Toyota's next-generation battery has been exposed, with a maximum range of 1,500km. How should Chinese car companies respond?

As one of the most influential car companies in the world, Toyota seems to be a little overwhelmed in the face of the wave of new energy vehicle development. Not only is the deployment of pure electric vehicles slow, but hydrogen energy vehicles, which Toyota is proud of, cannot be popularized at all in a short period of time. As a result, when Toyota's fuel vehicles decline, new energy vehicles cannot make up for the sales gap.

The reason why Toyota is slow to transform into new energy sources has a lot to do with the fact that its leader, Akio Toyoda, is not optimistic about pure electric vehicles. Although Akio Toyoda continues to criticize pure electric vehicles, Toyota has never stopped researching and developing pure electric vehicles. . Recently, Toyota has made a big move, saying that the next generation of batteries will completely change the market structure of pure electric vehicles.

Toyota expands its strategy to usher in a breakthrough in next-generation battery technology

As we all know, the biggest obstacle that plagues the replacement of fuel vehicles by pure electric vehicles is the issue of battery life . Of course, some people also say that it is the issue of energy replenishment. In fact, when the battery life of pure electric vehicles reaches a certain level, will energy replenishment still be a problem? Therefore, if we want pure electric vehicles to usher in a breakthrough change, improving battery life becomes the key.

Most of the pure electric vehicles currently on the market have a range of more than 500km, and some models can have a range of more than 700km. However, the next-generation battery announced by Toyota can increase the range of pure electric vehicles to 1,000km or even 1,500km.

According to foreign media reports, Toyota has confirmed some details of the next-generation battery technology. By 2027, Toyota's products will have a maximum cruising range of 621 miles (approximately 999 kilometers), and the subsequent maximum cruising range may reach 932 miles. (1500 kilometers). At the same time, Toyota will also provide a variety of battery options with different ranges, some focusing on performance and the other focusing on daily economy.

Specifically, Toyota's latest launch will be a high-performance battery, expected to be launched in 2026, which will allow its models to achieve a range of 497 miles (800km) and charge the battery from 10% to 10% in just 20 minutes or less. 80%. By the end of 2026 or 2027, cheaper lithium iron phosphate batteries will arrive, which will save 40% of the cost, but have a range of only 373 miles (600km).

In addition, Toyota's second high-performance lithium-ion battery will also be released in 2027-2028. Its cruising range will be increased to 612 miles (1000km), and the cost will be reduced by 10%. It is expected to be Toyota's main force in the future. Battery.

The most surprising thing is the solid-state battery. According to Toyota, the first solid-state battery will be launched in 2027-2028. Although the cruising range is also 1,000km, it only takes 10 minutes to charge to 80% of the battery. In the future, Toyota solid-state batteries will also extend the cruising range to 746 miles (1200km), and eventually to 932 miles (1500km).

According to Toyota's timetable, starting in 2026, Toyota will usher in a breakthrough in the field of power batteries . When used in mass-produced vehicles, it will inevitably change the current pure electric vehicle market structure. For Toyota, if solid-state battery technology can be implemented in 2028, Toyota's voice in the pure electric vehicle market will definitely not be lower than that of fuel vehicles.

How far are solid-state batteries from mass production?

We all know that with a battery with a higher capacity, the cruising range of a pure electric vehicle will be higher, but there is a limit between this. Simply increasing the battery capacity will not increase the cruising range. This is why the current pure electric vehicles The reason why the car's driving range can only reach a maximum range of 700km.

If you want to increase battery capacity without changing battery quality, there is no other way than increasing battery energy density. Nowadays, the main power batteries are liquid batteries. CATL ’s Kirin battery, which just achieved mass production this year, has an energy density of only 255Wh/kg.

On the other hand, solid-state batteries not only have an energy density that can easily exceed 400Wh/kg, but can also fundamentally solve the spontaneous combustion problem of pure electric vehicles. However, there are currently many technical difficulties in solid-state batteries. On the one hand, because solid-state batteries do not use electrolytes, the ionic conductivity will be greatly reduced, making fast charging difficult to achieve; on the other hand, the solid electrolyte interface has poor contact. The internal resistance is large and there is no particularly good solution. Therefore, although many companies are committed to the research of solid-state batteries, solid-state batteries have been unable to be mass-produced.

The outside world is still skeptical about whether Toyota can achieve mass production of solid-state batteries by 2028. Although Toyota is the car company with the most patents on solid-state battery technology in the industry, Toyota continues to delay the mass production of solid-state batteries. As early as 2017, Toyota stated that it would demonstrate solid-state battery technology at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but was forced to postpone mass production until 2025 because it could not overcome technical difficulties. By 2021, Toyota changed its tune and said that the progress of all-solid-state batteries was not optimistic, and the mass production plan was pushed to 2027.

Now, Toyota has changed its solid-state battery launch plan to 2027-20.28 million. It is difficult not to doubt whether Toyota can achieve mass production of solid-state batteries by 2028.

Write at the end:

In short, solid-state batteries can be basically recognized as the key to major breakthroughs in future pure electric vehicles. Whoever can achieve technological breakthroughs in the field of solid-state batteries first will have the right to speak in the future pure electric vehicle market. If Toyota can launch solid-state batteries as scheduled, it will definitely put unprecedented pressure on Chinese car companies.