Samsung SDI Builds Solid-State Battery Pilot Facility

Samsung SDI, one of the several largest lithium-ion battery manufacturers for electric vehicles, announced that it started construction of its solid-state battery pilot line. The pilot line, called S-Line, will be located at the company’s SDI R&D Center in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do and takes up about 6,500㎡. The South Korean manufacturer set a goal to achieve the market-leading research results and production technology of solid-state batteries. However, there are no details about when we can expect a commercial product. In general, the solid-state battery cells’ electrolyte is solid, instead of a liquid or gel type, which is expected to improve safety. Samsung SDI hints also at a lithium metal electrode and improved energy density. “S-Line’ will be composed of facilities for manufacturing solid-state batteries. Samsung SDI plans to introduce facilities and system to produce cathode and solid electrolyte and adopt new production method and infrastructure such as assembling cells to allow ions to move smoothly within. Samsung SDI has been leading the technology development such as manufacturing prototype of solid-state batteries through successful design and compound of a solid electrotype. In addition, it came up with the technology, securing industry-leading level of higher energy density and safety by developing the anode-free lithium cell architecture. And, this technology was published in the ‘Nature Energy’, a global scientific journal.” Solid-state battery technology is one of the hottest topics in the battery industry. There are big hopes that we will see next-generation batteries with significantly improved performance and safety later this decade. Research into solid-state batteries recently attracted a new wave of investors, including electric vehicle manufacturers, like Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis and Volkswagen, to name just a few. Nissan announced in-house tech, with a very ambitious target: $75 per kWh at the battery pack level. Production might start by 2028. Only time will tell whether solid-state batteries will bring the much-awaited breakthrough, but let’s not forget that the existing lithium-ion technology still has a lot of potential for gradual improvements in all areas (chemistry, manufacturing, cell format/structural pack and scale).