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<\/p>\nNissan swarmed the opening day of the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo with four electric vehicle concepts and a bold new design language. While it\u2019s great to see the company that gave the world the Leaf back in top form, the real game-changer might be Nissan\u2019s all-solid-state battery (ASSB) development program. <\/p>\n
Kazuhiro Doi, corporate vice president of Nissan\u2019s research division, was on hand to talk about the emerging battery technology that could allow the company\u2019s next generation of electric vehicles to take a quantum leap forward. <\/p>\n
Announced roughly two years ago, ASSB technology could revolutionize EVs, giving them \u201calmost double the energy density\u201d of current batteries, according to Doi, with faster charging performance at a lower overall cost. Better living through chemistry. <\/p>\n
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Once realized, that higher power density opens up a wealth of potential options for Nissan product planners and engineers \u2013 and for \u201call car types\u201d according to Doi. Getting twice as much energy from each cell could advantage large, heavy vehicles \u2013 like trucks or vans \u2013 by improving total range without having to increase the physical size of the pack. Nissan has also said these batteries could cut charging times to a third of what conventional ones offer.<\/p>\n
In the other direction, sports cars or supercars \u2013 like the GT-R-aping Hyper Force concept \u2013could use smaller, lighter battery packs to allow for better handling, braking, and acceleration.<\/p>\n
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But the design and packaging advantages don\u2019t stop there. Doi also told me that ASSB technology offers a wider operational envelope in terms of temperature, too. When asked about the temperature sweet spot, Doi said that the batteries are happy from \u201croom temperature to 100C.\u201d As a result, the solid-state batteries don\u2019t require any sort of dedicated cooling system, which means future Nissan products could ditch even more weight and mechanical complexity. <\/p>\n
Doi and the team are moving forward according to Nissan\u2019s previously announced schedule, too. A first pilot manufacturing plant is still on pace to begin operation next year, though I couldn\u2019t get a comment on the facility\u2019s production capacity. And the first production vehicle application of ASSB is still slated for 2028, with Doi saying, \u201cI hope to make the next announcement very soon\u201d when pressed on the details of said car. <\/p>\n
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There are still more than a few specifics to be worked out on the engineering front, notably balancing the construction of the cells for charging and discharging performance, as well as the lifecycle of the battery overall. <\/p>\n
\u201cFirst we have to fix the chemistry, then we can estimate the performance per cell,” Doi said. “To realize higher energy density the cathode has to be thicker\u2026 but then the charging is slower.\u201d A magnesium sulfur-based technology could be the most affordable, and could \u201cpositively affect cycle life,” he said. <\/p>\n
BMW, Volkswagen, and Toyota \u2013 to name a few \u2013 are also investing heavily in this field of solid-state research and production ramp-up but Doi is bullish about the Nissan effort, calling the company \u201cin the top group\u201d of this EV arms race. <\/p>\n
It could use the boost. Despite success with the Leaf and launching the new Ariya crossover, Nissan is sometimes accused of losing an early lead it once had alongside competitors like Tesla. With automakers from China, Korea, and even the United States moving fast on EV rollouts, Nissan has no time to waste. <\/p>\n
The company is already showing early signs of progress. Last month, Nissan announced that every new car launched in Europe would be an EV and that it would complete a fully electric transition in that region by 2030. \u201cThe world needs to move on from ICE,\u201d CEO Makoto Uchida said at the time. But certainly, other automakers are racing in that direction too. <\/p>\n
Whatever the outcome of that competition, it seems like solid-state batteries in general, and possibly even Nissan ASSB tech specifically, are poised to make EV shoppers the winners, very soon. <\/p>\n