VW's solid-state 'forever' EV battery

The current industry standard for electric vehicle batteries targets a 20% capacity loss over 700 charging cycles, which means an EV that rolls off the lot with a 250-mile range could end its life with a range of 50 fewer miles per charge by the time the odometer clicks to around 150,000 miles. (For some vehicles like the Tesla Model S, the pricier 100-kilowatt-hour batteries degrade faster than 85- and 70-kWh options.)

Meanwhile, U.S. company QuantumScape's solid-state cell has successfully completed more than 1,000 charging cycles – the equivalent of driving more than 300,000 miles or so, depending on the model.

The solid-state cell retained 95% of its capacity at the end of several months of testing carried out in Volkswagon's PowerCo battery laboratories in Salzgitter, Germany.

This means that a solid-state EV that rolls off the showroom floor with a 300-mile range would still have 285 miles of range after 300,000 miles, or approximately 20 years of driving at 15,000 miles per year.

As the EV boom plateaus, this technology may be the deciding factor for drivers who have resisted the switch from gas-powered cars on the grounds of EVs' more limited range.

Built to last

Today's battery replacements can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and although most come with eight- to ten-year warranties, research shows most EV drivers don't bother to replace their batteries, tolerating range loss in the same way as declining fuel efficiency, eventually just buying new vehicles – twelve years historically being the lifespan for gas-powered cars in the U.S. anyway.

A solid-state 'forever battery' allows EV buyers to get their money's worth from their vehicle, potentially lowering prices in the used and refurbished market and rewarding buyers who take good care of their vehicle in order to pass it on to the next driver in the family.

More efficient batteries also have promise as second-life energy storage solutions. To maximize sustainability, a battery's journey shouldn't end with its original vehicle – long-lived EV batteries can power homes, act as mobile generators, be grouped to store excess electricity at the grid scale, and more.

"These are very 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 towards series production."

The Volkswagen Group has been one of QuantumScape's main investors since 2012. Founded in 2010, the startup garnered serious industry attention in 2020 when it developed a proprietary ceramic material inside the battery, going from single-layer cells to ten-layer, then 16, and now the energy-dense 24-layer interior structure.

"We're excited to be working closely with the Volkswagen Group and PowerCo to industrialize this technology and bring it to market as quickly as possible," said QuantumScape CEO Jagdeep Singh.

After acing the test for robustness, the remaining step is finalizing and scaling the manufacturing process. Volkswagen EVs, such as the ID.4 SUV and upcoming ID.7 sedan, are among the first in line to implement the battery design.

"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," said Singh. "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."

On the horizon

Other companies in the race include Toyota, which announced a solid-state design breakthrough last year boasting twice the range of existing EVs on a 10-minute charge. Toyota has secured a mass production deal for its design, ready as early as 2027.

China's CATL unveiled a 'condensed matter' battery featuring a condensed electrolyte along with new anode and separator materials, which improve conductive performance and battery efficiency. CATL will target the aviation industry, where cost is less of an issue.

And German automotive supplier Schaeffler will reportedly unveil its new solid-state EV battery at the annual Consumer Electronics Show taking place in Las Vegas this month.