Honda Fires Up Massive Solid-State Battery Production Line

Honda has taken a big step towards commercializing solid-state battery technology by opening a massive new demonstration production line at its R&D center in Sakura City, Japan.

The 300,000sqft facility allows the company’s engineers to prototype and test the complete manufacturing process for solid-state battery cells at scale, as reported by The Verge.

The line replicates all the key steps involved – precisely weighing and mixing electrode materials, coating the anode and cathode films, assembling the electrodes with the solid electrolyte layer to form the cell, and then combining individual cells into full battery modules.

Honda states that this ability to mock up the entire production process from start to finish is crucial for rapidly iterating on material formulations and optimizing all aspects of design and assembly.

The goal is to ultimately find the ideal approach that enables low-cost, high-volume manufacturing of Honda’s proprietary solid-state battery cells. These will then power not just electric vehicles, but “a wide range of Honda mobility products” including motorcycles and aircraft.

A key piece of Honda’s strategy is leveraging a “roll-processing technique” that enables using thicker layers of dense solid electrolyte material layered between the anode and cathode.

Honda believes the rolling method combined with manufacturing processes similar to existing lithium-ion production lines will allow it to achieve the scale and affordability needed to deploy solid-state batteries widely.

Of course, other automakers are also aggressively pursuing solid-state battery technology. Volkswagen-backed QuantumScape, Nissan, and Factorial, which is testing such batteries for vehicles like the Dodge Charger, all have competing efforts underway.

Honda isn’t relying solely on solid-state’s potential, though, as it continues advancing on multiple EV fronts. The company’s Prologue SUV, built using GM’s Ultium EV platform, has seen solid sales in the US market. The company is also preparing to follow it up with a larger electric SUV in 2025.

Earlier this year, the company also announced a partnership with Nissan to better compete with Chinese rivals.