QuantumScape unveiled an all-solid-state battery platform on November 11 after early tests showed its cells could complete 1,000 full charge cycles at one atmosphere of pressure.

The San Jose, California-based company said the cells retained about 80 percent of original capacity over the test.

Called Osprey, the platform combines QuantumScape’s ceramic separator and anode-free lithium-metal design with a solid cathode.

The company said its results represent the first publicly available data showing a cell with a sulfide-based cathode cycling 1,000 times at that pressure.

Reducing the pressure needed to operate these cells could help address a longstanding obstacle to using them in electric vehicles.

Battery developers have long explored sulfide-based electrolytes for all-solid-state cells, but two problems have complicated efforts to commercialize them. Sulfides can react with lithium metal, shortening a cell’s life.

Cells that use sulfides also typically need to be held under high pressure during operation, a requirement that makes them difficult to use in vehicles.

Osprey builds on QuantumScape’s existing QSE platform. It carries over the ceramic separator and anode-free lithium-metal design and adds an all-solid cathode.

QuantumScape designed the platform to work with a range of cathode chemistries and has tested it with solid cathodes developed both in-house and by its automotive customers.

“The industry has invested heavily in sulfide-based batteries but keeps hitting the same fundamental limits. As the data shows, Osprey can address these limitations,” said Siva Sivaram, QuantumScape’s president and CEO.

In early testing, Osprey cells charged from 10 percent to 80 percent in five minutes, according to QuantumScape.

Source link