As the race for solid-state battery technology heats up, Suzuki has gained access to two decades of development. The Japanese carmaker has acquired Kanadevia Corporation’s solid-state battery division. Their technology has already been tested aboard the International Space Station.
Suzuki is a latecomer to the electric vehicle field but is stepping up its efforts. It takes over the all-solid-state battery business of Kanadevia Corporation, a Japanese industrial conglomerate that rebranded from Hitachi Zosen only last October.
The big gain for Suzuki is that it absorbs a complete technology base in one fell swoop, a base that most of its rivals have been quietly assembling for years.
Twenty years old
Kanadevia’s solid-state battery program dates back 20 years, to 2006, and is one of the oldest active in the sector. Its battery product, marketed as AS-LiB, operates over a temperature range of -40 to +120 degrees Celsius and has passed nail-penetration tests without catching fire (the industry standard for battery safety).
But it was four years ago when the technology earned its most unusual credential: a unit was installed on the exterior of the International Space Station’s Kibo module, certified for the mission by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Despite that jewel on the crown, Kanadevia concluded that it lacked the industrial scale to bring the technology to automotive-volume production on its own.
Competition in solid-state development has intensified sharply, with larger players locking up supply chains and research partnerships. Selling the division to Suzuki was, by the company’s own account, the logical path to moving things forward.
From the sidelines
For Suzuki, the logic runs in the other direction. The automaker was conspicuously absent from the wave of solid-state partnerships that are guiding battery strategies across the auto industry over the past few years.
Toyota linked up with Idemitsu, while Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and Volkswagen placed bets on start-ups Factorial and QuantumScape, respectively, and Hyundai and Volvo partnered with Israeli start-up Powerdot. Suzuki, with its core focus on compact vehicles and two-wheelers, watched that consolidation from the sidelines until now.
A specific draw is Kanadevia’s proprietary dry manufacturing process. Conventional lithium-ion production relies on wet electrode coating, which requires solvents and lengthy drying stages.
Dry processing eliminates much of that complexity, reducing costs and footprint. These advantages matter particularly at smaller cell sizes suited to kei cars and motorcycles, segments where Suzuki holds a strong market position in Japan.
Lower energy density
Compared to competitors like QuantumScape and Factorial, Kanadavia has already marketed and tested its cells in certain niches, which is an advantage. Still, because of their lower energy density, the cells are much less suited for use in compact and full-sized cars.
As such, if the acquisition turns out to be commercially meaningful, it won’t lift Suzuki to levels where it can compete with the large car groups. But then again, Suzuki has always been a brand that operated in its own small corner of the auto industry.
