Toyota Is Still Working On That Futuristic Fluoride-Ion EV Battery

Toyota is still developing a next-generation EV battery that uses fluoride instead of the lithium in today's electric car batteries. The company first mentioned this research back in 2020, working with Kyoto University on a solid-state design (a battery type that skips the liquid material inside conventional batteries, often improving safety and performance). The promise is a battery with several times the energy storage of current lithium-ion packs, meaning more range and power. Now Toyota is teaming up with Johns Hopkins University to use AI to speed up the trial-and-error lab work, cutting testing time per experiment from about 10 minutes to 3-4 minutes. Even with that help, researchers say this kind of battery chemistry breakthrough typically takes years to go from lab to showroom, so there's no timeline for when, or if, this technology would show up in a car you could buy.

For now, Toyota is sticking with today's battery technology for the EVs actually reaching driveways. The company recently launched an all-electric C-HR alongside its bZ model, and it's expanding U.S. production with battery maker LG Energy Solution, which just started making battery cells at a new Michigan plant for vehicles including the upcoming 2027 Toyota Highlander EV, to be assembled in Kentucky.

None of this changes anything for homeowners considering rooftop solar, battery backup, or other home energy upgrades right now. It's simply a look at where EV battery technology may be headed down the road, alongside Toyota's more immediate plans to keep selling electric vehicles built with current technology.