Volkswagen is investing another $100 million in QuantumScape solid-state cells. He does not disclose details.

The Volkswagen Group announced that QuantumScape, of which the Group is a major shareholder, has reached another "milestone in technological development" with solid electrolyte cells. Therefore, it was decided to transfer another investment tranche in the amount of USD 100 million (approximately PLN 390 million).

Volkswagen is investing in solid state drives, it needs 10 minutes to charge up to 80 percent.

The decision to allocate $ 200 million for QuantumScape research was announced in June 2020. Then the first half of this amount was transferred, now it has been decided to pay the second part. Overall, the Volkswagen Group invested USD 300 million (PLN 1,16 billion) in the company, some of which was spent on the purchase of company shares.

Neither side has disclosed what the aforementioned “technological milestone” (original: technical milestone) is. From the December 2020 QuantumScape presentation, we know that startup solid-state cells can charge up to 80 percent of their capacity in 15 minutes and complete 1 duty cycle without any problems. In turn, at the presentation of Volkswagen Power Day 000, we heard that The automaker wants to charge the battery to 80 percent in 10 minutes. and it current cell prototypes [QuantumScape?] are close, they only need 12 minutes.

What does this mean for the average driver? Let's say we have a Volkswagen ID.3 with a 58 kWh battery. If it were based on these prototype cells, a 203 kW station (220–230 kW if you take losses into account) would be enough for a driver to recover almost 220 kilometers in 12 minutes. As a result, the charging speed is almost +1 100 km / h, +18 km / min.

QuantumScape cells are solid electrolyte cells made of ceramic materials. In February 2021, the startup announced its intention to build a QS-0 cell manufacturing plant in California (USA). Now that 13 million additional shares have been issued, it appears that QuantumScape and Volkswagen will build another battery plant, QS-1. The first plant should initially produce 1 GWh, eventually 21 GWh of cells. The company expects to begin mass production around 2024 or 2025.