Nissan recently unveiled a prototype production facility in Yokohama, Japan, where it said it planned to produce solid-state batteries for electric vehicles.
In a statement, Nissan said it planned to "establish a pilot production line at its Yokohama plant in fiscal year 2024 and study the materials, design and manufacturing processes used to produce the prototype at the prototype production facility." Nissan aims to bring its first electric car with an all-solid-state battery to market in 2028.
All-solid-state batteries can charge faster, charge more and last longer than the lithium-ion batteries used in most electric cars today. Nissan said it expects to eventually use batteries in its range of vehicles, including pickup trucks. By 2028, the company says, its all-solid-state batteries could bring the price of battery packs down to $75 per kilowatt-hour and eventually $65 per kilowatt-hour, helping to make electric cars cheaper and eventually reach the same price point as gasoline-powered cars.
Other automakers are also working to develop solid-state batteries. The Volkswagen-backed QuantumScape is scheduled to go on sale in 2024, and Ford says it will have all-solid-state batteries under development ready by the end of the decade. Toyota said last year it wanted to start manufacturing batteries by the mid-2020s, but said it had to continue working on the technology. But for now, all-solid-state batteries are expensive to make.
Mitsubishi Motors has shut down its main plant in Japan for five days from Today (May 11), as many Japanese automakers have announced a series of shutdowns or production cuts due to parts supply problems.