working on it since April.
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