- Honda wants to be a player in the solid-state battery game.
- The Japanese automaker built a demonstration line to figure out how to lower costs and increase output.
- The first samples will roll off the assembly line in January 2025.
All-solid-state batteries promise more driving range, faster charging speeds and potentially lower costs. They have been promised by battery manufacturers and automakers alike for at least a decade, but as it stands today, you still can’t walk into a showroom that sells electric vehicles and buy a car with a solid-state battery.
Small runs of prototype cells are already rolling off production lines across the world, but mass production is where things get complicated. That said, technology is moving at breakneck speed and several companies are promising we’ll be able to buy and drive an EV with solid-state batteries by the decade’s end.
One of those companies is Honda. The maker of the Prologue–which, admittedly, is made by General Motors–has built a life-size factory to demonstrate how it can manufacture all-solid-state batteries.
With a floor area of nearly 300,000 square feet, the demo line is located on Honda’s property in Sakura City, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. It has all the equipment needed to start the verification phase of each production process in preparation for the big leap.
That will happen sooner rather than later, which is excellent news. Honda says it will begin making actual batteries on this demo line in January 2025. However, these won’t make it into any EV; instead, these will be used to figure out what needs fixing before moving on to full-scale manufacturing in the following years.
Honda claims its first all-solid-state EVs will hit the market in the second half of the 2020s–that’s just one to four years away. The Japanese automaker’s might coincide with Stellantis’ plan to launch a demonstration fleet of Dodge Charger EVs with Factorial’s semi-solid-state batteries by 2026. Other companies like QuantumScape, Nissan and even Toyota are also working hard to bring solid-state batteries to mass production.
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Honda’s approach to the potentially groundbreaking battery tech is to use conventional production processes that were originally designed for liquid lithium-ion batteries. However, the automaker’s research and development team adopted a roll-pressing technique which will help to achieve denser solid electrolyte layers. It also enables Honda to deploy continuous pressing rather than making solid electrolytes in smaller batches.
“The all-solid-state battery is an innovative technology that will be a game changer in this EV era,” said Keiji Otsu, President and Representative Director of Honda R&D. “Replacing engines that have been supporting the advancements of automobiles to date, batteries will be the key factor of electrification. We believe that [the] advancement of batteries will be a driving force in the transformation of Honda. Now, the start of operation of our demonstration production line for our all-solid-state batteries is in sight, and we can say that we have reached an important milestone for Honda and the country of Japan.”
Honda’s EV plans in the United States have already started with GM’s help, and the Prologue is doing quite well here, but the long game includes several self-developed models part of a new line known as the Honda 0 Series. At least two new EVs will hit the streets starting in 2026, including an angular flagship sedan that was previewed by the rather lovely 0 Series Saloon Concept.