VW solid-state cell passes first endurance test

Longer ranges, shorter charging times and even greater safety: the solid-state cell is regarded as the next big step in battery development for electric vehicles. Together with the US company QuantumScape, the VW Group has now apparently achieved an important success with this future technology.

Robustness is the most important criterion in test procedures for newly developed battery cells. The industry standard targets for this development phase are 700 charging cycles with a maximum capacity loss of 20 percent. The solid-state cell from QuantumScape is said to have significantly exceeded these specifications in the latest test and successfully completed more than 1,000 charging cycles, reports PowerCo, the globally active battery company of the VW Group. For an electric car with a range of 500-600 kilometers, this corresponds to a calculated mileage of more than half a million kilometers.

Tests lasting several months

At the same time, the cell hardly aged at all and still had 95 per cent of its capacity at the end of the test, according to PowerCo. The cell also apparently met the requirements for other criteria such as fast-charging capability, safety and self-discharge. The tests, which lasted several months, were carried out in the battery laboratories of PowerCo SE in Salzgitter.

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These are very encouraging results that impressively underpin the potential of the solid-state cell. 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.

PowerCo CEO Frank Blome

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The tested cell consists of 24 layers and thus already corresponds to the planned series cell. The unit cell developed by PowerCo is also fundamentally suitable for the use of solid-state cell technology.

PowerCo

The Volkswagen Group bundles its global battery activities in PowerCo SE. The company manages international factory operations, the further development of cell technology and the integration of the value chain from Salzgitter. Since its foundation in July 2022, PowerCo has decided on three Gigafactory locations: Salzgitter, Valencia and St. Thomas in Canada. VW has been involved with QuantumScape since 2012 and is one of the main investors in the technology start-up.

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