Miracle solid-state batteries made in Germany

DW (English)

Solid-state batteries are considered the holy grail in the battery world, with more capacity than current lithium-ion batteries. Will a German start-up be the first to mass produce them? We take a closer look.

Transcript

00:00A game-changer? Could Germany, traditionally behind in battery development, produce the

00:05first mass-produced solid-state battery?

00:08This is the holy grail in the battery world.

00:11A solid-state battery barely ages, doesn't need critical raw materials like cobalt and

00:16offers better performance. But there's fierce competition from China, which is also working

00:21on this technology.

00:25We see start-ups in America and Europe, but also established players in Asia, all working

00:30on the technology.

00:34The German solid-state battery is still made by hand, but the start-up High Performance

00:39Battery is continuing to refine its models. The technology has now advanced to the point

00:45where mass production could start, and the first licenses have already been sold.

00:50Our battery technology is designed so that starting with a module of about 1.3 kilowatt-hours,

00:56we can scale up as needed, from home storage to industrial-scale storage. We see a wide

01:01range of applications, especially in stationary energy applications.

01:08Stationary energy storage systems like these, which store electricity, are becoming increasingly

01:13important. Many countries rely on wind and solar power, but as we know, these sources

01:18aren't always available. Energy storage is the solution for a steady supply and is expected

01:24to become a multi-billion-euro industry.

01:28In Switzerland, somewhere up in the mountains, one of the German start-up's business partners

01:33plans to build the first factory for solid-state battery production. But they still need to

01:38raise the necessary 80 million euros.

01:43The Chinese are also working on solid-state batteries. Recently, the Chinese government

01:48launched a funding program worth over 800 million euros.

01:55China controls 70% of the global battery market. They have the most money to push the mass

02:00production of solid-state batteries forward. But why is the industry so focused on this

02:05technology?

02:08In a conventional battery, ions move from the negative to the positive pole and back,

02:14generating electricity. The ions move through a liquid, but over time, deposits form on

02:19the poles due to chemical reactions, reducing the battery's performance. In a solid-state

02:25battery, a solid material replaces the liquid, allowing the ions to travel between the poles.

02:31The advantage? No deposits form, so the solid-state battery could theoretically last for decades.

02:39Germany has an edge. They inject a liquid into the battery that hardens, completing

02:47the solid-state battery. This process makes potential mass production much easier.

02:54We produce them just like conventional lithium-ion batteries today, and that's what sets us apart

03:00from other solid-state batteries, which require the material to be formed outside the battery

03:05cell.

03:06Other competitors in solid-state battery development have to test completely new production methods,

03:12which continually delays mass production.

03:17The race is still open. It remains exciting.

03:22But can a small German start-up with just 5 million euros of funding compete against

03:28the multi-billion-euro companies in Asia?

03:33I think the market is huge and growing rapidly, so we're dealing with a demand-driven market.

03:39What gets produced will be needed. That's why I'm convinced there's room for many providers.

03:47However, the German solid-state battery has a disadvantage. It stores less energy compared

03:52to competing technologies, making it less suitable for future electric vehicles. Asian

03:58manufacturers are targeting a range of 1,000 km with their solid-state batteries, but aren't

04:03quite there yet. Even so, the title of first mass-produced solid-state battery might just

04:10go to Germany, likely by 2026.

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