The share price in battery maker QuantumScape surged on news its solid-state cell passed tests with flying colours.
PowerCo, auto maker Volkswagen’s battery subsidiary, said in a statement on Wednesday the solid-state cell from start-up battery maker QuantumScape “significantly exceeded” the requirements in the A-sample test and successfully completed more than 1,000 charging cycles in an endurance test with barely any loss of charge.
For an electric car with a WLTP range of 500–600 km, it corresponds to a total mileage of more than half a million kilometres, it said.
The cell still had 95% capacity (or discharge energy retention) at the end of the test, it said. The tests, which ran for several months, were carried out in PowerCo’s battery laboratories in Salzgitter, Germany.
On Friday morning, QuantumScape shares were trading at $8.70, down from Thursday’s close of $9.30, but still some 30% up from Wednesday’s close in very heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
PowerCo CEO Frank Blome said: “These are very encouraging results that impressively underpin the potential of the solid-state cell. The final result of this development could be a battery cell that enables long ranges, can be charged super quickly and practically does not age. We are convinced of the solid-state cell and are continuing to work at full speed with our partner QuantumScape towards series production.”
The company said in standardised test procedures for newly developed battery cells, robustness is considered the most important criterion. The industry-standard targets for this development phase are 700 charging cycles and a maximum capacity loss of 20%.
QuantumScape’s solid-state cell significantly exceeded these in the latest test, it said. The cell was also able to meet the requirements for other test criteria such as fast-charging capability, safety and self-discharge.
Jagdeep Singh, founder & CEO of QuantumScape, said: “These results from the Volkswagen Group’s PowerCo testing make clear that QuantumScape’s anodeless solid-state lithium-metal cells are capable of exceptional performance.
“While we have more work to do to bring this technology to market, we are not aware of any other automotive-format lithium-metal battery that has shown such high discharge energy retention over a comparable cycle count under similar conditions.”
The tested solid-state cell consists of 24 layers and thus already corresponds to the planned series cell. The next step before series production is perfecting and scaling the manufacturing processes.
The Volkswagen Group has been involved in QuantumScape since 2012 and is one of its main investors.
Since its launch in July 2022, PowerCo has decided three gigafactory locations with a total capacity of up to 200GWh/year: Salzgitter in Germany, Valencia in Spain and St. Thomas in Canada.
Photo: QuantumScape’s 24-layer prototype battery cell successfully completed more than 1,000 charging cycles in an endurance test with barely any loss of charge.