False hope? Why holy grail batteries are no certainty this decade as Kia joins Audi in pouring cold water on solid state batteries as Toyota, Nissan, Honda, MG, Chery and others forge ahead

Solid-state batteries are thought of as the holy grail of cell technology.

Carmakers across the globe are racing to be the first to put them in an electric car, with some promising the new power source to be in cars this year.

Kia isn’t so sure, though.

Hyundai Group's head of global product planning, Spencer Cho, told US publication Automotive News that the technology is more complex than many realise.

“I don’t think we can commercialize these batteries before 2030,” said Cho

“There is a lot of uncertainty about the progress of solid-state batteries,” he said.

It echoes similar comments made to CarsGuide last year by one of Audi’s senior drivetrain engineers, who said the technology wasn’t likely to be feasible for ‘everyday’ cars in the foreseeable future due to the minuscule manufacturing margins of error required.

Carmakers are betting big on solid-state batteries as they are believed to be the silver bullet to unlocking mass electric car adoption.

Solid-state batteries are smaller, lighter, more energy dense and less fire prone than current battery options.

This means electric cars fitted with the tech can be lighter, have more power and a longer driving range than current EVs.

They are also essential to unlocking battery powered 4WDs, utes and performance cars, as they don’t impose the same weight restrictions as current battery technology.

Japanese giants Toyota, Nissan and Honda are well advanced in their development of solid-state battery tech. All of them are targeting roughly 2027 to 2028 to fit the cells in production vehicles.

Chinese carmakers, which are currently the leader in electric car battery tech, claim to be the closest to fitting the power packs to their vehicles.

Vice President of Passenger Cars at SAIC, Yu Jingmin, said at the 2024 Chengdu motor show the company would fit solid-state batteries to its cars this year. SAIC owns MG, which means we could see the tech on Australian roads soon.

BYD, Chery and GWM have all committed to the technology and are forecasting it to be used in production vehicles very soon.