Solid state battery technology is by no means a new technology, but until now has been out of the reach of smartphones, laptops or any other technology which requires a battery of over 1000mah. While we may not have access to solid state batteries just yet, current technological breakthroughs will see solid state batteries in mobile phones and laptops in the next 5 to 10 years.
What Changed
Solid state batteries have been around for a long time, but only in small applications. Items that needed to be safe and have a long battery life like pacemakers have used solid state batteries since the late 1980s. The difficulty in solid state batteries comes when trying to scale them up to larger capacity.
The dielectric just does not function the same way when made bigger, making for a battery which would have almost no lifespan compared to current lithium solutions. The big changes came some in recent years, with a huge influx of research and development by the motor industry. The added research and development have led to technological breakthroughs which allow the creation of larger capacity solid state batteries.
Safety Aspects
There is no getting around the fact that lithium-ion is not a safe battery chemistry. If treated wrong with a malfunctioning charger or control unit, it can make a fire, which in some cases can be severe. Lithium-ion is also subject to explode or catch fire when receiving physical damage, at which point the internals come into contact with the outside air. The potential damages from a lithium caused fire are why laptops of a certain battery capacity may not be taken onto aeroplanes.
Solid state batteries are safer in every possible way, as a short circuit or overcharging will not cause any harm to anything but the internals of the battery unit. Solid state will not catch on fire or explode if charged incorrectly or ruptured, making them a lot safer for general handheld technology.
Size And Weight
There are many advantages to solid state batteries, but none so big as the capacity achievable per size. Solid state batteries are on average half the size and weight of a similar capacity lithium-ion unit. In applications where battery size is extremely limited, like a mobile phone, solid state will be able to double the existing capacity over lithium-ion units giving you more time to play at Black Lotus casino.
Charge Rate
The charge rates are yet to be finalized and seen in full application, however, researchers creating solid state batteries have been able to get monumental charge and discharge rates from solid state batteries. Solid state batteries can charge the industry standard test of 10% to 80% cycle 5 times faster than lithium-ion. Mobile phones could receive a full charge in less than 15 minutes with this new technology.
Battery Life
One of the biggest standing problems of lithium-ion is the lifespan of the batteries. Lithium-ion batteries see on average a 20% capacity degradation after the first 1000 charge cycles, where solid state batteries see the same nature of degradation after 5000 charge cycles. This nature of battery life means that the batteries will often outlast the lifespan of the devices they are used in, rendering battery replacements a thing of the past.