Samsung Preparing to Trial Solid-State Battery Production

Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

Samsung has started constructing a pilot production line for solid-state batteries.

The company’s battery development arm, Samsung SDI, is developing its ‘S-Line’ in the South Korean province of Gyeonggi-do, in a bid to become a market leader in solid-state batteries.

The rise of solid-state batteries could bring major benefits for the bicycle industry, in light of current safety concerns about lithium batteries and their potential to ignite.

Solid-state batteries do not have the liquid electrolytes used in other types of batteries and, therefore, promise to overcome the risks highlighted by recent lithium battery fires.

In addition, they can achieve greater energy density by using lithium metal as a cathode material, rather than graphite and silicon.

However, recent research by Sandia National Laboratories and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have suggested further studies are needed into the fire risk of solid-state batteries.

Their own research found solid-state batteries that short-circuit can “reach temperatures significantly higher than conventional Li-ion, which could lead to fire through flammable packaging and/or nearby materials”.

The researchers measured the heat emitted from the failures of a variety of battery configurations, including a direct comparison to Li-ion batteries.