“A battery is a container for possibility. The better we build the container, the further society can travel. Solid state is not magic. It is precision, layered so carefully that energy becomes predictable.” – MJ Martin
Introduction
Solid state batteries have become one of the most anticipated upgrades in energy storage because they promise to address the two biggest complaints about today’s lithium ion cells: safety and performance. In a conventional lithium ion battery, the electrolyte is a flammable liquid or gel that shuttles lithium ions between the anode and cathode. In a solid state design, that electrolyte is replaced with a solid material, commonly a ceramic, glass, polymer, or a hybrid. That single architectural change has ripple effects that can improve safety, enable higher energy density, and open the door to new form factors. The excitement around this shift is why companies such as Samsung, along with a growing set of startups and automotive suppliers, keep investing heavily, and why headlines keep appearing about prototypes and pilot lines.
What Makes a Battery “Solid State”
The core difference is the electrolyte, and the interfaces it touches. A solid electrolyte can be less prone to leakage, can be more thermally stable, and can, in some chemistries, tolerate higher voltage operation. Just as important, a solid electrolyte can potentially enable the use of a lithium metal anode. Lithium metal stores more energy per mass than the graphite anodes used in most lithium ion cells today, which is one reason solid state is often linked to longer range electric vehicles, lighter packs, and smaller batteries for the same runtime. The catch is that solid interfaces are harder to manage than liquids. Tiny gaps, cracks, or uneven contact can cause resistance to rise and can trigger failure modes, so the real race is not only inventing a solid electrolyte, but manufacturing it reliably at scale.
Why Companies Like Samsung Are Pursuing It
Large electronics and battery firms such as Samsung have clear incentives to pursue solid state designs because consumer devices demand higher energy in thinner packages, and they demand safer operation in tight, heat prone enclosures. If a solid state approach can deliver higher energy density with better thermal stability, it can translate into longer lasting phones and wearables, safer laptops, and potentially new categories of compact devices. On the automotive side, the promise is similar but amplified. Higher energy density can reduce pack mass, extend range, and shorten charging times, while improved safety characteristics could simplify pack engineering and reduce the burden on cooling and containment. The strategic motivation is also defensive. If solid state becomes commercially dominant, firms that own patents, materials supply, and manufacturing know how will hold a major advantage in the next decade of batteries.
Donut Labs and the Broader Ecosystem
Donut Labs, along with other startups, is part of a broader ecosystem that is pushing electrification and energy storage forward from multiple angles, including motors, inverters, and novel system integration. Even when a company’s main product is not the cell itself, the performance of the battery sets the ceiling for what an electric drivetrain or device can do, especially when you care about peak power, heat, cold weather behaviour, and packaging. This is why you see battery innovation discussed alongside new motor architectures and ultralight platforms. The same story shows up across the industry. Some teams focus on sulfide based solid electrolytes, others on oxide ceramics, others on polymers, and many on hybrids that aim to balance manufacturability, durability, and performance. The competitive landscape is less a single race and more a cluster of overlapping races, each trying to overcome different bottlenecks.
Why This Is a Good Thing
If solid state batteries reach mass production with strong real world reliability, the benefits could be meaningful across safety, performance, and sustainability. Higher energy density can reduce the raw material needed per kilometre of range or per hour of runtime, and it can help shrink the size of packs and devices. Better thermal stability can improve tolerance to heat and abuse, potentially reducing catastrophic failures and making products more robust. Faster charging, if achieved without accelerating degradation, would remove one of the most common barriers to electric vehicle adoption. Solid state designs may also operate better across a wider temperature range, especially if paired with improved electrode materials and better cell engineering. Even incremental gains matter at global scale. When millions of devices and vehicles consume less energy storage mass for the same job, supply chains and costs can shift in a favourable direction.
Is It Truly Fire Proof
Fire proof is too strong a claim for any high energy battery. Solid state designs can reduce certain risks, especially those linked to flammable liquid electrolytes, leakage, and some pathways to thermal runaway. However, any battery that stores a large amount of energy can fail in ways that generate heat, gas, and ignition under severe abuse, manufacturing defects, or extreme operating conditions. Solid electrolytes can still crack, interfaces can still form hotspots, and electrodes can still react violently if conditions are wrong. Lithium metal, if used, brings its own challenges. Dendrites, which are needle like lithium growths, can form and can potentially pierce electrolytes, creating short circuits. Many solid state programs are specifically aimed at preventing that, but it is part of why commercial timelines have been slower than early hype suggested. A fair summary is that solid state can be safer, potentially much safer, but not magically immune to fire.
What Still Needs to Be Proven
The biggest hurdle is scalable manufacturing with consistent quality and long cycle life. Solid electrolytes can be expensive, moisture sensitive, or difficult to process in high volume. Interfaces between solid layers can degrade with repeated expansion and contraction during charging cycles. If the battery works beautifully in a lab cell but loses capacity quickly in a full size pouch or prismatic format, it will not survive commercialization. Another critical point is charging performance in the real world. Fast charging is not just about peak power, it is about controlling heat and preventing micro damage over thousands of cycles. For electric vehicles, cold weather behaviour is equally important, and any chemistry that struggles in winter will face a tough market in Canada. This is why pilot lines and automotive qualification programs are so important. The world does not need a clever demo. It needs repeatable, safe, affordable, long lived cells.
Summary
Solid state batteries represent a compelling evolution because they target the safety and performance constraints of today’s lithium ion technology by changing the electrolyte architecture and enabling new materials choices. Samsung’s interest reflects both the consumer electronics drive for thin, high capacity cells and the automotive sector’s need for safer, higher density packs. Donut Labs and others are part of an ecosystem where advances in batteries amplify advances in electrified platforms more broadly. It is a good thing because it can improve safety margins, increase energy density, and potentially reduce cost and material intensity over time. Still, fire proof is not an honest label for any high energy storage system. The more accurate claim is that solid state can materially reduce key hazards if, and only if, the remaining engineering and manufacturing challenges are solved at scale.
About the Author:
Michael Martin is the Vice President of Technology with Metercor Inc., a Smart Meter, IoT, and Smart City systems integrator based in Canada. He has more than 40 years of experience in systems design for applications that use broadband networks, optical fibre, wireless, and digital communications technologies. He is a business and technology consultant. He was a senior executive consultant for 15 years with IBM, where he worked in the GBS Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities and the GTS Global Center of Excellence for Energy and Utilities. He is a founding partner and President of MICAN Communications and before that was President of Comlink Systems Limited and Ensat Broadcast Services, Inc., both divisions of Cygnal Technologies Corporation (CYN: TSX).
Martin served on the Board of Directors for TeraGo Inc (TGO: TSX) and on the Board of Directors for Avante Logixx Inc. (XX: TSX.V). He has served as a Member, SCC ISO-IEC JTC 1/SC-41 – Internet of Things and related technologies, ISO – International Organization for Standardization, and as a member of the NIST SP 500-325 Fog Computing Conceptual Model, National Institute of Standards and Technology. He served on the Board of Governors of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) [now Ontario Tech University] and on the Board of Advisers of five different Colleges in Ontario – Centennial College, Humber College, George Brown College, Durham College, Ryerson Polytechnic University [now Toronto Metropolitan University]. For 16 years he served on the Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Toronto Section.
He holds three master’s degrees, in business (MBA), communication (MA), and education (MEd). As well, he has three undergraduate diplomas and seven certifications in business, computer programming, internetworking, project management, media, photography, and communication technology. He has completed over 60 next generation MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) continuous education in a wide variety of topics, including: Economics, Python Programming, Internet of Things, Cloud, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive systems, Blockchain, Agile, Big Data, Design Thinking, Security, Indigenous Canada awareness, and more.
A great morning read, the future of batteries is solid state!