EV battery companies look at whether semisolid chemistry beats solid-state option

To gel or not — that's the latest debate among electric vehicle battery developers.

Long seen as the holy grail for EVs, automakers and suppliers are spending heavily on solid-state battery technology that is expected to improve range, charging speed and safety.

But others see a variation — semisolid-state batteries— as offering nearly the same benefit but with an advantage: They are closer to commercialization.

A semisolid-state battery has a small amount of liquid or gel that allows fast diffusion of ions — or atoms with an electric charge — to charge and discharge an EV battery. It has far less liquid than a traditional lithium ion battery.

"Semisolid isn't a pipe dream. It's just around the corner, and it's feasible and has many of the benefits of all-solid-state," said Max Reid, principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie, an energy research and consulting firm.

Both are designed to increase the amount of energy stored in a battery. The goal is to enable lithium ions to move quickly between the anode (the negative electrode) and the cathode (the positive electrode).

Today's EV battery cells are flooded with liquid electrolytes that move ions through a porous separator between the anode and cathode. A solid-state battery typically uses a solid electrolyte separator and requires a nearly perfect attachment and movement of ions between the anode and cathode, said Richard Laine, professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Michigan.

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— Hannah Lutz

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