Batteries are the most expensive component of electric vehicles (EVs) and solid-state cells are considered the next big step in powering future EVs, promising longer ranges, shorter charging times and better safety.
A solid-state prototype battery from Volkswagen’s US partner QuantumScape has shown encouraging results in recent tests. VW’s battery unit PowerCo said a solid-state cell successfully completed more than 1,000 charging cycles in a test.
For an electric car with a range of 500-600km, this corresponds to a mileage of more than 500,000km. During the test period the cell barely aged and still had 95% of its capacity at the end of the test.
On average, lithium-ion batteries used in today’s EVs retain about 70-80% capacity after eight years or 160,000km.
The tests on the solid-state cell, which ran for several months, were carried out in PowerCo's battery laboratories in Salzgitter, Germany.
“These are encouraging results that impressively underpin the potential of the solid-state cell,” said PowerCo CEO Frank Blome.
“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 to series production.”
Robustness is considered the most important criterion for battery cells. The industry standard targets for this development phase are 700 charging cycles and a maximum capacity loss of 20%, with QuantumScape’s solid-state cell significantly exceeding these specifications in the latest test. The cell was also able to meet the requirements for other test criteria such as fast-charging capability, safety and self-discharge.
Commenting on the test results, QuantumScape CEO Jagdeep Singh 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. We’re excited to be working closely with the Volkswagen Group and PowerCo to industrialise this technology and bring it to market as quickly as possible.”
Volkswagen has been involved in QuantumScape since 2012 and is one of the main investors in the technology start-up.
Volkswagen solid-state EV battery cell passes first endurance test
The result of this development could be a battery cell that enables long ranges, can be charged super-quickly and practically does not age
Image: Supplied
Batteries are the most expensive component of electric vehicles (EVs) and solid-state cells are considered the next big step in powering future EVs, promising longer ranges, shorter charging times and better safety.
A solid-state prototype battery from Volkswagen’s US partner QuantumScape has shown encouraging results in recent tests. VW’s battery unit PowerCo said a solid-state cell successfully completed more than 1,000 charging cycles in a test.
For an electric car with a range of 500-600km, this corresponds to a mileage of more than 500,000km. During the test period the cell barely aged and still had 95% of its capacity at the end of the test.
On average, lithium-ion batteries used in today’s EVs retain about 70-80% capacity after eight years or 160,000km.
The tests on the solid-state cell, which ran for several months, were carried out in PowerCo's battery laboratories in Salzgitter, Germany.
“These are encouraging results that impressively underpin the potential of the solid-state cell,” said PowerCo CEO Frank Blome.
“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 to series production.”
Robustness is considered the most important criterion for battery cells. The industry standard targets for this development phase are 700 charging cycles and a maximum capacity loss of 20%, with QuantumScape’s solid-state cell significantly exceeding these specifications in the latest test. The cell was also able to meet the requirements for other test criteria such as fast-charging capability, safety and self-discharge.
Commenting on the test results, QuantumScape CEO Jagdeep Singh 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. We’re excited to be working closely with the Volkswagen Group and PowerCo to industrialise this technology and bring it to market as quickly as possible.”
Volkswagen has been involved in QuantumScape since 2012 and is one of the main investors in the technology start-up.
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