Samsung says it has created a solid state battery that uses solid electrodes and electrolytes, is 50% smaller than a lithium battery, with a life of more than 1000 charges and gives electric cars a range of 500 miles.

A few days ago, the researchers on behalf of the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) and the Samsung R&D Institute Japan (SRJ) published an article in the journal Nature Energy.

According to the data provided by them, Samsung has developed a 900 Wh solid state battery, which provides electric vehicles with a distance of 500 miles per charge, and its life cycle is more than 1000 charges. This technology allows you to make the battery half the size of a conventional lithium-ion battery, which was achieved by reducing the thickness of the anode.

(From left) Yuichi Aihara, Principal Engineer from SRJ, Yong-Gun Lee, Principal Researcher and Dongmin Im, Master from SAIT
Source: Samsung

Researchers claim that the new battery is non-combustible because it uses solid material and avoids the use of any toxic chemicals, all while still having energy densities up to 2.5 the times as its counterpart.

The team found that incorporating a layer of silver with carbon in the prototype bag cell allowed the battery to maintain greater capacity, extend its life, and increase overall safety.

Dongmin Im, Master at SAIT's Next Generation Battery Lab and the leader of the project explained, "The product of this study could be a seed technology for safer, high-performance batteries of the future," he continued "Going forward, we will continue to develop and refine all-solid-state battery materials and manufacturing technologies to help take EV battery innovation to the next level."

We report that a high-performance all-solid-state lithium metal battery with a sulfide electrolyte is enabled by a Ag–C composite anode with no excess Li. We show that the thin Ag–C layer can effectively regulate Li deposition, which leads to a genuinely long electrochemical cyclability. In our full-cell demonstrations, we employed a high-Ni layered oxide cathode with a high specific capacity (>210 mAh g−1) and high areal capacity (>6.8 mAh cm−2) and an argyrodite-type sulfide electrolyte. A warm isostatic pressing technique was also introduced to improve the contact between the electrode and the electrolyte. A prototype pouch cell (0.6 Ah) thus prepared exhibited a high energy density (>900 Wh l−1), stable Coulombic efficiency over 99.8% and long cycle life (1,000 times).

At the same time, we have all been observing Tesla’s success in R&D new batteries that will have a large range and a long service life. Back in January, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk said that at the Battery Day, the company will present something that impresses even himself.

We also know that Cybertruck in the version of the Tri Motor will have a range of 500+ miles, which indicates that Tesla already has developments that make this possible.

Range and battery life have always been the most common problem. To date, not a single automaker can compare with Tesla. But, thanks to companies that invest in battery development, the world has a chance to switch to an electric vehicle faster than current forecasts say.