EV batteries tend to lose range capacity over their lifetime, but Volkswagen-backed startup PowerCo says it tested one from California-based QuantumScape that ‘practically does not age.’
Solid-state batteries promise to significantly speed up EV charging and extend their range by hundreds of miles. Among the companies racing to bring them to market is Volkswagen, which says it found a solid-state formula with better longevity than traditional lithium-ion batteries.
Volkswagen did not create the new battery; it was developed by QuantumScape, a California-based battery technology company. QuantumScape provided a prototype to Volkswagen Group-owned PowerCo, which then tested its performance over several months.
The results far exceeded expectations. PowerCo says the cell retained 95% of its range capacity after 1,000 charging cycles, or the equivalent of roughly 300,000 miles. The current industry standard for EVs targets 20% capacity loss over 700 charging cycles, which means an EV that starts out with a 250-mile range could end its life with a 200-mile range. But with the QuantumScape solid-state battery, it would theoretically only go down to approximately 240 miles of range after much more driving.
“These are very encouraging results that impressively underpin the potential of the solid-state cell,” says 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.”
EV battery replacements can cost tens of thousands of dollars, although most come with 8- to 10-year battery warranties, and new research shows most EV drivers never replace their batteries. Still, range loss is a known issue and certainly not ideal.
QuantumScape’s cell has a proprietary, 24-layer interior structure. The company was founded in 2010, but started to get serious attention in 2020 when it developed a ceramic material to go inside the battery, Electrek reports. It then tested single layer cells with the material, before moving up to 10-layer, 16-layer, and now the ultra-energy-dense 24-layer, which could be the winning formula.
“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,” says Jagdeep Singh, Founder and CEO of QuantumScape.
