East Asia's largest battery and automotive groups moved solid-state cells from the laboratory toward factory floors in mid-2026, with Toyota, Nissan and China's CATL all confirming pilot production lines aimed at limited commercial output by 2027 and 2028. The technology, which replaces the liquid electrolyte in conventional lithium-ion cells with a solid material, promises higher energy density and faster charging, and it has become the central competitive battleground among the region's cell makers.
Toyota reaffirmed in 2026 that it intends to bring solid-state batteries to market around 2027 to 2028, targeting electric vehicles capable of more than 1,000 kilometres of range on a single charge and charging times of roughly 10 minutes. The Japanese carmaker is developing the cells with Idemitsu Kosan, with which it signed a partnership in 2023 to mass-produce solid electrolytes derived from byproducts of the oil-refining process.
Pilot lines move ahead in Japan and China
Nissan has said it plans to start production of vehicles fitted with all-solid-state batteries at a pilot plant, with the company pointing to a target of bringing the cells to market by fiscal 2028. The automaker has shown a prototype production facility at its Yokohama plant as part of that programme.
In China, CATL, the world's largest battery manufacturer by installed capacity, has outlined plans to begin small-batch production of all-solid-state cells around 2027. Chief scientist Wu Kai has previously described the company's solid-state effort using a technology-readiness scale, placing it at a level still short of mature mass production, a candid assessment of how far the chemistry has to travel before it reaches volume.
The push is not confined to the largest names. Battery makers and material suppliers across South Korea, Japan and China have been expanding work on sulphide-based and oxide-based electrolytes, the two leading solid-electrolyte families, each with trade-offs in conductivity, stability and manufacturing cost.
Why the timing matters
Solid-state cells are widely viewed as the next step beyond the lithium-ion chemistry that powers nearly every electric vehicle on the road today. By removing the flammable liquid electrolyte, manufacturers expect improvements in safety and the ability to pack more energy into the same space. The catch has been cost and durability at scale, with cracking at the solid interface and yield rates on production lines among the persistent engineering hurdles.
- Higher energy density, which translates into longer driving range per kilogram of cell.
- Faster charging, with several developers targeting times under 15 minutes for a substantial top-up.
- Reduced fire risk compared with liquid-electrolyte cells, a factor regulators and insurers watch closely.
- Manufacturing complexity remains the gating issue, and early output volumes are expected to be small.
South Korea's three major cell makers, LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK On, have each set out solid-state roadmaps, with Samsung SDI signalling the most aggressive timeline among the group for sample shipments to automakers. Samsung SDI has said it began supplying prototype solid-state cells to selected customers for evaluation.
Analysts caution that the first commercial solid-state vehicles will arrive in small numbers and at premium prices, with mass-market adoption unlikely before the end of the decade. The competition through 2027 will be measured less in cars sold than in which pilot line reaches stable yields first.