Week 5 ー Relevance of Toyota's All-Solid State Battery Technology Announcement and Consumer Decision-Making Process

This week in class I learned about the marketing research process and the consumer decision making process. At the same time I was learning this content, I came across an interesting engineering-related news article that I would like to use to reflect on my experience. 

The article I read was about all solid-state battery technology announced by Toyota Motor Corporation in February 2025. This technology could help improve the performance of electric vehicles (EVs) by replacing conventional lithium-ion batteries that use liquid electrolytes with solid electrolytes to achieve higher energy density, safety, and durability. 

What struck me when I read this article was that this was a development that was very conscious of “identifying market needs” and “optimizing product design,” two of the five stages of marketing research: accurately identifying the EV market's needs for shorter charging times and longer range, and developing all-solid-state battery technology accordingly. 

I was impressed by the fact that they developed the all-solid-state battery technology in response to these needs. I myself am just now working on optimizing the “battery management system for electric vehicles” as part of my university research, and am tackling issues such as shortening recharging time and extending battery life. Conventional lithium-ion batteries have limitations in terms of charging time and safety, and I feel that the introduction of all-solid-state battery technology could be a solution. This coincides with the “evaluate alternatives” and “purchase decision” stages of the consumer decision-making process.

I ultimately made the decision to "proceed with research on all-solid-state battery technology and clarify the issues that need to be addressed before it can be put to practical use. This is similar to the marketing term risk reduction strategy Through this experience, I realized once again that the decision-making process in the field of engineering, such as “which technology to adopt” and “what design policy to adopt,” has something in common with marketing theory. 

I also came to understand the reality that no matter how advanced a company develops a technology, if it does not overcome the psychological and technical hurdles of the engineers who will actually use it, it will not spread. Therefore, I felt that in addition to product performance, non-functional factors such as “reliability” and “ease of use” are also important.

 Reference: Toyota Unveils Solid-State Battery Tech: A Game-Changer for EVs? (2025, February 7). School of PE Blog. 

https://www.schoolofpe.com/blog/2025/02/toyota-unveils-solid-state-battery-tech.html