- Mercedes-Benz is testing an EQS prototype fitted with a solid-state battery
- The battery is anticipated to ship 25% extra vary than a traditional liquid-type battery
- Extra superior solid-state designs may ship virtually double the vary of standard batteries
Mercedes-Benz has begun highway checks of its first prototype geared up with a lithium-metal solid-state battery, developed in collaboration with U.S. firm Factorial.
The prototype relies on the present EQS electrical full-size liftback, with Mercedes concentrating on a spread of at the very least 621 miles on a single cost, in response to the WLTP take a look at cycle used abroad. This represents an roughly 25% improve over the manufacturing EQS, which has a most WLTP vary of 488 miles.
For the EQS prototype, Factorial equipped the battery cells, which have been built-in right into a battery pack by Mercedes and its U.Ok.-based Mercedes-AMG Excessive Efficiency Powertrains division—the identical staff accountable for the corporate’s Formulation 1 energy models. The pack includes a patented floating cell service with pneumatic actuators that compensate for the enlargement and contraction of the cells as they cost and discharge.
Strong-state batteries are a promising development in electrical mobility. By utilizing a stable electrolyte as a substitute of a liquid, they improve security and allow using new anode supplies, resembling lithium-metal, which considerably outperforms standard lithium-ion cells and permits for increased power densities.
Mercedes-Benz EQS solid-state battery prototype
Within the EQS prototype, the battery is roughly 25% extra energy-dense than a traditional liquid-based lithium-ion battery. Nonetheless, final yr, Mercedes and Factorial demonstrated a battery with almost double the power density of present lithium-ion cells—round 0.45 kwh per kilogram (roughly 2.2 kilos).
Mercedes first introduced its partnership with Factorial on solid-state battery know-how in 2021. In 2024, the businesses collectively said that they anticipate the know-how to be commercially viable by the top of the last decade. If solid-state know-how reaches commercialization, Mercedes’ growth of a new micro-converter, mixed with improvements in cooling techniques, could enable solid-state cells to be built-in alongside different cell varieties throughout the identical battery pack.
Though solid-state batteries usually are not a brand new idea, scaling up manufacturing has confirmed more difficult than anticipated for each automakers and battery producers.
