The logo of German car giant Volkswagen (VW) is pictured on a Volkswagen ID Buzz van during the company's annual press conference to present the business report, on March 14, 2023 in Berlin. Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP
Volkswagen AG said its battery startup has seen promising results with solid-state cells for electric vehicles, a win for the German carmaker as it pushes to make EVs more efficient and less expensive.
A solid-state prototype from VW’s battery unit PowerCo and its US partner QuantumScape Corp. retained 95% of its original storage capacity after more than 1,000 charging cycles. That’s equivalent to driving 500,000 kilometers, a Volkswagen spokesperson said by phone, confirming a report earlier Wednesday in German newspaper Handelsblatt.
EV and battery makers are racing to commercialize new technologies, including next-generation anodes and sodium-ion and solid-state batteries, to power EVs more cheaply and efficiently.
Toyota has partnered with oil refiner and petrochemicals company Idemitsu Kosan Co. to commercialize solid-state batteries as soon as 2027, while Chinese EV maker BYD Co.’s subsidiary is building a sodium-ion battery facility as part of a joint venture in eastern China.
The results of the test, carried out at PowerCo labs in Germany, were first revealed by QuantumScape co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Jagdeep Singh during the company’s third-quarter earnings call in October. The battery startup didn’t mention Volkswagen, its customer and largest shareholder, during the call.
