Toyota makes big promises on battery technology

Toyota is going through a Kodak moment right now, given that, like the movie giant, they have completely blundered the adoption of revolutionary technology. In Kodak's case, it was digital camera adoption that they almost completely ignored; Toyota is now becoming infamous for refusing to participate in the electric car boom, instead placing all its faith in hybrid drivetrains and hydrogen fuel cell technologies. Whether Toyota can wake up in time to avoid a complete Kodak-style meltdown remains to be seen, but they've made some startling claims about battery technology that raise at least a few eyebrows.

What Toyota is claiming is that they have a new solid-state battery, one that has a much higher energy density than current mass-produced batteries, and possibly one that will go into their fleet of electric vehicles (whenever they start manufacturing them). Of course, they haven't released any information about these batteries that could verify these claims, and while they have breakthrough technology, there's no guarantee they'll be able to extend it, or that other manufacturers of electric vehicles do not manufacture similar products. wins between the present and the murky, uncertain future where Toyota actually sells electric vehicles.

There are also claims that Toyota hasn't completely abandoned its interest in hydrogen, a technology that not only relies on a hydrogen drivetrain to be adopted in the vehicles themselves, but also completely depends of a currently non-existent hydrogen. Infrastructure. The electric grid already exists to move energy, and betting on hydrogen to do so seems a bit like Toyota falling into the sunk cost illusion. But hopefully the interest in solid-state batteries is a sign that Toyota is finally starting to adapt to the age of electric vehicles.