Toyota aims to be one of the first companies to launch its solid-state battery installed in an electric car on the global market. We know that they have been registering patents for this technology for years, and their latest promise is that they will release batteries with solid electrolytes by 2027. With these latest statements made by the Japanese brand, it seemed that they would be the first to have a technology that aims to be a true revolution for electric vehicles. However, a Chinese brand has overtaken them on the right and will have these batteries before Toyota.
According to Toyota’s promises, its solid-state batteries will give rise to electric cars with 1,200 km of range and a charging system that allows energy to be recovered in 10 minutes of charging. These are promising figures and, of course, they point to a revolution in the benefits that an electric car can offer. However, today we learned that only 10,000 cars will have this battery, which, by the way, will debut in the successor to the Lexus LFA, a model based on the Lexus Electrified Sport Concept. So, in reality, its deployment will be very slow due to the initial limitations in the production rate.
GAC, a Chinese company, will launch solid-state battery electric vehicles ahead of Toyota
The Chinese group GAC has announced that they intend to launch their first electric cars with solid-state battery technology on the market somewhat earlier than expected by Toyota, for the year 2026. For now, according to the data provided by Feng Xingya, the company’s president, what we can expect is an energy density of 400 Wh/kg at the cell level and with high levels of both useful life and safety.
We are not talking about just any brand, but GAC is the second largest manufacturer of electric cars in China behind only BYD. A brand that we know little about in Europe because they do not market their vehicles here, but here we have already heard about the GAC Aion Hyper GT, for example, for having managed to become the most aerodynamic electric car in the world. Furthermore, GAC is one of the many Chinese companies that have already expressed their intentions to attack the European market soon.
Until now it seemed that Toyota would be the first brand to have electric cars with solid-state batteries. And, in reality, with the latest information about how this technology will be launched from the Japanese, expectations have plummeted. Simply, because by the year 2030, there will barely be 10,000 cars with this type of battery and using them only in one model. So, although they will arrive soon, it is true that they will do so much slower than it seemed and than users would have liked. And now the situation is even worse because they are not even going to be the first. After all, an Asian giant has just overtaken them on the right with its latest announcement.
But there is still plenty of time for both the year 2026 when GAC has targeted it, and the year 2027, which is when Toyota has announced that it will debut this technology. And the two main world manufacturers of batteries for electric cars remain to speak. That is, we still have to know in detail what CATL and BYD will do, and if they will rush to deploy their corresponding solid-state battery technology. Because, of course, if anyone can overtake Toyota, it is these two companies. Which are also Chinese.
