PowerCo, the Volkswagen Group’s battery company, has announced a new agreement with QuantumScape to industrialize QuantumScape’s solid-state lithium-metal battery technology. Upon satisfactory technical progress and certain royalty payments, QuantumScape will grant PowerCo the license to mass produce battery cells based on its technology platform.
Under the non-exclusive license, PowerCo will be able to manufacture up to 40 GWh per year using QuantumScape’s technology with the option to expand up to 80 GWh annually, enough to equip approximately one million vehicles per year. The companies together believe that their partnership will enable accelerated gigawatt-hour-scale production for solid state batteries and meet the growing demand for EV batteries.
The new agreement follows an earlier JV between the Volkswagen Group and QuantumScape to co-manufacture batteries, and itself leverages a combined workforce initiative to accelerate the industrialization of QuantumScape’s technology. Here, a large, dedicated, scale-up team composed of experts from both companies will execute on the industrialization activities.
QuantumScape’s technology platform is based on its proprietary solid-state ceramic separator, which enables the use of a pure lithium-metal anode designed for exceptional energy and power density, fast charging and a robust safety profile. Together, the companies will target a product that will be scaled-up for integration in a Volkswagen Group vehicle series.