Nissan on Friday unveiled a prototype manufacturing facility in Yokohama, Japan, where the company plans to manufacture solid-state batteries for use in electric vehicles. The company said in a statement that it plans to “establish a pilot production line at its Yokohama facility in fiscal 2024, with materials, design and manufacturing processes for prototype production on the line to be studied at the prototype production facility.” Nissan plans to launch its first solid-state battery electric vehicle in 2028.
All-solid-state batteries could theoretically charge faster, store more power, and last longer than the lithium-ion batteries that most electric vehicles use today. Nissan said it expects to eventually use the batteries across its lineup of vehicles, including its pickup trucks. It said its solid-state batteries could bring the price of battery packs down to $75 per kWh by 2028 and eventually $65 per kWh. The batteries should help make electric vehicles much more affordable, eventually bringing them to the same price point as petrol-powered vehicles.
Other car manufacturers are also working on the development of solid-state batteries. Volkswagen-backed company QuantumScape plans to start sales in 2024, and Ford says the solid-state batteries it is developing will be ready by the end of the decade. Toyota said last year it wanted to start manufacturing the batteries in the mid-2020s, but said it needs to continue research on the technology; Currently, solid state batteries are expensive to manufacture.