“Our dendrite-suppressing technology has exciting implications for the battery industry,” said co-author Brett Helms, a staff scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry. “With it, battery manufacturers can produce safer lithium metal batteries with both high energy density and a long cycle life.”

That interesting paragraph comes from an article last month in SciTechDaily entitled:  

Battery Breakthrough to Give Flight to Electric Aircraft and Boost Long-Range Electric Cars

The article was by By DOE/LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY JULY 20, 2020

The use of  soft polymers of intrinsic microporosity, or PIMs, whose pores were filled with nanosized ceramic particles leads to the dendrite-suppressing features of the new PIM composite electrolyte...... Because the electrolyte remains a flexible, soft, solid material, battery manufacturers will be able to manufacture rolls of lithium foils with the electrolyte as a laminate between the anode and the battery separator. These lithium-electrode sub-assemblies, or LESAs, are attractive drop-in replacements for the conventional graphite anode, allowing battery manufacturers to use their existing assembly line.

I did a little copy and pasting for that paragraph above, so it is better if you take a look at the intact article linked below:

https://scitechdaily.com/battery-breakthrough-to-give-flight-to-electric-aircraft-and-boost-long-range-electric-cars/

That part about allowing battery manufacturers to use their existing assembly lines is going to be an important incentive for battery manufacturers to do just that... and, at the same time, get the advantage of dendrite supressing features of the "soft" solid electrolyte lithium battery.  It is this dendrite formation in Lithium batteries that ultimately limits the life of the battery, so for longer range EVs ( Trucks, Semi Trucks, Cars and Airplanes ) the implications for prolonged battery life are clear:  less expensive.

One of the key statements in the article deserves repeating, the one by Brett Helms, a staff scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry:  “With it, battery manufacturers can produce safer lithium metal batteries with both high energy density and a long cycle life.”