, the luxury electric auto startup founded by renowned designer and former Tesla consultant Henrik Fisker, claims it's developed a breakthrough that could knock Tesla off its perch as the world's premier electric carmaker — and many completely change the way we use batteries in the process.
The upstart company filed patents for a new solid-state battery design that would give its cars some truly astonishing performance capabilities. Fisker says the new batteries will give its vehicles a range of more than 500 miles per charge, with the capability to power up in less than one minute.
Those two stats would smash Tesla's current top options, not to mention every other car and battery out there. Tesla's most long-range vehicle, the Model S 100D, offers an estimated 335 miles per charge using a lithium-ion battery. Tesla cars usually take about half an hour to fully charge at one of the company's Supercharger stations.
Fisker's solid-state batteries have a long way to go before they make it into a car, however. The company projects the tech won't be ready for mass production until "post 2023."
Solid-state battery tech, which is currently in development on several fronts, is thought to be capable of storing more power and charging more quickly than the lithium-ion batteries we use today in everything from smartphones to electric cars. Fisker's team claims its design has bypassed the typical challenges faced by other solid-state battery projects — low electrode current density and limited function in extreme temperature ranges — and is capable of delivering 2.5x the energy density of typical lithium-ion batteries at about one-third of the cost.
Cars might not be the only new home for the solid-state technology. Fisker says it's currently engaged in "active discussions" with other groups interested in its battery tech, and it didn't rule out the potential for the new batteries to show up in things other than cars "much earlier than 2023."
Fisker previously claimed its first production vehicle, the EMotion sedan, would have a new graphene solid-state battery system when it was first announced in 2016 but changed its tune when it released more info about the car earlier this year. The company is still touting an unprecedented 400-mile range for its lithium-ion battery configuration, but so far Fisker hasn't yet provided anything to back up its specs — the $130,000 EMotion hasn't made any public appearances.
But Fisker reps told Mashable the sedan will make its debut at CES in January, and the company's battery team is headed up by Dr. Fabio Albano, a co-founder of respected solid-state company Sakti3.
Fisker itself is the second act of the brand, after Henrik Fisker sold the original company after recalls and highly publicized battery issues sunk the brand.
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