- Nissan says it's on track to launch an all-solid-state battery (ASSB) by March of 2029.
- The company says it'll go into both EVs and hybrids.
- Nissan claims it'll be able to charge to 65% in around 5 minutes.
Nissan is on track to launch an all-solid state battery (ASSB) by the end of fiscal year 2028, executives affirmed to InsideEVs during the brand's future tech preview event in Japan.
"That's our ambition," Shunichi Inamijima, Nissan's vice president for the powertrain and EV engineering division, said via a translator.
He added that Nissan is in the "climax" of engineering the pack itself, and is about to start working on the cars themselves. That's a tight turnaround time, as the 2028 fiscal year in Japan ends on March 31, 2029. This timeline has already been pushed back a bit, as Nissan—like everyone else—initially expected more EV demand than has materialized.
But the late 2028/early 2029 timeline was already announced last spring. This time, though, Nissan has a pilot plant for mass production up and running. The company is nowhere near full-rate production, but it's far along the process of finalizing the design.
Nissan's ASSB will use lithium-metal anode, with a sulfur electrolyte. The company says it can use a nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC), Nickel Manganese (NM) or—eventually—a sulfur manganese cathode. The latter two chemistries would allow the company to forgo having to source cobalt, an expensive and rare metal, while a sulfur-manganese cathode could make things even cheaper. Regardless, the company is targeting density of 1,000 watt-hours per liter. That's considerably ahead of most modern lithium-ion batteries, which top out around 700 watt-hours per liter. Nissan also says it's heat resistant at 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius) and the most durable of any experimental SSB with published results.
The company claims the ASSB will be able to charge to 65% in as little as 5 minutes, also a big leap over most EV batteries. According to one executive, these also won't be unique to EVs. Solid-state batteries will be useful for hybrids, especially larger SUVs. The weight and stability benefits of ASSBs will make hybrids more efficient, cheaper and more durable.
There's no word on what EV will get this technology first. Still, Nissan's timeline makes it more aggressive here than most companies. Many have pledged to launch their ASSBs by the end of the decade, but few have been bolder than that. Mercedes and Factorial are far along together, and semi-solid-state batteries already exist in China. But the race to get a true solid-state battery to market remains an open contest. Let's see if Nissan has what it takes to win.
Contact the author: Mack.hogan@insideevs.com.
