Hyperdrive
As Breakthrough EV Battery Pursuit Falters, QuantumScape Seeks Hedges
The Volkswagen-backed battery startup is now looking for consumer electronics customers while working through manufacturing challenges.
QuantumScape’s lab in San Jose, California.
Photographer: GABRIELA HASBUN/NYTNSThis article is for subscribers only.
QuantumScape has long talked a big game about its potential, and rightfully so — it’s pursuing a holy grail in the field of battery-materials science that’s eluded researchers for decades.
The solid-state battery technology the startup has been working on for electric vehicles promises much greater range and 15-minute charge times. After its spinoff from Stanford University in 2010 and as it was going public a decade later, automakers lined up and investors salivated.