The Volkswagen Group has approved a huge deal that means the brand will be licensed to build electric cars with solid state batteries. A million of them.
The Volkswagen Group has approved a huge deal that initially gives Volkswagen a license to build one million electric cars with solid state batteries.
Battery technology has been heralded several times as the next revolution in the world of electric cars, and Toyota has claimed for decades that it was just around the corner.
But now the Germans seem to be coming first. At least for an actual serial production. The news has been announced by Volkswagen itself in a press release .
– We have collaborated with and tested QuantumScape prototype cells for several years now, and we look forward to bringing this future technology into series production, says Frank Blome, director of the Volkswagen Group's battery company PowerCo.
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However, the fact that there is now a signed agreement does not immediately benefit the consumers – i.e. the motorists. Because in fact, Volkswagen has not even wanted to say which cars will have the solid state batteries.
But with the agreement, Volkswagen has a license to produce batteries with a total capacity of 80 gigawatt-hours per year. This corresponds to one million electric cars.
– Under the non-exclusive license, PowerCo can produce up to 40 gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year with QuantumScape's technology, with the possibility of expanding up to 80 GWh, enough to equip approximately one million train cars per year, the Germans write.
Volkswagen already owns 22 percent of the crisis-hit Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt. Here, BMW has recently torn a contract worth DKK 14 billion in the middle, because they no longer have patience or trust that the Swedes can deliver the promised number of batteries.
In addition to Volkswagen's offices at the headquarters in Wolfsburg, there is currently intense speculation as to whether Volkswagen is the next car brand to withdraw support from the Swedes. Read more about it here .
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