Japanese oil giant, Idemitsu Kosan, is building a new large-scale lithium sulfide plant that will supply the raw material for Toyota’s upcoming all-solid-state EV batteries.

New plant will supply Toyota’s all-solid-state EV batteries

Toyota has been promising to launch all-solid-state EV batteries for years, but those plans may finally be coming together.

Idemitsu announced on Thursday it will build a large-scale production plant for lithium sulfide, a raw material used in all-solid-state EV batteries.

All-solid-state batteries, often called the “holy grail” of EV battery tech, promise to deliver drastic improvements in driving range, charging speeds, and energy density. As the name implies, they feature a solid electrolyte rather than traditional lithium-ion batteries, which contain a liquid electrolyte.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) has already approved the planned construction site. It will cost around 21.3 billion yen ($142 million) and was deemed as a “plan for ensuring supply of storage batteries.”

Idemitsu aims to mass produce all-solid state batteries in 2027 and 2028. The plant will be able to produce 1,000 metric tons of lithium sulphide annually.

The company’s executive officer Tetsuji Mishina told the media (via Reuters) at its oil refinery in China, where it will build the new facility.

Mishina also said Toyota would be its first customer before it plans to expand to others later. Toyota and Idemitsu have been working together since 2023 to develop solid electrolytes for the mass production of all-solid-state EV batteries.

The new plant is another step in the right direction, part of Idemitsu and Toyota’s plans to commercialize all-solid-state EV batteries in 2027 to 2028.

In September, Toyota was granted a METI certification, which gave it the green light to build the new batteries in Japan.

The approval comes as Japan looks to wean itself off dependence on China or South Korea for batteries and establish a stable local supply chain. Toyota and Idemitsu are among several leading Japanese companies investing a combined $7 billion (1 trillion yen) in domestic battery production.

Electrek’s Take

Will Toyota actually launch EVs powered by all-solid-state batteries? They have been touting the new battery tech for years, but it seems to have made some progress recently.

Meanwhile, others are already getting a head start. Mercedes-Benz began testing the “world’s first” production EV powered by solid-state batteries earlier this month.

Through its partnership with US-based Factorial Energy and Mercedes AMG High-Performance Powertrains (HPP), the company tested a slightly modified EQS with over 621 miles of driving range. Mercedes said it was “the first car powered by a lithium-metal solid-state battery on the road.”

Factorial is working with other major OEMs, including Stellantis. Next year, Stellantis plans to launch a series of electric Dodge Chargers powered by Factorials solid-state batteries.

Honda, Hyundai, and let’s not forget global battery leaders CATL and BYD, are also racing to launch the promising new battery tech.

Tesla is hit with a fresh class action lawsuit about the performance and claims of its self-driving and Autopilot systems as well as its “hardware 3 computer.”

The automaker is already facing dozens of lawsuits over its self-driving claims, crashes using advanced driver assist systems, alledged breaches of fiduciary duties from its CEO and board members, but now ou can add another one to the list.

In Australia, law firms Woodsford and JGA Saddler organized a class action in the Federal Court of Australia against Tesla Motors Australia Pty Ltd (Tesla Australia) and Tesla, Inc. (Tesla US) “alleging that Tesla Australia marketed and sold motor vehicles manufactured by Tesla US that were defective.”  

The firms are currently recruiting people who purchased or leased a Tesla Model 3 or Y vehicle in Australia between May 2021 and February 2025.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

They are going after Tesla over three specific issues. When it comes to the alleged defect, they are focusing on the phantom breaking issues when using Tesla’s FSD and Autopilot features:

Tesla vehicles have the propensity to autonomously engage automatic emergency braking abruptly in inappropriate circumstances, leading to a risk of collisions.

Another focus of the lawsuit is the discrepancy between the advertised and real range in its vehicles:

They lack the ability to achieve, or come close to achieving, the advertised maximum range or the range displayed on the vehicle’s dashboard when the battery level is greater than 50%.

Finally, the lawsuit is also going after Tesla for claiming that all its vehicles produced since 2016 have the hardware capable of self-driving:

Despite statements or representations to the contrary, the hardware on Tesla vehicles is incapable of supporting fully autonomous or close to autonomous driving.

This lawsuit comes after CEO Elon Musk finally recently admitted that its Hardware 3 self-driving computer (HW3) will not be capable of unsupervised self-driving.

It’s the first known lawsuit about this issue since the CEO admitted the situation.

Tesla has already been having issues selling vehicles in Australia recently. Tesla’s sales were down 17% in the country last year and 33% in the first month of 2025.

Electrek’s Take

I would expect to see a lot of these lawsuits pop up against Tesla in the coming months, especially about HW3 now that Elon admitted that it won’t be capable of unsupervised self-driving as promised.

He did say that Tesla would offer retrofits for people who bought the FSD package, and that’s enough for his fans, but I doubt it will hold in court.

The way I see it, Tesla used the claim that “all cars produced since 2016 have the hardware capable of self-driving” to see these vehicles whether or not people bought the self-driving software package. Buyers who believed Tesla’s claim expected their cars to hold better value because of that, and it never happened.

Tesla could very well have to compensate every single person who bought vehicles from them.

Xiaomi’s first electric vehicle, the SU7, took the market by storm, securing nearly 250,000 orders in just nine months. Today, the company launched a new flagship variant with over 1,500 hp, starting at under $75,000. Meet the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra.

Xiaomi launches new flagship SU7 Ultra EV variant

In less than a year, Xiaomi’s first EV has become one of the hottest sellers in China. The SU7 hit the market last March and in just nine months, the electric sedan secured nearly 250,000 locked-in orders.

During its product launch event on Thursday, Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun, announced the company had delivered over 135,000 SU7s by the end of 2024.

The sleek electric sedan starts at 215,900 yuan, or just under $30,000. At the event, Xiaomi launched its new flagship “Ultra” SU7 variant.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

Hitting the market at just 529,900 yuan ($73,000) on Thursday, the SU7 Ultra is actually much cheaper than expected.

Powered by three electric motors, packing up to 1,526 horsepower, the high-performance EV can sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) in just 1.98 seconds. After it went on pre-sale last October for 814,900 yuan ($112,000), the Ultra model went viral, securing 3,680 pre-orders in just 10 minutes.

That same month, an SU7 prototype claimed the title as the fastest four-door sedan at the famous Nurburgring race track in Germany.

At 5,115 mm long, 1,970 mm wide, and 1,465 mm tall, Xiaomi’s SU7 is about the size of the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT.

The flagship variant features CATL’s Qilin 2.0 battery pack, which has a 93.7 kWh capacity and can provide a CLTC cruising range of up to 385 miles (620 km).

Lei announced on Weibo that the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra has already received over 6,900 orders. The company will begin deliveries in April and aim to deliver 10,000 models.

In 2025, Xiaomi expects to deliver around 300,000 vehicles. This would be a massive accomplishment, given that it started selling cars less than a year ago.

The SU7 wasn’t the only product to get a new “Ultra” edition. Xiaomi, one of China’s largest smartphone makers, launched the new Xiaomi 15 Ultra, starting at 6,499 yuan ($893).

Lei said buyers that place a deposit before March 31 will receive benefits worth up to 90,000 yuan ($12,400), including 15 pieces of carbon fiber (including the rear wing) and their choice of interior design. The offer includes Xiaomi’s full-scenario end-to-end intelligent driving system, free delivery, and more.

Electrek’s Take

For those that don’t remember, the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra was the Chinese EV Ford’s CEO Jim Farley drove after shipping one from Shanghai to Chicago last year.

Farley called the electric car “fantastic” on the Fully Charged Podcast, and even said he “doesn’t want to give it up.”

According to Ford’s CEO, Xiaomi is an “industry juggernaut” and a brand “that’s much stronger than car companies.”One thing is for sure, Xiaomi will be a brand to keep an eye on as China’s electric car market expands into overseas territory.

Source: CarNewsChina, Xiaomi