Solid state: Is the next generation of EV batteries around the corner?

Posted: June 03, 2026

In early January, at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, an unknown start-up made a bold announcement. Donut Lab, the subsidiary of Finnish firm Verge Motorcycles, claimed it had solved a problem that has dogged the battery industry for years: how to produce a working, scalable solid-state battery that could outperform the lithium-ion versions used by virtually every electric vehicle today. 

By ditching liquid electrolytes, solid-state batteries promise to be smaller, faster and more powerful, enabling longer range and lower risks—in other words, a game changer for electric vehicles. But companies have been promising them for years with little to show for it, to the point where they have become a perpetual mirage on the horizon. Toyota once planned to have them in cars by 2020. The automaker is now confident it will deliver on that pledge by 2028. 

Donut Lab’s battery was instantly met with skepticism by experts. The company claimed it had roughly twice the energy density of typical lithium-ion models, had a practically unlimited lifespan and could charge fully in five minutes—all without being significantly affected by heat and cold, or using rare earths and precious metals. Most remarkably, it did not set some distant launch date: apparently, the battery was ready for production right now and would be used in a Verge motorcycle due to ship in the fourth quarter of 2026. 

Whether or not Donut Lab turns out to be the real deal, other companies are also racing to the finish line. And the science of solid-state batteries has recently made strides, addressing one of the most persistent problems dogging the technology. As a result, the next generation of electric vehicles could finally be on the cusp of becoming reality. 

Why solid-state batteries are the ‘holy grail’ for electric vehicles 

Lithium-ion batteries consist of an anode, a cathode and a separator between the two, as well as a liquid electrolyte through which the ions flow back and forth as the cell is charged or discharged. Solid-state batteries principally function the same way, but simply swap out the lithium-based liquid electrolyte for one made of ceramic, polymers or sulphide compounds. 

This brings several advantages. The solid electrolyte can replace the separator, making the battery smaller, which, combined with a lighter lithium metal anode, also lowers the pack’s weight. Without a flammable liquid, solid-state batteries can tolerate higher temperatures and are generally more stable, reducing the risk of fires. Most of all, their higher energy density unlocks greater range, and they charge more quickly, too—two key pain points currently holding back broader EV adoption. 

The problem is nobody has yet figured out how to produce them at scale. On top of higher materials costs and the need for new supply chains and manufacturing processes, prototypes are often plagued by dendrites, metal growths that form on the anode and can grow through the electrolyte to the cathode, causing the battery to short-circuit and fail. 

Dendrites have been a major hindrance to battery development since the 1970s and are a main reason why lithium-ion models, with their less susceptible graphite anodes, have become so ubiquitous. Scientists had hoped that using solid electrolytes would make lithium anodes feasible by blocking the growth of dendrites. But the dendrites have been cracking the solid electrolytes and growing to the cathode through the cracks. 

Now, new scientific advances could finally help tackle this issue. Researchers at MIT have discovered that electro-chemical reactions are causing the electrolytes to crack at stresses up to 75% lower than when they don't have ions flowing through them. 

“What we saw was that if you just test the ceramic electrolyte on the benchtop, it’s about as tough as your tooth,” Cole Fincher, an MIT PhD student in materials science and engineering and the resulting paper’s author, said. “But during charging, it gets a lot weaker—closer to the brittleness of a lollipop.” 

The MIT researchers hope their findings will now spur development of more chemically stable, rather than stronger, electrolytes, allowing solid-state batteries to finally catch up. 

Which companies are developing solid and semi-solid batteries? 

In September, Factorial Energy provided cells for a Mercedes test vehicle that drove over 745 miles on a single charge. The U.S.-based company now plans to bring its model to market as soon as next year.  

Another U.S.-based developer, Quantumscape, is also testing its cells with automotive partners, including Volkswagen’s battery subsidiary PowerCo, ahead of commercial production. Meanwhile, BMW and Ford have invested millions in Colorado-based Solid Power, and in Japan, Toyota and Honda are both working on developing solid-state batteries in-house. 

Chinese companies are also charging ahead. CATL, the world’s largest battery company, plans to manufacture small quantities of its sulfide-based solid-state battery by next year. Targeting a similar production timeline is automaker Changan, which plans to begin its first in-vehicle test installations this year. More than 80% of the world’s initial solid-state battery manufacturing capacity will likely be concentrated in China, according to analysts at BloombergNEF. 

In the meantime, companies have started to launch the first semi-solid-state batteries, a hybrid technology that could serve as a bridge until fully solid-state models reach mass production. By using materials like gel electrolytes, these already reduce the liquid inside cells and gain some of the benefits of solid-state batteries—such as better conductivity, lower volatility and reduced risk of dendrites. They can also be manufactured on conventional lithium-ion battery production lines. 

How Donut Lab is trying to win over a skeptical industry 

For its part, Donut Lab continues to try to win over its skeptics. Soon after its initial announcement, the company launched a website cheekily called I Donut Believe and started to release test results of its energy storage devices conducted by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland in accordance with a test plan set out by Donut Lab itself. 

The VTT results have so far covered the devices’ fast-charging performance and charge retention, performance under sustained high temperatures, as well as operations after sustaining damage. But it is unclear whether the tests were even performed on the same device and, as the Verge reported in April, the company has yet to back up crucial claims regarding the battery’s chemistry, density and cycle life. 

Eight years ago, a Danish entrepreneur named Henrik Fisker made an eerily similar CES announcement, claiming his company had solved some of the problems holding back solid-state batteries and was months away from a final design. By 2021, he had abandoned the idea (the company would later declare bankruptcy). “It’s the kind of technology where, when you feel like you’re 90 percent there, you’re almost there, until you realize the last 10 percent is much more difficult than the first 90,” Fisker said at the time. “We just don’t see it materializing.” 

Has Donut Lab gotten 100 percent of the way there? Even if it hasn’t, a mass-market solid-state battery surely is only a matter of time.