Gaishi Automotive News On July 11, PowerCo, a battery company owned by Volkswagen Group, and QuantumScape announced a breakthrough agreement to industrialize QuantumScape’s next-generation solid-state lithium metal battery technology.
Photo source: Volkswagen Group, after QuantumScape’s solid-state battery technology has made certain progress, PowerCo will obtain a license to mass produce batteries based on the QuantumScape technology platform and pay royalties.
Under a non-exclusive licensing agreement signed between the two parties, PowerCo can use QuantumScape’s technology to produce up to 40GWh of batteries per year, with the option of expanding production to 80GWh, enough to supply batteries for approximately 1 million vehicles.
The two companies believe this approach is the fastest way to achieve large-scale production of solid-state batteries to meet the growing global demand for better performance electric vehicle batteries.
The two companies will draw experts to form a dedicated team to carry out industrialization activities, hoping to integrate a product into Volkswagen Group vehicles.
It should be pointed out that the agreement signed between the two parties replaces the battery production joint venture established earlier by Volkswagen Group and QuantumScape.
In 2018, Volkswagen Group announced an investment of US$100 million in QuantumScape and the establishment of a battery joint venture with it.
Volkswagen Group remains the largest shareholder in QuantumScape, holding 17% of its shares, currently worth US$459 million.
Compared to liquid batteries, solid-state batteries can store more energy.
Automakers and analysts expect solid-state batteries to solve the problem of limited range and accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.
At present, limited battery life is still a major pain point in the popularization of electric vehicles.
Frank Blome, CEO of PowerCo, said,”QuantumScape’s technology is about to enter a critical stage, and PowerCo’s expertise, resources and global factory layout can drive its transition to large-scale production., Dr. Siva Sivaram, CEO and President of QuantumScape, said,”PowerCo is our first customer, and close cooperation with it will help us accelerate the commercialization and application of solid-state batteries.
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