Is This Solid State Battery REALLY Solid State?

Special thanks:
Dr. Ryan Inis Hughes & Howard Richards - University of Bath
And all the others who worked behind the scenes with me to dig into this.

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Chapters
00:00 - Intro
04:56 - What Actually is a Solid State Battery?
12:13 - What Did the Breakdowns Find?
23:57 - Yoshino's "Solid State" Marketing

[RICK]

The engineer did a good job and then marketing got carried away. I see this time and time again in my industry.

[UnbeBleeder]

Yoshino engineering had a lot of faith in their work to send free batteries for breakdown. I dont see it as useful for the marketing department to hurt their image so they can feel like they're ahead of the curve. The product is good, and embellishing can only hurt.

[ZirothTech]

Thanks for having us on Matt! It was a great adventure getting to the bottom of this 😀

[finnbryant]

This is an impressively high-effort investigation. It reflects very well on your wish to provide good information that when faced with an unexpected controversy about a product you discussed once, rather than ignore it, or just choose a side to trust make an angry response video, you had your own tests done, listened to both sides, and found a nuanced interpretation based on that.

[kjlovescoffee]

I'm willing to bet a months salary, there's a bunch of Engineers at Yoshino watching this and cheering for you. The problem is always, once marketing departments get their hands one something, it takes on a life of its own.

[keep-ukraine-free]

Who's surprised to learn that a marketing VP is playing fast and loose with technical terms? Marketing depts have con-artists, who don't mind conning consumers. That's why Matt's videos are so important. And FUN to watch!!!

[jopo]

I'm really glad that you follow up on manufacturer's claims, and clarify things with a battery of questions.

[kaupaxup]

Great video. I am really struggling to understand Yoshino's positioning on this one. If you've got a great battery, say you've got a great battery. Why double down and attach themselves so fervently to this language about solid state that they surely understand is contentious? Why debase their company and technology this way? This has the whiff of a company run by executives who really don't understand their industry or product and don't care beyond making some money in the short term. Is every car an electric car now too just because it has an alternator and battery?

(Ed.... btw as a vegetarian who regularly gets served meat because people don't understand wtf a vegetarian is, that dude was seriously on point with the metaphor.)

[vkristof]

Thanks to everybody involved in contributing to this video. It was very well done within the time and measurement capabilities allowed.

[greenshadow]

Excellent video, Matt! I respect your dedication on this topic, and that you were able to admit your mistakes. I also love the nuance you went into and that you made it clear there is no clear answer here. Thanks!

[lizardmilk]

Our new cola is arsenic free!

But we found arsenic in it.

Well, we didn’t say it was All arsenic free.

[SkaBob]

Reminds me of McDonalds chicken nuggets, they says made with 100% white meat chicken. But that does not mean the nugget is 100% white meat chicken, just the chicken used in the nugget is white meat. It also has oils, soy, flour, and fillers and white meat chicken. It's just worded to give the illusion the nugget is 100% chicken.

[TinyGiraffes]

5:55 That's like calling paint a solid. A solid state battery has a solid state. If a liquid has a solid in it we call it a liquid. If a Liquid has a gas in it we call it a liquid. If I say "the water is in a solid state" you'd be confused if I showed you an icee.
Don't justify misleading marketing. 0% of the public hear "solid state battery" and think "The kind with a liquid in it?"

[admiregant]

All this is new to me. However, I find it very interesting and am very impressed with YOSHINO as a company to allow you to conduct an independent analyst of their product at their expense. Semi or all Solid State I'm still impressed and I'm thinking of purchasing one of their power battery banks in the future. Thanks again!

[MarkLohde]

Great journalism and content! Great that you followed up!

[hankth]

I like the idea of "(All) Solid State" and "Liquid" being two ends of a spectrum, with "Semi/Hybrid Solid State" marking every point in between.

But I also don't think it really matters all that much... It's the capabilities that are important, and communicating detailed battery composition in marketing material seems way more challenging than "number of cores". I'd rather see energy placed into standardizing the spec sheet, rather than the labels.

[TechCowboy]

I'm shocked, SHOCKED, of marketing practices that are less than honest.

[WolfX]

What I'm gathering from all of this, is Yoshino has a good product but a bad marketing strategy, Yoshino needs to drop the hard line on the solid state battery part of all this an tell definitions can be redefined properly, and instead focus in more on the longevity and safety of their product.

I'm definitely in agreement that the battery terminology needs to be more defined.

[DaveEtchells]

Excellent video, props to everyone involved in the investigation.

Props too, to Yoshino for their openness and cooperation with the various parties; that spoke volumes to me about their integrity and values.

[annegajerski-cauley]

Matt, as the years go by, I have grown to respect your efforts more and more. Great work good sir! AND, even if a man is wrong, I am much more interested in how he behaves when he learns that. Very ethical of you to come back with what you have learned. It also shows genuine interest on your part. regards, KDB