Mercedes' Solid State Battery Can Help Assure The Carmaker's Survival And Soon Make Existing EV Batteries Obsolete

While we often compare EV power as it applies to performance, an even more critical stat from EVs is range, and outside of China (where EV ranges are beginning to set records), Western EVs generally have below-acceptable ranges. The acceptable range from an EV is a minimum of 300 miles if you genuinely want to replace an ICE car. because public charging is such a pain, this ability to be nearly always able to charge your car at home would give the EV industry a huge boost.

While the existing Mercedes-Benz EQS has an acceptable range of 390 miles, the prototype provides a whopping 620 miles of range using solid-state battery technology, which has some issues. Still, this massive boost in range could be a game-changer for Mercedes.

See how Mercedes can secure its survival in this video from the Torque News Youtube channel.

Solid-State Batteries

 Solid-state batteries are new but can have some issues, including potentially growing lithium dendrites, which can cause battery shorts. They also use more rare Lithium, and this battery class doesn’t typically perform well at room temperatures, requiring more extensive battery heat management systems.

However, the technology Mercedes is prototyping is from Factorial Energy, and it is considered a “quasi-solid state” because it is infused with liquid or gel-like electrolyte. This formulation promises to provide the safety advantages of solid-state batteries (far less likely to catch fire) with the manufacturing and performance advantages of more typical EV batteries. In theory, this approach gives you more range, more performance, and more safety. Mercedes has also created a dendrite prevention technology that uses pneumatic actuators to keep pressure on the cells. Constant pressure generally prevents these dangerous dendrites from emerging or growing to become problems.

Other advantages besides range are that these batteries are much lighter. Removing weight from the car not only helps with range and performance but also helps a lot with handling. It lowers the overall stresses on the car, which should increase its service life. The batteries are cheaper to manufacture, lowering the cost and price of the car, and the manufacturing process is greener, using far fewer hazardous solvents.

Toyota and others are also exploring this technology, and it will be interesting to see who develops it into a car you can buy first (this is just a prototype).

Closing The China Competitive Gap

Currently, China is the leader in EVs and battery technology. They have already launched cars with over 500 miles of battery range and have cornered many markets for the raw materials used in EV batteries.

It moves like this from companies like Mercedes and Toyota that could close the EV competitive gap with China which, if this gap isn’t closed, would instead given the future EV, and since EVs are slated to replace gas cars in around a decade, keep China from wiping out all of the Western car companies. So, this move to advance battery technology isn’t just good for related cars; it could make the difference between whether non-Chinese car companies will be around by 2040.

Wrapping Up:

Mercedes’ move to more advanced battery technology is a huge hedge against the potential for Chinese car companies to take over a market essentially started by Mercedes over a century ago. Companies rarely last as long as Mercedes has, and the company isn’t giving up but fighting for its future life with efforts like this to jump around China’s well-crafted advantages and preserve Mercedes as a viable car company.

Still, if car companies don’t aggressively close some of these competitive gaps, there is a good chance there will be fewer by 2040, and Mercedes' impressive run will end. I’m hoping that won’t happen, and with moves like this battery technology pivot, Mercedes could hang in there for yet another century. We hope so.

Rob Enderle is a technology analyst at Torque News who covers automotive technology and battery developments. You can learn more about Rob on Wikipedia and follow his articles on Forbes, X, and LinkedIn.