The solid-state battery (SSB) is the holy grail of the EV motion, promising to beat the restrictions of the lithium-ion battery the way in which that the latter overcame the restrictions of the nickel-metal hydride unit earlier than it. The place at the moment’s batteries wrestle with weight, bulk, sluggish charging, cold-weather efficiency, and security considerations, solid-state chemistry holds out the prospect of lighter, safer, quicker, and extra energy-dense storage.
Automakers and suppliers have spent billions chasing this breakthrough, but till now, the know-how has lived extra in lab checks and press releases than in {hardware} really sitting in an EV. The newest to hitch the hunt is Rimac, the Porsche-co-owned Croatian firm recognized for its electrical hypercar and EV improvement. Unveiling its SSB at Munich’s IAA Mobility 2025, Rimac reveals that SSBs can strip weight, enhance energy, and remedy cold-weather points to outdistance present lithium-ion batteries like a roadrunner rocketing previous a coyote. Rimac’s numbers are spectacular, the symbolism is even larger, however it’s all nonetheless theoretical. Nonetheless, we mustn’t overlook that Tesla’s Mannequin S was as soon as a theoretical train that promised to leapfrog electrical city-cars on the time.
To provide the most modern and correct info attainable, the info used to compile this text was sourced from Rimac and different authoritative sources.
Rimac’s Stable State Battery Pushes The Envelope On Energy, Dimension, And Security
The Battery Is 10 P.c Smaller Than Present Batteries, Weighs 20 P.c Much less, And Packs 15–25 P.c Extra Juice
Rimac Expertise has fired a salvo within the EV arms race, unveiling a next-generation SSB at IAA Mobility 2025 in Munich that guarantees to do what standard lithium-ion packs have struggled with for years: ship extra energy, better security, and higher efficiency in excessive climates. The Croatian agency claims its breakthrough battery can shed weight, shrink in measurement, and outperform at the moment’s greatest EV batteries on almost each metric that issues.
For an business obsessive about vary, charging time, and fireplace threat, these claims are the equal of the legendary holy grail. Rimac claims its new battery, developed in collaboration with ProLogium and Mitsubishi Chemical Group, weighs 847 kilos, packs an influence density of 1,000 watts per pound, and retains over 95 p.c of its power at -20 levels Celsius (-7 Fahrenheit). And maybe extra essential to shoppers, the solid-state chemistry removes the specter of fireplace or explosion.
How Rimac’s New SSB Weathers Climactic Forces
Maybe probably the most related declare for shoppers in a continent with wildly swinging climactic situations is its resilience in chilly climate, an space the place standard lithium-ion packs notoriously wrestle. Present EV batteries can lose as much as 40 p.c of their effectivity at -10 with out energetic thermal administration, with EV homeowners seeing a pointy drop in vary and charging speeds.
Although Rimac isn’t the one firm pushing SSBs, its new battery design could also be revolutionary, retaining as a lot as 95 p.c of its power in excessive chilly — a dramatic enchancment that would remodel how EVs carry out in harsh winters and ship constant and dependable output year-round, with out counting on elaborate heating methods to keep up perform.
Rimac’s SSB Guarantees Improved Security
The opposite fundamental concern for EV adopters is the threat of fireplace and electrocution, each of that are addressed by the inherent qualities of SSBs. Lithium-ion cells use liquid electrolytes that may leak or ignite if punctured, overcharged, or uncovered to excessive warmth, resulting in the well-documented threat of thermal runaway and car fires. SSBs exchange that liquid with a strong electrolyte, eliminating the potential for leakage and drastically decreasing the prospect of combustion, even when the pack is broken.
The Make-up Of The Rimac Stable State Battery
Rimac’s SSB isn’t nearly chemistry—it’s about how the pack is constructed, packaged, and built-in into autos with totally different calls for. The system makes use of pouch cells organized in a cell-to-pack format, eliminating the inefficiencies of conventional module-based designs. A cathode (the electron entry level) mix of 90 p.c nickel, 5 p.c manganese, and 5 p.c cobalt is paired with a 100% silicon anode (the exit level), maximizing each power density and efficiency.
The pack itself is housed in a thermoplastic composite shell, balancing power with weight discount, and cooled by way of an oblique refrigerant system fairly than at the moment’s bulkier water-glycol strategies. For hypercars just like the Rimac Nevera, this development means compact measurement, excessive energy density, and security below punishing masses. For extra mainstream EVs like BMW’s i7, the identical attributes promise lighter packs, extra cabin or cargo house, and simplified thermal administration.
Extra Punch In A Smaller Bundle Means Sooner Acceleration And Higher Effectivity
Rimac’s pouch-cell SSB boasts an influence density of 1,000 watts per pound, outpacing at the moment’s main cylindrical-cell lithium-ion batteries, which common round 800 watts per pound. Which means extra usable energy squeezed right into a smaller, lighter battery, with direct advantages together with:
- Larger efficiency
- Sustained output
- Larger effectivity
- Lighter general weight
- Higher power restoration
- Diminished packaging house
Smaller Packaging Means Diminished Weight And Higher Thermal Effectivity
Rimac’s SSB makes use of a thermoplastic composite shell that’s lighter and extra sturdy than the aluminum casings in at the moment’s lithium-ion batteries. Cooling is managed by way of an oblique refrigerant system, changing the water-glycol loops that dominate present EV battery designs. This leaner strategy not solely reduces general weight by decreasing complicated and ponderous security layers, but additionally improves thermal effectivity, maintaining cells secure below excessive load with out cumbersome plumbing.
SSBs Supply A Smaller Is Higher Method To EV Design
Rimac’s SSB makes use of pouch cells organized in a cell-to-pack configuration, eliminating modules and maximizing usable house. The streamlined structure permits the battery to ship extra power in lowered quantity, permitting EV-makers to suit slimmer, lighter batteries in a variety of car sizes. For mainstream EVs, the design may provide extra vary with equally sized batteries, or bigger cabins paired with smaller batteries.
Rimac’s SSB Growth Has Broader Market Implications Than Simply Hypercars
The introduction of its next-generation solid-state battery highlights a strategic shift for Rimac, from being recognized solely as a hypercar builder to positioning itself as a broader know-how developer. Whereas Rimac made its title producing the record-breaking electrical supercar Nevera, the SSB undertaking alerts that the corporate intends to provide improvements that would redefine the broader business.
Very like Tesla leveraged its Mannequin S sport sedan to show EVs have been extra than simply metropolis runabouts, and will rival and surpass ICE autos, Rimac is utilizing its SSB undertaking to showcase smaller, lighter, and safer batteries with superior cold-weather resilience, and would profit mainstream EVs, not simply power-hungry hypercars.
Rimac’s SSB May Ramp Up Growth From Different Firms
The race to commercialize solid-state batteries has many entrants within the beginning blocks, together with a number of automakers and plenty of know-how corporations. Battery know-how firm Stable Energy is working with Ford and BMW, with the latter already road-testing large-format SSBs in a BMW i7, making the transition from lab samples towards car integration. BMW’s chief rival, Mercedes-Benz, has additionally been street testing (and monitor testing) Factorial Power’s lithium-metal solid-state batteries.
Most consultants agree we’re taking a look at no before 2030, although Toyota continues to push its long-promised SSB program (which claims huge positive aspects in power density) towards restricted manufacturing for 2027–28, as does Nissan. And Ford and Stellantis (in collaboration with Stable Energy and Factorial Power, respectively) hold innovating batteries and scaling up manufacturing. The result’s parallel improvement tracks (totally different chemistries, format, and scale) that improve the prospect that SSBs attain prospects sooner.
The Feasibility And Expectations Of SSBs, And When We Could Have Them
Regardless of the fast developments on many paths, SSBs stay extra potential than product, with Rimac’s newest information nonetheless illustrating that actuality. Whereas the corporate’s specs are noteworthy, bordering on exemplary, there’s nonetheless no timeline for the battery to be fitted right into a manufacturing EV. And arguably, the remainder of the business is definitely additional alongside: Toyota has shared a goal date, BMW and Mercedes are bodily road-testing prototype batteries, and Ford continues to ramp up improvement and scale.
Rimac Advances Potential For Higher Batteries, However Does Not Advance The SSB Timeline
Rimac’s unveiling of its solid-state battery at IAA 2025 represents extra than simply one other idea unveiling, highlighting the potential for lighter, smaller, and safer batteries that would essentially alter how EVs are engineered. With its compact development, thermoplastic housing, and claims of superior energy density, the Rimac SSB gives a imaginative and prescient of EVs that ship better effectivity, longer vary, and blistering efficiency whereas decreasing the dangers of fireplace or explosion.
For hypercar-maker Rimac, this isn’t only a lab experiment. It’s a know-how play aimed on the international EV market, signaling the corporate’s intent to be greater than a distinct segment builder. By displaying a reputable solid-state battery design, Rimac positions itself not solely as a efficiency innovator but additionally as a provider of breakthrough know-how. Whether or not these claims translate into manufacturing stays to be seen, however for now, Rimac has supplied a glimpse of what the following EV battery would possibly seem like and introduced SSBs nearer to actuality.
The Trade Wants A Signal To Rally Battery Revolutionaries To Arms
Stable-state batteries are nothing in need of revolutionary. By eliminating liquid electrolytes and maximizing house effectivity, SSBs may remodel not simply high-performance vehicles however mass-market EVs in each section. Automakers corresponding to BMW, Ford, Mercedes, Stellantis, and Toyota are chasing the identical dream, every promising main positive aspects by the point 2030 rolls round.
However for all of the headlines, although, Rimac’s breakthrough stays hypothetical—simply technical displays fairly than manufacturing schedules—with no timeline, no charging-curve knowledge, and no laborious figures for real-world expectations. The step from drafting board to prototype is notoriously as troublesome because the leap to mass manufacturing, and till SSBs may be mass-produced affordably and validated over years of use, they continue to be a imaginative and prescient of what’s attainable fairly than what is definite.
