Mercedes-Benz Drives Toward Solid-State EV Batteries
59 comments
·March 13, 2025sbm_au
tim333
BYD say they expect to begin 'demonstration use' of all-solid-state batteries by 2027.
>Large-scale adoption of all-solid-state batteries may not happen until after 2030, BYD's battery business CTO said https://www.reddit.com/r/electricvehicles/comments/1iq5ukh/b...
LeoPanthera
My EQE with its very mediocre battery, claims to get ~300 miles but actually gets about 350 when I drive it.
And that is already pushing the limits of my bladder. I can't imagine ever wanting to drive further than that without stopping.
floxy
Is that at highway speeds (75 miles/hour)? The EPA range estimates/ratings are a blend of city and highway driving with an average speed of 48 miles/hr. So highway range is usually considerably less than the EPA estimate. Maybe Mercedes is super-conservative with their range estimate? Makes more sense I guess for a luxury class vehicle.
r00fus
How about going uphill, or in colder weather, etc.
I still would not rent an EV when traveling.
zfg
It's less about stopping and more about how often you have to charge the car. If more cars have to charge more frequently with a longer charge time, then more fast charging infrastructure needs to be built out.
Larger vehicles (buses, trucks) need more battery. Towing requires more battery.
Fewer stops out of the necessity to charge is a good thing.
antisthenes
> And that is already pushing the limits of my bladder. I can't imagine ever wanting to drive further than that without stopping.
The EV critics would say that you can empty your bladder much faster than the car can charge its battery.
Personally though for ranges that exceed 350-400 miles, I would typically consider flying (or taking the train if those are fast) anyway.
AtlasBarfed
When highway self-driving happens to the point I can sleep/nap, I'll strongly disagree.
I get to take multiple people, more cargo, leave whenever I want, and when I get there I have a car.
fisherjeff
A car with similar range but a physically smaller battery would be cheaper and lighter; also, faster charging is always nice.
sincerecook
[dead]
Animats
semi-solid-state cells
Those have been around for a while. There are already prototype full solid state cells. Nobody has a good production process yet.
dmix
I believe the only hard announcement here is they are road testing on real Mercedes and soon Dodge cars after both parent companies previously invested $200M into the startup
seungwoolee518
Is the Solid State Battery claimed by Mercedes-Benz safer than the batteries currently used in EVs? In 2024, a Mercedes electric vehicle caught a major fire in my country (South Korea), which has led to a rise in electric vehicle phobia and even places where parking is completely prohibited.
dmix
If you read the article it will answer your question in the first paragraph
seungwoolee518
Oh, I see. Thanks.
sunflowerfly
EV’s catch fire at a far lower rate than gas vehicles.
r00fus
SSBs will not only revolutionize ground transport, but more importantly air transport and drone tech.
Given it has such high military value and those customers can pay very well, I predict that they will see the first uses of this tech.
readthenotes1
Another better battery Bulletin :(
Loudergood
It's always the companies without a solid mass market EV that are promising this.
dangus
Mercedes sells 8 different EV models (including commercial vans). While they haven’t been doing as well as competitors like BMW in EV sales, they are not a nobody in the space.
cultofmetatron
tesla didn't start with a mass market EV either. its generally better to go after rich people with cutting edge features because they are less price sensitive and can pay the margins involved with low volume runs until the tech is perfected and ready to scale.
senectus1
isnt the prevailing issue with solid state is that they're both expensive to manufacture AND they have a short lifecycle? (ie the lifespan of a solidstate is about a 1/4 of a NMC and even less that of a LFP)
fragmede
Solid state LFP batteries, having no moving parts, is supposed to last longer and be more energy dense than traditional lithium ion, though we'll have to see what it is in practice.
tkubacki
Another day, another better battery for consumer product promise. I really hope one day we will get rid of stinking non electric cars from the streets.
theoreticalmal
Did we ever figure out a valid EV system for heavy trucks that need to drive 600 miles in a 10 hour shift? Seems like a very tall order for standard EV infrastructure and mobile systems
bryanlarsen
If you're driving 600 miles in 10 hours without a 30 minute break you should have your license taken away. And 30 minutes is all you need for enough of a charge top-up on a 400 mile battery.
sbm_au
We figured out a system for that in 1881 - electrified railways!
Of course it requires massive capital investment, a modal shift for the last mile, and it's somewhat inflexible.
VladStanimir
I remember watching a video 3 years ago by Tom Scott about trucks with overhed power like trains have. https://youtu.be/_3P_S7pL7Yg
mc32
Trains travel on semi level grades -not steep. Trucks on the other hand do, even if only counting interstates. Having a large tonnage truck going up hill lose power would not be fun. Maybe they can make them more reliable than MUNIs implementation.
melling
“Drivers must take a 30-minute break after driving for 8 cumulative hours”
We already have laws.
bryanlarsen
Janus has some 900 mile configurations.
bmicraft
Why do they look like that? There shouldn't even be an engine under that huge-ass hood. Cab-Over makes way more sense, including for visibility.
_aavaa_
Thankfully the that doesn’t describe the majority of non-commercial, or even commercial, requirements.
elihu
Ideally a lot of the long-haul freight could be handled by rail, but another option for trucks is to have electrified highways. There are some projects in Sweden (one of which uses power rails embedded in slots in the road surface) and Germany (which uses overhead lines).
The slots-in-the-road approach is a bit more expensive, but it can be used by cars and trucks, whereas the overhead lines are just for trucks.
gpm
This is just a question of energy density, cost, and how much weight/cost you are willing to add to the truck.
We'll hit that point soon enough (if we haven't already with some nice truck that hasn't crossed my newsfeed). In the meantime, there's lots of shorter haul trucking routes, and routes with access to fast chargers half way (300 mile electric semis definitely exist), to convert.
null
I compare solid-state battery manufacturing, to extreme ultraviolet lithography.
I remember reading about attempts to commercialise EUV lithography in the early 2000s (in a paper magazine!) The same issues that SSB have now - some lucky examples from tiny yields in the lab, but the devil's own problem to scale it and develop reliable manufacturing.
ASML was able to commercialise it in 2018. I expect the timeline for SSB to be about the same, twenty years or so. I think we will see it but not until the 2030s.