Toyota is in the production engineering stage of building a battery with a solid electrolyte that would allow it to produce a smaller, lighter battery, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The new technology could be in electric vehicles as early as 2020 and would allow the world’s second largest car manufacturer to create smaller, more lightweight batteries that have the potential to boost the total charge capacity and extend the range of their vehicles.

What Is A Solid State Battery?

Lithium Ion

These are the standard batteries used in electric vehicles today. They have a relatively short useful life and are made from a flammable, organic solvent.

Solid State Batteries

According to Ilika, solid state batteries, which contain solid electrodes and solid electrolytes have faster charging, increased energy density and cycle life, low leakage currents and are not flammable.

What does this mean?

Toyota can push the boundaries of electric vehicle design as a smaller battery footprint that has a longer battery life means they can focus on producing lightweight materials for other parts of the car and improving its efficiency.

Electric cars today are generally powered by lithium-ion batteries, but the so-called solid state batteries will have both solid electrodes and solid electrolytes. It will also mean pushing the boundaries of electric vehicle design as the charge capacity will be higher despite a smaller battery footprint.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Japanese carmaker’s use of a solid state battery will increase the overall ‘useable’ life, which means a greater potential for product recycling after being used in the vehicle, such as in homes or commercial energy storage.

Toyota has been working towards all-electric vehicles for years now. In 2011 it said it was working with academic researchers to perfect crystalline structures that will move lithium ions through a solid electrolyte.

While the electric car industry is currently led by Tesla, if Toyota can push through these limitations it would be a major boost for the industry.