So what’s the situation with EVs and solid state batteries already?
Electrek spoke with Dr. Greg Hitz, founder and CTO at Beltsville, Maryland-based ION Storage Systems, about what solid state batteries are, why they’re considered the “unicorn” of battery technology, and why they have yet to hit the market, and how his company is working to move the needle.
Electrek: Could you explain what solid state batteries are, what they’re used for, and how they differ from lithium-ion batteries?
Greg Hitz: Solid state batteries replace the flammable liquid electrolyte in a traditional lithium-ion battery with a solid electrolyte that serves the same function. They’re generally accepted as the key to unlocking the safety and energy density required for advanced electric vehicles and electrified flight.
It’s important to note, though, that not all solid state batteries are created equal. The different materials and configurations that underlie solid state battery technologies matter for safety, performance, energy density, and manufacturability.
Electrek: Solid state batteries are often referred to as the “unicorn” of battery technology. Why is that?
Greg Hitz: It’s a great analogy – you’ve never seen a solid state battery just like you’ve never seen a unicorn. Solid state batteries have long had the potential to outperform the batteries you see in most EV’s today; longer range, shorter recharge times, they’re safer. But nobody has yet shown that solid state batteries can deliver on their performance promise without making major sacrifices during battery pack integration like heating or compression requirements and can be produced with scalable manufacturing techniques.
Electrek: Why haven’t solid state batteries taken off yet?
Greg Hitz: No solid state battery manufacturer has yet to offer a 100% solution. Looking across the industry, there are technologies that have incredible rate performance, great energy density, strong safety, scalable manufacturing, and simple pack integration, but no single product offers all of that without significantly compromising one or more of the other aspects.
This is where we think ION differs from other technologies. Our first market customer will get a battery manufactured in the US that offers 40% more energy than their current solution and meets their needs on rate performance, cycle life, and production costs, all while inherently safe.
After our first market release, our second-generation product will incorporate future developments that will hugely extend the reach of the technology: doubling energy density, increased rate performance, order of magnitude decreases in production cost, qualifying long cycle life, and all the other targets required for wider market release such as EV production.
Electrek: How could solid state batteries achieve scale?
Greg Hitz: Scaling is hard and scaling batteries is even harder.
First, you need to design your battery to use plentiful, inexpensive resources. Cobalt and nickel are expensive and hard to source. ION has developed a battery with a lithium-free anode that supports nickel and cobalt-free cathodes.
Second, and perhaps most importantly, you need to design a battery that’s suited for manufacturing. The biggest targets here are energy-per-area – because cost of production is generally a per-area basis and batteries are sold per-energy – and use of highly scaled existing processing techniques.
Third, you need to create a win-win for manufacturing partners in the ecosystem. Solid state battery manufacturing is a whole new industry and there’s no widely scaled product that exists without an industry behind it. Look at the number of component suppliers for electric vehicles or for lithium-ion batteries. Dozens of companies contribute to the production of each unit sold. That complete package doesn’t yet exist in solid state batteries.
Lastly, you have to be in production to improve your production. That’s why we’re rolling out to smaller markets before we scale to EV. The pain of early production focuses the innovation and makes our EV production stronger.
Electrek: Why have cobalt and nickel become a source of pain for battery makers, and what other obstacles are there?
Greg Hitz: The only game in town for high energy density batteries right now is a nickel- and cobalt-based chemistry. There are alternatives, though.
Auto OEMs are switching to plentiful but less energy dense lithium iron phosphate chemistries for their shorter-range vehicles. Advanced nickel- and cobalt-free cathodes – incompatible with lithium-ion – that offer higher energy density without supply chain constraints exist, and have been waiting patiently for a technology to enable them.
ION’s platform technology is uniquely enabling to these plentiful and greater energy density chemistries and has been demonstrated with these cathodes, including sulfur and high voltage spinel chemistries, to name a few.
Electrek: Where are we in sourcing minerals ethically and sustainably for solid state batteries?
Greg Hitz: Solid state batteries unlock completely new chemistries, but that opportunity has to be intentionally harnessed to move to ethical and sustainable supply chains. We’ve worked with suppliers to achieve North American mineral sourcing and are working with recyclers to plan for end-of-life.
Photo: ION Storage Systems
Dr. Greg Hitz led the development of the multilayer garnet structure and co-founded Ion Storage Systems. He brings his experience in Good Manufacturing Practice to the company’s research culture, leading to an efficient transition from lab research to manufacturing operations. Greg received his PhD in materials science & engineering and bachelor’s in chemical engineering from the University of Maryland.
UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
The all-electric luxury electric SUV is getting significantly cheaper. Lexus launched a new entry-level 2025 RZ trim with starting prices over $10,000 less than last year’s model. And you get just as much driving range.
2025 Lexus RZ electric SUV prices and driving range
Lexus launched its first dedicated EV last year, the RZ electric SUV. Starting at $55,175, the 2024 Lexus RZ 300e has a range of up to 266 miles.
The 2024 RZ 450e AWD, equipped with its dual-moto DIRECT4 system, has a range of up to 196 miles. Prices start at just under $60,000. Both models are offered in Premium or Luxury packages.
Lexus is drastically lowering prices for the 2025 model year. The 2025 Lexus RZ starts at $43,975, and that includes the $1,175 delivery fee.
At under $44,000, prices for the 2025 RZ start at over $10,000 less than last year’s model. The lower price tag comes as Lexus added a new entry-level RZ 300e FWD trim to the lineup.
The 2025 Lexus RZ 300e FWD still has an EPA-estimated 266-mile range (18″ wheels), so despite the lower price, it’s no loss from last year’s model. It’s powered by a 72.8 kWh battery pack from global leader CATL.
Lexus modified the subframe for the FWD model, replacing the rear eAxle from the AWD model. The result is a quieter, smoother drive.
Powered by a 71.4 kWh battery, the 2025 RZ 450e AWD has an EPA-estimated driving range of up to 220 miles (18″ wheels).
| 2025 Lexus RZ model | Starting Price* | EPA-estimated Driving Range |
| RZ 450e AWD | $48,675 | 220 miles |
| RZ 450e Premium AWD w/ 18″ Wheel | $52,875 | 220 miles |
| RZ 450e Premium AWD w/ 20″ Wheel | $54,115 | 196 miles |
| RZ 450e Luxury AWD | $58,605 | 220 miles |
| RZ 300e FWD | $43,975 | 266 miles |
| RZ 300e Premium FWD w/ 18″ Wheel | $48,175 | 266 miles |
| RZ 300e Premium FWD w/ 20″ Wheel | $49,415 | 224 miles |
| RZ 300e Luxury FWD | $53,905 | 266 miles |
The 2025 Lexus RZ is available in three grades. These include the new entry-level model, in addition to the current Premium and Luxury trims.
Inside, the electric SUV has a minimalistic feel with a standard 14″ infotainment with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support at the center.
You can also opt for the available 10″ head-up display (HUD), Mark Levinson Surround Sound System, and a host of safety features.
The flat platform provides a spacious interior with 37.52″ of rear legroom, nearly as much as the second row of a Ford Explorer (39″).
With the 2025 model arriving at dealerships soon, Lexus is offering closeout prices on 2024 models with up to $18,500 in lease cash discounts. You can use our link to find the best offers on the Lexus RZ at a dealer near you today.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Environment
‘Political malpractice’ if Trump undoes climate-geared Biden projects, outgoing U.S. energy secretary says
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm speaks to the media on day five at the UNFCCC COP29 Climate Conference on November 15, 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
A potential decision by Donald Trump to walk back the Biden administration’s climate-geared projects would impact jobs in areas governed by the President-elect’s own party, outgoing U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told CNBC, urging consistency in Washington’s green transition policies.
Referencing the White House’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement — a 2015 treaty in which nearly 200 governments made non-binding pledges to reduce greenhouse emissions — during Trump’s first mandate, Granholm said the U.S. pressed ahead with projects linked to the green transition that members of Congress wanted to undertake in their districts.
“We are now building all of these projects. We’re building batteries for electric vehicles, we’re building the vehicles, we’re building the offshore wind turbines, we’re building the solar panels. And all of those are factories. And those factories are in districts of members of Congress,” she told CNBC’s Dan Murphy on Friday at the COP29 U.N. climate conference held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
She estimated that 80% of the funding from U.S. President Joe Biden’s legacy bills — the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — went to U.S. districts represented by Republican leadership.
“It would be political malpractice to undo those opportunities when people are just now getting hired,” she said, stressing benefits to the manufacturing sector and noting that the business community of the world’s largest economy and oil producer now wants a clear course from Washington on its climate policy.
“This isn’t about in [the Paris Agreement], out, shifting back and forth. Let’s have a consistent practice,” she said.
When asked for a response on Granholm’s comments, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team, said the president-elect will “deliver” on the promises he made on the campaign trail.
International focus has now shifted on the shape of the U.S.’ future role in global climate policy, as Trump prepares to take the helm at the White House for a second mandate in January, following a sweeping victory against Democrat candidate Kamala Harris. Trump — who has yet to announce his own pick to lead the U.S. Department of Energy — put hydrocarbons at the front and center of his campaigning agenda, pledging to “end Biden’s delays in federal drilling permits and leases that are needed to unleash American oil and natural gas production.”
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in March said that the country already “produced more crude oil than any nation at any time” for the past six years to 2023, averaging a crude oil and condensate production of 12.9 million barrels per day that year — breaking the previous U.S. and global record of 12.3 million barrels per day recorded in 2019, during Trump’s first mandate.
Yet Granholm on Friday stressed that the clean transition is also “unleashed” and will take place regardless of who is leading the White House — and that ignoring climate change risks sacrificing Washington’s position as a frontrunner in the blooming decarbonization industry.
“Why would we take a second, a backseat to an economic competitor like China?” she asked. “They have an economic strategy, they want to be number one. So if we get out of the game, we’re just going to cede that territory all over again. It’s bad strategy for the United States and for workers and for communities across the country.”
As the world braces for the possibility of a second U.S. exit from the Paris Agreement, some climate activists note that the green transition has now gained a different global momentum than during Trump’s first turn at the White House:
“There is no denying that another Trump presidency will stall national efforts to tackle the climate crisis and protect the environment, but most U.S. state, local, and private sector leaders are committed to charging ahead,” Dan Lashof, U.S. director of the World Resources Institute, said in a Nov. 6 statement.
“Donald Trump heading back to the White House won’t be a death knell to the clean energy transition that has rapidly picked up pace these last four years.”
Granholm also identified potential support in Trump’s current entourage, which this week welcomed business tycoon Elon Musk as the president-elect’s choice to head a new Department of Government Efficiency, alongside conservative activist Vivek Ramaswamy:
“His right-hand man, Elon Musk, is somebody who has been strongly in favor of products that … address climate change. Obviously, he’s the founder of Tesla,” Granholm pointed out.
Musk’s environmental stance has come under question over the years, shifting from telling Rolling Stone magazine that “climate change is the biggest threat that humanity faces this century, except for AI” and backing carbon taxes to holding that the world needs hydrocarbon supplies as a bridge to renewable energy.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports7 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway