The future of the auto industry is electric and autonomous, it is so obvious that my stating it feels like a waste of ink. In the next 8 – 10 years, the Biden Administration expects that half of new vehicle sales to be EVs.
As the world prepares for an all-electric vehicle future, it becomes even more obvious the need for a superior battery technology than obtainable today.
And solid-state batteries have been established as having the capacity to sustain EV battery requirements long-term.
Thousands of electric vehicles have been recalled by numerous EV makers due to the fire risk caused by the lithium-ion batteries used in EVs today. And EVs range, today, is yet to truly match internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) mileage.
The point is before EVs can take over from ICEVs they’ve got some catching up to do, especially in the battery space where solid-state batteries are spearheading the long-term charge.
According to Report Linker, “the global solid-state car battery market size is projected to grow from 27,070 units in 2025 to 661,724 units by 2030, at a CAGR of 89.5%”. EVs are revolutionizing the auto industry and solid-state batteries will revolutionize EVs.
Solid-state battery stocks have a huge potential that long-term growth investors can benefit massively from. Jumping into this market today will be like jumping into the EV space in the early years of Tesla.
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It is important to also note that solid-state batteries will not just revolutionize the EV space, they will also transform the consumer electronics (especially portable electronic devices) and Wearables and medical devices segment. Hence, the Solid-state battery play is a major technology play.
If you are interested in investing in solid-state battery companies, here are the 4 solid-state battery stocks to consider:
1. Solid Power (NASDAQ: SLDP)
Solid Power is a leading developer of all-solid-state rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles. Its batteries are extremely energy-dense, 50% denser when compared to lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.
Solid Power’s batteries can also power devices such as portable electronics, aircraft, and satellites.
There have been numerous reports, from China and across the world, of Teslas bursting into flames as a result of battery damage. Tesla, the most popular EV maker, with all its ‘supposed’ advanced lithium-ion battery technology seemingly can’t stop the trend of its EVs exploding as a result of battery damage.
And the problem is not just with Teslas, every electric vehicle that’s powered by lithium-ion batteries is prone to such explosions, simply because lithium-ion rechargeable batteries have flammable liquid electrolytes.
Solid-state batteries like the ones developed by Solid Power do not contain volatile or flammable liquid components, as such, they are safer.
The company currently produces 20 Ah multi-layer all-solid-state lithium metal batteries on its continuous roll-to-roll production line based in Louisville, Colorado. However, the all-solid-state batteries it currently produces are dimed as prototypes that are currently being validated by the company’s strategic partners.
Solid Power is expected to sell its all-solid-state batteries this year, however, the batteries for automotive applications are expected to hit the market by 2026.
2. QuantumScape (NYSE: QS)
QuantumScape is an industry-leading public company (NYSE: QS) that is developing solid-state lithium metal batteries for electric vehicles that provides both high specific energy and high energy density. The company is based in San Jose and backed by Bill Gates, Volkswagen, Continental AG, and George Soros among other prominent investors.
Arguably, QuantumScape’s all-solid-state battery technology is currently the most advanced. Its prototype battery can charge to 80% capacity in 15 minutes and that’s “faster than either conventional battery or alternative solid-state approaches are capable of delivering”.
One of the biggest challenges of developing all-solid-state batteries is the complication around increasing their capacity and charging time. In other to increase the capacity of these batteries, their energy density per volume and per kilo has to be increased.
The trick is to be able to pack as much energy as possible per kilo of the battery, deliver high rates of power and avoid dendrites formation. Dendrites are formed during the charging process at high rates of power and they cause batteries to fail.
As such when normal solid-state batteries are being charged at a very high power rate, in order to speed up the charging time, dendrites are formed and the battery fails, and nobody wants that.
QuantumScape recently announced that it has overcome this problem, a major technological breakthrough, according to its recent data, its solid-state separators can work at very high rates of power while avoiding dendrite formation. This breakthrough enabled its batteries to fast-charge to 80% capacity in 15 minutes.
And the company also announced in February that it was able to produce multilayer solid-state batteries that can charge at high rates of power and get to 80% capacity in 15 minutes while avoiding dendrites formation.
This is a much-needed and awaited breakthrough that puts the company ahead of the pack in the race to develop commercial solid-state batteries that could be used by electric vehicles.
3. Toyota (NYSE: TM)
Toyota is a major player in the development of solid state battery technology, and since 2012, the Japanese automaker has spent billions of dollars in R&D to bring solid state batteries into its production EVs.
Among established automakers, the company is the leading player with over 1,000 solid state battery patents.
In January 2019, Toyota and Panasonic announced they were forming a joint venture, Prime Planet Energy & Solutions Inc., whose aim is to develop and mass-produce solid-state lithium batteries.
Toyota owns 51% of the joint venture which is headquartered in Tokyo and started operations in April 2020.
At CES 2022, Toyota announced that the first Toyota with solid state batteries will be a hybrid (a vehicle powered by the combination of a solid state battery and an internal combustion engine) and will be launched in 2025.
The hybrid strategy, according to the company, will allow it to gather valuable data that will eventually help it deploy the technology in fully electric vehicles.
Toyota is well-known to make reliable and affordable cars, not really for leading the charge in cutting-edge car technologies. Their approach to innovating cutting-edge car technologies is seemingly ‘participate in everything ‘.
They are throwing billions into developing hydrogen cars at the same time they are walking the ropes of solid state batteries. Perhaps the future of cars is that of solid state batteries and fuel cells, and Toyota is simply hedging its bets.
4. Ilika (LON: IKA)
Ilika plc is a pioneer in a ground-breaking solid-state battery technology able to meet the specific demands of a wide range of applications in MedTech, Industrial IoT, Electric Vehicles, and Consumer Electronics.
The company is a global leader in the solid-state battery space with commercial partnerships with big companies like Shell, Applied Materials, Toyota, and Murata.
Ilika’s Stereax family of solid-state batteries are customizable solid-state batteries that can be miniaturized at mm-scale for powering next-generation Active Implanted Medical Devices (AIMD) or Industrial IoT sensors.
The company was founded as a spin-out from the School of Chemistry at the University of Southampton in 2014 and has established itself as a major international player in the solid-state battery space.
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I’m a Technology Stock Analyst, with focus on companies developing cutting-edge techs. Keeping track of cutting-edge techs, companies and stocks is what I do almost everyday. And I love it. Whether it’s artificial intelligence, 5g, or autonomous vehicles; I’m all in.
