Is This Really the World's First Solid-State Battery?

One of the announcements that caused a lot of fuss at CES 2026 this week was a release from Finnish startup, Donut Lab, that it hadn't just developed the world's first solid-state battery, but that it is in production.

The automotive sector had a much lower profile at CES 2026 than in recent years as mobility tech pivoted to AI assists and robotics, but one announcement still managed to stand out. Finnish startup Donut Lab claimed a world's first by not just announcing a solid-state battery, but by saying it is being manufactured, sits at the heart of new Verge Motorcycle bikes, and is ready for use by any EV manufacturer that wants them.

Claimed Key Specs

• 400 Wh/kg energy density
• ⁠Five-minute full charge
• ⁠Designed for up to 100,000 cycles
• Safe from overheating
• ⁠⁠Made of globally abundant materials
• Over ⁠⁠99% capacity retained in -30 degrees celsius
• ⁠Lower cost than lithium-ion

Why This Could be a Big Deal

Solid-state batteries have been hovering just beyond the horizon for a while now. They hold out the promise of many improvements over lithium-ion, which The Verge (no relation) neatly sums up as "cheap, light, fast-charging, cool-running, energy-dense, and combustion-free."

By replacing the electrolyte liquid at the heart of lithium-ion, they speed everything up. The claimed specs above are a significant step change over the best battery tech today. The energy density is about 30% above what you can get from the best batteries, the charge cycles are crazy (Li-ion tops out at about 1500 cycles), the charge rate would suddenly bring EVs into the same ballpark as refuelling fossil-fuelled cars, and more. Just imagine a battery that will outlast the vehicle and be taken out of your old car and installed in your new one.

And of course, this is just EVs we're talking about here. Think how much a solid-state battery would improve your camera. Less recharge time, no overheating safety issues, more power, no 80% charging limits. Oh, and less of those critical minerals that we're all likely to go to war over at some point in the next decade.

Why This Might Not be a Big Deal

So, why the muted response and 'Claimed Key Specs' rather than just 'Key Specs'. The problem is we have been here before. Every time someone says they've got solid-state battery technology cracked, it turns out to be a mirage once it gets round to manufacturing them.

There are several knotty technical issues that need to be solved to successfully produce solid-state batteries, and they have held back some of the world's largest companies from success, not to mention a whole flotilla of dedicated startups. How did a small company such as Donut Lab pull it off?

“The party that has the capability and then iterates faster is the one that obviously makes the innovation,” Marko Lehtimaki, co-founder and CEO of Donut Lab, told The Verge. “I’ve always said that 20 engineers beat 2000 engineers.”

Why We'll Know Soon

Unlike previous solid-state shakedowns, Donut Lab says its batteries are in production now. Indeed, you can order one of Verge Motorcycle's new TS Pros (above) now, with a promised ship date of Q1 2026, and a starting price of around $30,000.

These bikes are built around the new Donut Lab battery. The real-world specs published for them are more conservative than Donut Lab’s headline claims, with fast charging taking 10 minutes and a claimed 10,000 cycle performance. Even so, this is potentially game-changing measured up against current Li-ion performance.

So far, we know very little about the battery itself, what materials are being used, how the team have cracked some of the various challenges involved, how they will scale (and importantly shrink) in the future, and more. But it seems that it's only a matter of weeks possibly before we find out if the future is genuinely solid-state or not.