Shares of QuantumScape were soaring 33% in early trading Thursday after the start-up announced a deal with Volkswagen that could lead to large-scale production of solid-state electric-vehicle batteries.
QuantumScape and Volkswagen's battery company, PowerCo, said they entered a licensing agreement that will allow PowerCo to "industrialize, " or mass produce, QuantumScape's next-generation solid-state EV batteries.
"With this cooperation, we aim to bring the most sustainable and cutting-edge battery cells to our customers," said Frank Blome, CEO of PowerCo. "We have been collaborating and testing QuantumScape prototype cells for years now and we are looking forward to bringing this technology of the future into series production."
Solid state in this instance means the batteries have no liquid facilitating the flow of the electrical charge. Solid-state EV batteries promise lower costs, more per-charge range, and better safety. They represent a possible panacea for some of the concerns surrounding the adoption of EV, but the technology isn't ready for production vehicles yet.
The Volkswagen news is a sign that it's getting there, though. PowerCo plans to build a plant capable of making 40-gigawatt hours of batteries a year. That's enough to make roughly 500,000 EVs.
Coming into Thursday trading, QuantumScape stock was down 22% year to date. Slowing EV sales growth has weighed on investor sentiment.
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