Volkswagen Canada is doubling down on the technology known as the “battery of the future” for electric vehicles, with an announcement that it eventually hopes to manufacture solid-state batteries at its new gigafactory in St. Thomas, Ontario, the Financial Post reported late last month.
“As far as the technology, it is evolving fast. It is incredible,” said VW Group Canada CEO Vito Paladino. “It’s tough to talk specifics because I know I’ll get myself into trouble. But what I will say is, and what we have reported, the solid-state battery will allow us to provide electrification in a more affordable way.”
Research on solid-state batteries has been going on for many years, and some industry publications say they’re closer to commercialization than analysts might think if some stubborn technical problems can be solved. “They’re safer and charge faster than current lithium-ion batteries, and they’re stable in the face of high voltages, high temperatures, and temperature changes,” wrote engineering.com in late February. “It is no surprise that solid-state batteries are considered a technology of the future and will probably be the next big step in battery development.”
Earlier this year, Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Nio live-streamed a 1,044-kilometre trip that its CEO completed on a single charge, using a semi-solid-state battery.
Volkswagen “has long signalled its interest in solid-state battery technology, but lithium-ion batteries and lithium phosphate batteries are more prevalent today,” the Post writes. “Many, if not all, of VW’s EVs currently use lithium-ion batteries, and one industry source said the company will produce those batteries in the short term.”
Eventually, though, Paladino sees solid-state as a route to solving the affordability problems that still come up around EVs. “The battery plant that we have in Canada will be solid-state batteries,” he said. “These batteries will have a cost benefit, but they’ll also have way more range and performance.”
VW has “invested hundreds of millions of dollars” in a California start-up working on solid-state technology, the news story states, and a Reuters report in January said the automaker was in talks with Boucherville, Quebec-based Blue Solutions SAS, a subsidiary of French conglomerate Bolloré SE that is also developing the technology.
