Toyota has been coy with the idea of battery-powered cars, avoiding discussion of their presence in the world for several years, and now springing dual surprises in solid-state and aluminum cells. For several years, Toyota had been promoting a hydrogen fuel system, even developing a hydrogen-based trucking program from its San Diego docks. and at an Ontario, California location. They’ve been campaigning a sub-compact Yaris sedan which burns H2 directly, rather than using a fuel-cell electric approach. Those efforts seem ongoing, perhaps camouflaging their very real battery efforts, which must have been underway for at least a few years. Proof of that, Toyota has over 8,000 patents for solid-state energy storage. Toyota has been working, “With Japanese petroleum company Idemitsu Kosan to mass produce solid-state batteries. The collaboration will focus on sulfide solid electrolytes, a promising material for EV batteries.” This partnership has been ongoing since 2013. The chart below, though, shows a renewed and current (no pun intended) interest …
