Mercedes-Benz will be working with solid-state battery specialist Factorial Energy for the joint development of solid-state battery technology, the automaker has announced, and will aim to begin testing prototype cells as early as next year.
“By accelerating our Mercedes-Benz strategy towards Electric Only, we have set the course for a fully electric future. We will also play a leading role in the field of battery technology. With Factorial as our new partner, we are taking research and development in the field of promising solid-state batteries to the next level,” said Mercedes-Benz Cars COO Markus Schäfer.
This will see Mercedes-Benz invest “a high double-digit-million dollar amount” in Factorial, Schäfer said without disclosing an exact sum for the investment, which will see the combining of Factorial’s knowledge in solid-state battery technology with the automaker’s own experience in battery development and vehicle integration, the COO said.
Mercedes-Benz plans to integrate the solid-state battery technology into a limited number of vehicles as part of a small series in the next five year, and for that investment, Mercedes-Benz will hold an equity stake in Factorial and obtains the right to delegate a representative to Factorial’s board of directors, the automaker said.
“For Factorial Energy, it is a privilege to collaborate with Mercedes-Benz, which basically invented the automobile. We look forward to working with them to further innovate the automobile with our clean, efficient and safe solid-state battery technology,” said Factorial co-founder and CEO Siyu Huang.
In April 2020, Mercedes-Benz senior manager of battery research Andreas Hintennach said that the German automaker is aiming to be the first to bring the battery into series production with the eCitaro bus in the second half this decade. Meanwhile, compatriot and closest competitor BMW has stated that it plans to roll out a solid-state battery demonstrator vehicle “well before 2025”.
Also aboard the solid-state battery bandwagon is VinFast, which has been working on the battery technology since 2013 and constructed the world’s first solid-state battery experimentation facility for cars in 2017. It isn’t the only avenue VinFast is pursuing, as it is also developing lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries with Gotion High-Tech.
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