Canadian battery material specialist Hydro-Québec is partnering with Mercedes-Benz as part of the automaker’s research and development activities on future EV technology. The Hydro-Québec Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage is a leading research and development institute for advanced battery materials, focusing on solid-state battery technologies.

With its latest developments, Hydro-Québec has achieved promising results for future battery performance, range, and weight, along with safety. Hydro-Québec and Mercedes-Benz researchers will cooperate to test new materials under field conditions to accelerate the development cycle.

The battery is a key component of our electric vehicles. Mastering their chemistry is therefore a focal topic for Mercedes-Benz research and development. Solid-state batteries are supposed to be a next important technology leap for e-mobility, meaning an alternative to today’s li-ion battery systems. The latest advancements Hydro-Québec researchers have made are very promising and we are looking forward to the first results of our joint development program. —Jochen Hermann, Vice President Development eDrive, Mercedes-Benz AG

Solid-state lithium metal batteries are supposed to be a next important technology milestone, featuring a very high energy density, long life, and light weight. In addition, the technology is a safer alternative to regular lithium-ion batteries, as it does not use flammable liquid electrolytes.





Hydro-Québec developed a first-generation solid-state battery in the 1990s and has continued its R&D to improve both efficiency and manufacturing methods.

We’re pleased to be partnering with Mercedes-Benz, an automotive company with an enviable reputation, to pursue our research even further. Our association will allow us to test new materials quickly in field conditions, and so accelerate the development cycle and respond to the concerns of automobile manufacturers. —Karim Zaghib, General Manager of Hydro-Québec’s center of excellence in transportation electrification and energy storage

The intelligence of the battery lies in a highly complex overall system, which defines the characteristics of the vehicle with respect to performance, range and charging times. As an integral and important element of Mercedes-Benz’s electrification strategy, competencies for the technological evaluation of materials and cells as well as research and development activities are consistently expanded. These include the continuous optimization of the current generation of Li-Ion battery systems; the further development of cells bought on the world market; and research of the next-generation battery systems.

The joint research activities will be carried out at Hydro-Québec’s center of excellence in transportation electrification and energy storage in Canada as well as the SCE France laboratory, a Hydro-Québec subsidiary.