Fisker’s new battery technology to charge 5 times faster than today’s lithium-ion batteries.
On the heels of Tesla’s release of their new trucks and roadster, Fisker has announced that it filed patents for a new type of battery technology. According to Fisker, this new technology will help them build a solid state battery for their electric vehicles with more surface area than existing flat thin-film solid state electrodes.
According to the carmaker, the new solid state battery technology would improve conductivity, meaning the batteries would work better in cold weather with a faster overall recharge time.
A Promising Solid State Battery Development
This new technology has a way to go before making it to market, as Fisker also announced it would likely not reach cars and trucks until sometime after 2023. Nonetheless, the idea of solid state battery powered electric vehicles is an exciting development with a promising future.
One of the improvements the new solid state battery would bring to the electric vehicle market is that it would be 2.5 times more power-dense than lithium-ion batteries. This means that solid state battery powered cars could be capable of recharging in less time than it takes to fill a modern car’s gas tank, which is a huge deal for founder Henrik Fisker.
“The goal is to eventually be able to charge your car as fast as you can to fill up a tank of gas,” he told BOSS this summer when elaborating on the work being done at Fisker.
The carmaker also claims that after recharging, its solid state battery powered vehicles would be able to drive over 500 miles before needing to charge again. This is a promise that Tesla recently fulfilled with its newly released semi-trucks. The difference? Fisker says their solid state battery would cost about one third as much as lithium-ion batteries.
Not only is the carmaker’s recent announcement a big deal for the development of solid state batteries, but once the plans come to fruition they would make Fisker a formidable competitor to Tesla, which has already had some issues with its battery technology to support this possibility as well.
Tesla’s Lithium-ion Battery Issues
Customers have been turned off by Tesla’s long recharging times for their electric vehicles, and because lithium batteries are slated to remain as pricey as they currently are until 2030. While the carmaker does promise its electric vehicle will curtail gas prices, the setbacks have proven to outweigh the benefits for customers. Could the company’s battery technology, which was touted as a game changer in the automotive industry, become their weakness?
Additionally, lithium-ion batteries are flammable and create a lot of heat which requires cooling systems to offset the generated heat. It also adds weight to the vehicle.
Lithium-ion batteries’ life-cycle doesn’t stack up when compared to that of solid state batteries, which could be five times that of today’s lithium-ion batteries. Solid state batteries also have a higher capacity than lithium-ion batteries, which means you could get the same range for a smaller battery, or a whole lot more range in a battery the same size as today’s lithium-ion batteries.
All of this spells trouble for Tesla, who has up until now been an unchallenged EV powerhouse that has become a household name. Could these developments in solid state technology make Fisker as relevant a carmaker? All signs point to a promising future for Fisker as the company moves forward with its plans to bring electric vehicles to market.
