QuantumScape revolution in lithium battery technology. Stocks Soar
QuantumScape, a company financed by VW and Bill Gates, is not just receiving investment from the mega entrepreneur. Bill Gates is also an advisor to the company.
“Honestly, I didn’t think he knew anything about chemistry, and we are all about chemistry,” QuantumScape CEO Jagdeep Singh told Fortune.
But Singh found that the billionaire co-founder at Microsoft learns fast. “When he thinks something is important, he can dive deep and become an expert in that area,” he told Fortune. “He got a lot deeper in that area.”
The company presented data on the “Flexible Ceramic Separator”, a product that could represent a revolution in lithium battery technology. All data presented were based on Quantum single layer pouch cells. They look like playing cards. The next step is to build and test a deck of cards. The deck will be the basic unit of battery power in an Electric Vehicle and many blocks will provide the vehicle with the projected power and range. Going from playing cards to playing cards would be the big challenge.
Volkswagen (VOW.Germany) is helping Quantum with manufacturing, as well as testing cells in its vehicles.
QuantumScape shares jumped 31% to $ 57.90. The stock has risen nearly 185% in the past three months, much better than comparable numbers for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The company’s flexible ceramic separator could be the biggest breakthrough Quantum praised on Tuesday, without revealing its trade secrets.
This separator allows Quantum batteries to withstand automotive electrical current loads and conditions – in what can be considered normal operating temperatures and pressures – without fail. There are many complicated technical details behind this claim.
During a video presentation, the technology received a strong endorsement from Stanley Whittingham, a chemist at Binghamton University / SUNY who won a Nobel Prize last year for his role in the development of lithium-ion batteries. He said QuantumScape’s lithium metal technology can increase the battery’s energy density by “50%, if not 100%”.
QuantumScape: Solid-State Battery Showcase
“This will be a major breakthrough for electric vehicles, as well as for other types of storage,” said Whittingham. “I haven’t seen such good data anywhere else. We just have to increase the cells and put them in the cars ”.
