New Materials Move Li-Ion Batteries Toward the Solid-State Endgame

Battery development experts from the auto industry and rapidly expanding startup companies concurred at the recent Battery and Electrification Summit (presented by Battery Technology and SAE International) that “disruptive” solid-state and other battery designs are poised to begin playing a role in electric vehicles (EVs) and other applications well before the end of this decade. Adoption of solid-state technology is being advanced, several conference presenters reported, by accelerating innovation in the use of new materials — silicon, primarily — for anodes. And some solid-state battery designs propose to eliminate anodes altogether.