In Production Solid State Battery Tech? Potential for Aftermarket Lightning Pack upgrades?!

[ctuan13]

So I stumbled accross this video tonight and I figured it was worth sharing. I'm arguably more skeptical than most and still am of the mindset of "I'll believe it when I see it.", but if this is legit, this gives me a lot of hope for the future aftermarket upgradeability of our trucks and how much more functional range we could get. Combined with the exceptionally easily accessed battery pack in the Lightning, I can see our trucks being highly desirable for modding/upgrades and project trucks.

Only thing is, I just hope Ford keeps the Lightning EREV platform modular enough that it can quickly pivot back to BEV if this solid state battery tech really pans out. Otherwise they might be left in the dust.

What do you guys think?

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[chriserx]

No doubt it's coming, there will be several hurdles to overcome
Physical pack design and installation
Cooling, solid state will likely require somewhat less cooling, but you'll still have to fool the trucks systems for compatibility
400v architecture, it's highly likely that new packs will be based on 800v or higher voltages
It won't be insurmountable, but if someone comes up with a modular pack design it may work, who knows? Best case scenario you're looking at 8-10 years out, realistically closer to 15 based on the state of current development. I didn't watch the video but the company you referenced are making them for electric motorcycles. Still quite a way to go.

 

[ctuan13]

No doubt it's coming, there will be several hurdles to overcome
Physical pack design and installation
Cooling, solid state will likely require somewhat less cooling, but you'll still have to fool the trucks systems for compatibility
400v architecture, it's highly likely that new packs will be based on 800v or higher voltages
It won't be insurmountable, but if someone comes up with a modular pack design it may work, who knows? Best case scenario you're looking at 8-10 years out, realistically closer to 15 based on the state of current development. I didn't watch the video but the company you referenced are making them for electric motorcycles. Still quite a way to go.

Yeah, I watched the video. Their first partner company is an electric motorcycle company, but they've also partnered with an EV startup that has a skateboard platform prototype already in the works. I'll be interested to see what they come up with.

It does seem like 800V architecture is more likely, but if the modules themselves can be disconnected, depending on module nominal voltage, you could get the pack voltage about right by the correct series parallel configuration. Also it seems these packs require substantially less cooling/heating, really thermal management in general, so yeah if all it would take is to feed the proper data to the Lightning PCM or BCM, that doesn't seem too difficult.

I'm sure it might be pretty far out for a true consumer-level drop in replacement, but my guess is for those willing to do a little tinkering, we may be only fiveish years away.

 

[chriserx]

I figure 5-10 years for production scaling, OEMs surely are going to have first dibs, in this time I figure someone will be working on reverse engineering the required communication somewhere. A further 5 years for a garage developed pack based on modular cells. I feel your 5ish years is an optimistic timeline for a commercially developed solution, which given the sales volume isn't very likely. That being said, if Ford, or maybe even a rival puts a solid state battery in a truck, I'd revise to 2-3 years after production. Someone is gonna ziptie that pack to their truck in a jiffy.

 

[JMD359]

While I’d to see it , there’s simply weren’t enough lightnings made for the amount of time and money a do play would have to nvwst in coding and tuning software plus all the hardware changes for compatibility . The numbers wouldn’t make sense, JMHO .

 

[TaxmanHog]

370 miles on the Verge Motorcycle ..... SOLD!!

 

[MaintGrl]

370 miles on the Verge Motorcycle ..... SOLD!!

Holy Cannoli, $35k for 370 mi Range....

 

[3rdgenfan]

Holy Cannoli, $35k for 370 mi Range....

Hey, some of us paid $65k for manual seats, deleted options and the promise of 240mi range if you were going downhill on the back of a tow truck.

 

[MaintGrl]

370 miles on the Verge Motorcycle ..... SOLD!!

Ya, I'll tell ya . . that has one of the WILDEST rear ends I've seen!

 

[chl]

I read somewhere GM is planning to introduce SSBs into their EVs by the 27'model year.
The Chinese will likely beat them to it.

As for after-market replacements, it happened for the older Nissan Leafs, still is according to the mynissanleaf forum. Plug and play battery packs with three times the kWhs (OEM was 24kWh, new around 72kWhs).

But there were a heck of a lot of Leaf's sold around the world, probably a lot more than the number of our limited edition Lightnings.

So the question would be for any after market battery company, is there a big enough market for a battery replacement for the Lightning?

However, there are also modular battery swapping companies around. They make a modular battery packs compatible with your vehicle that you can swap out in 5 minutes with a fully charged replacement at a swapping station.

One company in the US is called AMPLE doing it for fleet vehicles in California last I heard.
In China and other places besides the US, the company NIO is doing the same thing.

Much faster than DCFC-ing depending on the queue.

Of course, since the Lightning batteries are modular, and can have individual cells replace by design, as long as there is still a manufacturer of the cells, the Lightning batteries could have a cell transplant with new cells if the old ones get too weak for you driving needs.

 

[chriserx]

Ya, I'll tell ya . . that has one of the WILDEST rear ends I've seen!

You should try working in a casino...

 

[FloridaMan655321]

Lets hope this is more than the promises of the last 5+ years. I also remember the promises of hydrogen from 10+ years ago. A bike is one thing, but for a car, there is a lot more that goes on with crash testing and such.

 

[chriserx]

Lets hope this is more than the promises of the last 5+ years. I also remember the promises of hydrogen from 10+ years ago. A bike is one thing, but for a car, there is a lot more that goes on with crash testing and such.

Pretty sure hydrogen development stalled because of corrosion in the pump if I remember right. The problem of having a material that could be used at operating temperature and corrosion resistance was worse than most people realized.

 

[chl]

You should try working in a casino...

Ha, reminded me of the Spinal Tap song (From the Mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap") with the line "...how can I leave that behind..."
PS: having been in a few rock bands, I can attest that the movie is not that far from reality...I never exploded, but the guitar players always wanted their amps to go to 11...

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

https://www.batterytechonline.com/d...te-batteries-for-verge-motorcycles-in-q1-2026

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