About

A wide variety of batteries are now powering innumerable devices across the world, such as electronic devices and automobiles. The continued evolution of batteries will greatly contribute to products that have lower prices, longer life, and are smaller and lighter.
SoftBank’s Research Institute of Advanced Technology is researching and developing batteries with high weight-energy density (batteries with the same weight but higher capacity). This type of battery is needed for electric aircraft such as HAPS (High Altitude Platform Station), a stratospheric communication platform, and can be applied to all kinds of flying devices, such as small cargo drones and drone taxis that carry people. However, developing next-generation batteries requires a new unique approach that differs from the one adopted in designing electric vehicle batteries, which is why there has been little progress in development activities around the world .

Therefore, in 2021, we established the "SoftBank Next-Generation Battery Lab." and are accelerating our research and development activities toward the early commercialization of the next-generation of batteries. This laboratory is a place to evaluate and verify next-generation batteries from around the world, and aims to take leadership in developing next-generation batteries.