“Will your next EV use solid-state batteries?” For car buyers, it is a curiosity, but it is the same as a question for automakers. It depends on whether the industry is ready across 3 fronts: materials innovation, scalable manufacturing, and cost structure. Solid-state batteries promise a leap forward in energy density and safety. Still, their mass adoption hinges on how quickly the battery manufacturers can translate lab breakthroughs into affordable, high-volume production.

Under such circumstances, you need to understand the difficulties of manufacturing solid-state batteries and the solutions to address such limitations.

Why Solid-State Batteries Are Promising Yet Hard to Mass-Produce?

Solid-state batteries replace the liquid electrolyte in conventional lithium-ion cells with a solid electrolyte, offering higher energy density, improved safety, and longer life cycles. However, achieving these benefits in mass production for EVs remains complex:

Key Technical Barriers to Manufacturing Solid-State Batteries

High interfacial resistance between solid layers: Achieving seamless ionic contact between the solid electrolyte and electrode materials is difficult. Microscopic gaps at interfaces increase resistance, reducing performance and stability.

Mechanical stress and material brittleness: Solid materials expand and contract during charge cycles, often cracking or delaminating under stress. Managing these mechanical issues without sacrificing performance is a major challenge.

Complex manufacturing requirements: Producing defect-free solid-state cells requires precise control in many diameters, including pressure, temperature, and humidity. This means manufacturers need specialized dry-rooms, vacuum lamination systems, and high-temperature furnaces, all of which significantly raise operational costs.

Together, these technical barriers create a high baseline for quality and precision, and this, in turn, directly shapes the industrial challenges that determine whether solid-state batteries can ever enter large-scale production and be widely used.

Current Industrial Challenges If Solid-State Batteries Go into Mass Production

High cost of solid electrolyte materials and equipment: The very materials that make solid-state batteries safer and denser — such as sulfide and oxide electrolytes — are costly and complex to handle, especially when scaled to automotive-grade formats.

Compatibility with existing lithium-ion lines: These new materials and processes don’t easily fit into today’s lithium-ion manufacturing infrastructure. Most existing plants rely on liquid-based coating and stacking systems, meaning that retrofitting or rebuilding facilities requires massive capital investment.

Low yield rates: Finally, the fragility of materials and the tight tolerances of solid-state production often lead to frequent defects, driving down yields and pushing per-cell costs even higher.

Who’s Leading the Solid-State Battery Race?

Despite these technical and industrial hurdles, progress has not stopped. On the contrary, they’ve driven a global race among EV automakers and battery developers to turn lab breakthroughs into scalable production.

Among the major players, Toyota Motor Corporation has become one of the active participants. The company recently announced that it will launch the world’s first EV powered by solid-state batteries by 2027, marking one of the industry’s boldest commitments to date.

According to the report, Toyota’s solid-state batteries are expected to deliver about 20 % more range than conventional lithium-ion packs and fast-charge in roughly 10 minutes — an achievement that could redefine the EV experience.

Except for the Toyota, there are also still many manufacturers leading in this game, which deliver significant contributions to the solid-state batteries:

• In China, CATL has publicly stated it aims for small-volume production of solid-state batteries by 2027, announcing the prototypes with energy densities of 500 Wh/kg or so.
• In Europe, Stellantis N.V. + Factorial Energy have validated automotive-sized solid-state battery cells with an energy density of about 375 Wh/kg and rapid charging (15 % → 90 % in 18 minutes).
• In South Korea, Samsung SDI plans to start mass production around 2027, building on its pilot line.
• In the United States, QuantumScape continues refining its lithium-metal solid-state cells, with new “Cobra” processes promising a 25× increase in throughput.

Each of these companies is tackling the same problem from a different angle — higher precision manufacturing, scalable stacking, or new material systems — all aimed at unlocking the path to commercialization.

Yet, large-scale production remains years away. The most promising development is the industrial ecosystem emerging around advanced manufacturing, where companies like LEAD are developing machinery solution that bridges R&D and production realities in EV solid-state batteries.

How’s the Performance of LEAD’s All-Solid-State Pouch Cell Manufacturing Solution?

At LEAD, we are a global frontrunner in addressing the production bottlenecks that have long limited the commercialization of all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs). Our solid-state manufacturing solution provides a turnkey path from R&D to gigafactory-scale production, addressing the critical needs of precision and accelerating throughput and scalability in EVs, and even more solid-state battery applications.

LEAD’s ASSB manufacturing solution covers every step of the solid-state pouch-cell workflow — from electrode fabrication and densification to cell stacking, lamination, formation, and aging. Each stage is optimized for the unique demands of solid electrolytes, ensuring consistent layer compression, ionic conductivity, and high-yield assembly.

Here’s a table to understand the performance of our solution in solid-state battery manufacturing more easily:

What Does This Shift Means for EV Manufacturers?

With solutions like LEAD’s all-solid-state manufacturing solution removing major production barriers, the focus now shifts to how this technology will reshape EV manufacturing itself.

Solid-state batteries enable smaller, lighter, and safer packs, freeing interior space and reducing reliance on complex cooling systems. For automakers, that means more flexibility in both vehicle layout and weight management.

At the same time, production readiness becomes a decisive advantage. EV Manufacturers can benefit from the supply chain that uses ready-to-integrate modular systems, like LEAD’s ASSB manufacturing solution, shortening pilot testing and speeding up commercialization, turning R&D into real market capability.

Investment Timing: Early vs. Wait-and-See?

For most OEMs, the next question is timing.

• Early adopters who start adapting production now can gain a technology and branding edge, co-develop cell formats with suppliers, and shape the standards of the new generation. But they must also shoulder higher initial costs and accept uncertain yields in the early stages.
• For EV manufacturers, success won’t depend only on who has the best chemistry, but on who can align equipment, supply chain, and vehicle design to this new production reality. Those who wait until around 2028–2030 or further may enjoy more mature operation and proven reliability, yet risk losing the innovation narrative to earlier movers like Toyota.

Conclusion

So, will your next EV use solid-state batteries? The answer is: not yet for most drivers, but soon for many. The technology is proven, the promise is clear, and the race to industrialize it is fully underway. Automakers are targeting the first solid-state EVs, while equipment innovators such as LEAD, are making large-scale production achievable.

Solid-state batteries are no longer an R&D headline. They are shaping how the next generation of vehicles will be designed, assembled, and delivered. Manufacturing and cost barriers fall into place, and the shift from “possible” to “inevitable” draws closer to the world powered by the solid-state batteries.

Contact us for more insights into solid-state batteries!