Electric vehicles (EVs) are essential to reducing fossil fuel reliance. While EVs are gaining traction, the limitations of existing lithium-ion battery technology pose challenges that limit adoption.
Lithium-ion batteries must evolve more quickly to address their limitations, from safety concerns to supply chain bottlenecks and performance limits.
QuantumScape is developing solid-state batteries that promise to revolutionize the battery market by eliminating some components, such as graphite and liquid electrolytes while addressing some technological and geopolitical issues facing the industry today.
Credit: Gerd Altmann
EPSNews had the opportunity to interview Asim Hussain, QuantumScape’s chief marketing and business development officer.
Legacy of lithium-ion batteries
Lithium-ion technology has been the standard for batteries for decades, featured not only on electric vehicles but also on many wireless devices such as laptops and smartphones. Despite their widespread use, the technology is showing its age.
Performance limits, safety hazards, and high production costs—compounded by the complexities of mining and processing critical materials—limit automakers’ ability to scale EV production.
Asim Hussain sees these challenges as central to QuantumScape’s mission. “The traditional lithium-ion battery has plateaued in terms of its performance. It cannot provide the energy capacity, range, and charging speeds that EV customers now demand,” he argued. “The real bottleneck is safety. Lithium-ion batteries have combustible liquids inside, and once they catch fire, it’s a catastrophic chain reaction that releases oxygen and sustains the fire.”
QuantumScape’s Asim Hussain
The current lithium-ion architecture includes a graphite or silicon anode, a porous separator, and a liquid electrolyte. In this configuration, lithium ions must travel between the cathode and anode; a process slowed down by the need to “intercalate” into the anode material—much like passengers boarding a plane. QuantumScape aims to bypass this problem by removing the graphite anode altogether.
Revolutionizing battery architecture
QuantumScape’s key innovation is its anode-free battery architecture, which replaces traditional anode materials with a solid-state electrolyte. This eliminates the need for graphite, which has caused headaches for automakers due to its reliance on supply chains heavily dependent on China.
“Our approach is not to have an anode at all,” Hussain said. “We eliminate this host material and have a solid-state electrolyte separator made from a ceramic. This allows us to conduct the lithium metal directly during the charging process, simplifying the battery’s architecture while improving safety.”
The simplification of the battery structure provides key benefits. Removing the graphite and replacing the liquid electrolyte with a solid-state ceramic separator can increase energy density, meaning more power in the same space. “When you shrink the size of the battery, you can add more power, which directly increases the battery’s energy density,” Hussain explained. “It also means we can charge and discharge a lot faster. Without the need to intercalate into the anode, lithium can plate and strip cleanly, resulting in quicker charging times and better overall efficiency.”
Addressing safety and performance
One of the standout features of solid-state batteries is their improved safety profile. Conventional lithium-ion batteries are susceptible to thermal runaway, where excess heat causes uncontrollable fires. The presence of flammable materials like the liquid electrolyte exacerbates this risk. QuantumScape’s ceramic separator is inherently non-combustible, significantly reducing the risk of fires.
Source: QuantumScape
“In one test, a traditional lithium-ion cell exploded at around 186 degrees [celsius], but our cell reached over 300 degrees without a catastrophic reaction,” Hussain said. “This is incredibly encouraging because it means we’ve designed a battery that performs better and is far safer for consumers.”
Furthermore, current lithium-ion batteries either offer fast charging times with reduced range or extended range with slower charging speeds. While the battery of a Porsche Taycan can charge rapidly, its range is limited compared to competitors like the Rivian, which sacrifices charging speed for more mileage. “The Porsche Taycan charges fast but has less range because the battery is thinner,” Hussain said. “Meanwhile, the Rivian has more range but charges slower. We aim to provide both—the ability to charge from 10 percent to 80 percent in under 15 minutes, without sacrificing range.” QuantumScape’s prototypes have demonstrated this capability, showing fast-charging performance that doesn’t degrade the battery, even after hundreds of cycles.
Supply chain benefits
The anode-free design offers an additional, often overlooked benefit: reduced dependence on critical materials like graphite, mainly processed in China. This presents a significant advantage when supply chains are under strain.
Source: QuantumScape
“The majority of the world’s graphite processing happens in China, and for companies trying to scale their EV production, this creates a bottleneck,” Hussain pointed out. “What we’ve done is eliminate graphite entirely from our batteries, simplifying our supply chain and lowering our reliance on geopolitically sensitive materials […] With our technology, you no longer need the graphite processing facilities that have been a choke point in EV manufacturing.
“China has been working for 20 years to dominate the battery supply chain and has succeeded. They control the production and processing of key materials like graphite. Western automakers cannot compete with that scale and cost structure unless we bring a fundamentally better technology to market.”
Road to commercialization
While QuantumScape’s technology promises significant improvements, it is still not ready for mass production. They spent over a decade developing and refining their technology, but it’s only now approaching the commercialization phase. The company plans to deliver high-volume prototypes by the end of 2024 and ramp up production through a partnership with Volkswagen’s PowerCo.
“The first commercial product we’re aiming to introduce will have an energy density of around 300 watt-hours per kilogram and fast-charging capability in less than 15 minutes,” Hussain said. QuantumScape’s collaboration with PowerCo aims to produce up to 80 gigawatt-hours of batteries per year, enough to build one million EVs. “We are shipping B-samples to PowerCo in 2025 for use in test vehicles, and from there, we’ll move toward mass production. It will be a phased approach, but we’re confident that our batteries will be in consumer vehicles by the second half of the decade.”
The company’s success will depend on its ability to scale production, meet technical milestones, and navigate the competitive market. Other battery manufacturers are also racing to develop solid-state batteries, while existing lithium-ion technology continues to improve.
Hussain acknowledges the competition but remains optimistic. “We’re confident that our technology represents a true step change in battery performance,” he said. “The key differentiator is the removal of the anode and the safety profile our ceramic separator provides. We believe that the demand will follow once automakers and consumers see the benefits—higher energy density, faster charging, and improved safety.”
New battery for the future
QuantumScape’s anode-free, solid-state battery technology holds immense promise for the future of electric vehicles. By addressing the core limitations of traditional lithium-ion batteries—namely safety, performance, and supply chain vulnerabilities—QuantumScape could deliver the step change needed to accelerate EV adoption on a global scale. The company’s focus on simplifying battery architecture and reducing reliance on geopolitically sensitive materials positions it as a potential game-changer in the race for battery dominance.
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