The race to the fastest-charging electric vehicle (EV) battery is on, and while Tesla has had a lock on the market to this point, some think that may be likely to change in the years to come.
Battery startup QuantumScape Corp. has revealed new data that may give it up a major leg up on Tesla’s EV batteries, according to Bloomberg. The startup, many of whose shares come from Volkswagen AG, has data saying that its batteries can be charged up to 80% in just 15 minutes, a rate nearly twice as fast as what Tesla’s batteries can offer.
While QuantumScape’s data has yet to be road-tested, it also suggested that its batteries could offer 50% more miles than an EV with the batteries that are currently standard on the market. They also predict up to 800 charges without significant degradation. Still, the biggest barrier as a competitor to Tesla will be the company’s ability to mass-produce the battery – so far unparalleled in the industry.
“I have not seen data this good anywhere else,” says Nobel laureate Stan Whittingham, lithium ion chemistry pioneer.
“So I think it’s a real breakthrough. We just have to make the cells bigger and get them into cars.”
(After seeing QuantumScape data)
— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) December 8, 2020
QuantumScape Chief Executive Officer Jagdeep Singh said, “No one has made a solid-state separator that can cycle at these rates of power or at these temperatures or for this long.” He continued, “Without those things, you don’t have a cell that can be used in a car.”
When Tesla detailed its new V3 Superchargers last year, it noted “the typical charging time at a V3 Supercharger will drop to around 15 minutes,” thanks to up to 250 kW charging rates, allowing for up to 1,000 miles per hour of recharge. Tesla also intelligently warms up your vehicle’s battery as you approach a Supercharger, which the company says can reduce charging times by 25%.
With investors like Bill Gates, John Doerr, and Vinod Khosla, QuantumScape may have a real shot at overcoming factory and mass-production barriers to take on Tesla, but with the latter’s 4680 tabless battery cells coming in the near future, let’s bring on the competition.
