In the days in which Toyota announces that within a couple of years the first electric vehicles equipped with solid-state batteries will be on the road, Mercedes-Benz takes a diametrically opposite position on the topic. And he does it through Markus' mouth SchaferChief Technology Officer of the Star brand, who says he is convinced that these batteries could not be necessary in the future. Not so much for his demerits, but for the merits of the other batteries.
Technology not essential
In fact, Schafer talks about unexpected improvements in lithium-ion batteries in terms of energy density, an element that could lead this type of battery to become the protagonist of a head-to-head with solid-state batteries in terms of costs and energy density. In short, to use the words of the Mercedes-Benz CTO reported by Reuters, solid-state batteries do not seem to be able to deliver “a big cost advantage or an energy advantage because so many people have worked on conventional cells making them much better“.
Head to head
According to Schafer, there is an advantage in terms of safety in solid state technology, but developments are also expected in lithium technology from this point of view. To return to the words of the CTO of the Star brand, therefore, “These two technologies are the protagonists of a head-to-head race, of which I don't know the winner”even if today solid-state batteries no longer seem like one “big turning point” still having to face “very long development times“. Schafer, not surprisingly, concluded: “The very optimistic forecasts made some time ago on the possible launch of solid-state battery technology remind me a bit of those made for autonomous driving.”
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