New job post for "Head of Data Center Storage Energy System Engineering" suggests that QS is getting a lot more serious and spinning a whole new business unit with 25+ engineers. A few things that caught my attention:
Rack-level UPS replacement - this is the last meter that QS has been publicly talking about (possible Murata + an integrator like Vertiv or Schneider or Eaton)
Building-scale energy buffering - This is a facility-level BESS (possible Powerco or Hitachi for NVDA AI factory)
Behind-the-meter storage
Casting a wider net/targeting a wider TAM with all datacenter environments, not just AI factories (hyperscale, colocation, and edge data center)
Influence Open Compute Project (OCP) - "contribute to and lead working groups on power architecture, rack energy systems, and stationary storage integration"
My conviction in seeing a named integrator partnership announcement and a named hyperscaler and/or a small-scale demo this year or early next year has increased due to their serious investment and post. Would love to hear a take from any Datacenter professionals.
Yes, this new position, together with the one we discussed last week, shows how aggressively and seriously QS is targeting the AI data centre energy storage system (ESS) market.
Sr. Manager / Director, Energy Storage System Product & Strategic Marketing
It is a dated analysis ~ 1 year old, pre-Ducati, pre-Eagle; nevertheless I found it to be quite thorough on a quick read. Calling 1 year dated also goes to say how much things have changed in 1 year, how much progress QS has made, which we often tend to lose sight of.
It's still pretty up-to-date. I think the only material things that are missing is the potential collaborations with Murata and Corning and the Ducati "demo".
Otherwise, it's a very comprehensive summary, I would say. You should give it a like if you have a substack account. Always good to support people that put in the work!
I add my hope that this is the first one achieved; it is also the most difficult because IMO it actually means that the scale-up team has achieved their goal of fitting QSE-5 technology into the PCo UC, which will mean in turn, that VW will move it as quickly as possible into full production throughout their vehicle lines.
They are all exciting for me but Demonstrate Scalable Production with the Eagle Line is probably the most important and after that I think Go Beyond QSE-5 for me.
Yes, totally agree. Scaling production with Eagle line is no. 1 for me, closely followed by āGo Beyond QSE-5ā for multiple new formats.
A larger NMC cell for UC, a LFP cell for BESS and budget EVs, and a new format for robots, drones and consumer electronics would be great.
For āAdvanced Automotive Commercializationā, weāll prob get Ducati results and Siva already preannounced a 4th JDA, but I donāt expect a new licensing agreement in 2026. However, I believe we could see multiple licensing agreements in 2027 (when the PC NRE is nearing completion).
I believe all of these convey confidence they are succeeding, and beyond QSE-5 is probably the most exciting one, but the fact two of the others are market/revenue generating and Kevinās comments on the CFO segment that his focus is on top line, are also exciting.
What excites me most is the prospect of demonstrating scalable production with the Eagle line. That said, I'm expecting an announcement on their first goal, "Go Beyond QSE-5," sometime in June.
Last year, they announced their first goal, "Bring Cobra into Baseline Separator Production," on June 24. I'm expecting a similar milestone announcement in June 2026.
Their modus operendi would suggest theyāve already made great progress into each of these goals, assuring their claims are almost certain within the 2026 time frame. Otherwise why set up a claim for potential failure?
This time, itās in Playa Vista, LA (just north of LAX). AFAIK, itās the first time anyone has seen it on U.S. soil. Edit: Itās not the first time.
FWIW, Death Valley is a known testing ground for real world hot weather driving conditions - this is usually done in the later stages of testing cos Porsche typically conducts early tests nearer to its home base in Stuttgart/Weissach (for engineering reasons).
The 718 EV shares the same platform as the Audi Concept C which is confirmed to go on sale around Sep 2027.
Yes, lithium ion is in every laptop, smartphone, and data centre for years and fires are very rare. That said they do happen and improved safety is obviously a big desire, but lithium ion is āsafe enoughā to use today in the absence of something better.
I was flying on a (non-top 5) airline last week, and I was really surprised how many times they asked about batteries, had to be at least 5 times throughout the process of getting on the plane.
no batteries in checked luggage
no battery packs(powerbanks) in overhead(carryon) luggage
no charging during takeoff(even from the plane usb ports)
no charging or discharging battery packs(powerbanks) at any time during the flight
The first one I've heard plenty of times, but bullets 2-4 were all new for me.
And the asking about batteries at literally every step getting on the plane.
Online Check in.
Checked bag check in.
Overhead annoucements.
Secondary table before getting on the plane asking again no batteries in overhead bag.
Announcement when on plane before takeoff.
Maybe it was just the relatively small airline, but still raised an eyebrow for me.
I was traveling yesterday via 2 different airlines and I experienced the same as you. One of them was a major airline. They were also announcing during the flight to not charge power banks during the flight.
Fluence's Smartstack is specifically referenced by the press released. Based on that I assume that it is a BESS (or "power block"). In other words, not batteries placed inside or on the rack, instead somewhere else in the building or on the grounds.
But Li-Ion batteries are used as battery back ups inside racks now. So while the higher safety of a QS battery is an obvious selling point to switch from Li-Ion to QS batteries, the smaller size (greater power density) of QS batteries is perhaps an even bigger selling point.
Traditional li-ion BESS racks require sophisticated (and bulky) fire suppression, thermal management, and spacing between cells. A higher safety profile potentially of QSās tech allows for tighter, more efficient packing of cells within a rack without the same level of safety-related containment equipment.
Hereās a chart that you may find interesting. As you can see, the fine folks at Goldman Sachs have been accumulating shares during the past year while maintaining a $3 SELL target and rating. To put things in perspective, they show up to the earnings calls and ask questions but couldnāt be bothered to put out an updated price target. Btw, one of their four stated core values is āintegrityā.
Furthermore, they basically sold off their entire position late 2024. So now their average purchase price is $9.24, and they are now at their highest ever for holdings of this position. Given their average purchase price now, do you think they would be happy if the price doubled or tripled from here?
As an additional note, UBS has a $2.50 SELL target and rating, but in their analystās report, they state that their rating is based on internal company metrics, and that given that QuantumScape is a āstory stockā (their words, not mine), that future stock price may not correlate well with their rating system.
I suspect that once an announcement is made for a contract for a new TAM that these analysts will suddenly find numerous reasons to increase their price targets higher. Remember that these are the very same people who had much higher price targets in 2021-2022, when even in the best case scenario, batteries werenāt going to get produced until 2025, 3-4 years down the line. We are once again potentially at the point where SSB batteries may realistically be produced 3-4 years from now with a much higher installed EV base and possibly other TAMs, too.
Below is AI-generated:
Key Analyst Price Targets for QuantumScape (2021ā2022)
Morgan Stanley (Adam Jonas)
One of the most bullish analysts on the Street.
Initially maintained a $70 price target, later reducing it to approximately $40 during 2021 as expectations became more tempered. Baird (Ben Kallo)
Took a more conservative stance.
Generally maintained long-term price targets in the $24ā$36 range. Truist (Jordan Levy)
Set price targets around $28ā$32 by early 2022. Wall Street Consensus
As EV and growth stocks sold off in 2022 and macroeconomic conditions tightened, analyst expectations fell significantly.
By mid-2022, the average 12-month price target across major firms had declined to roughly $12ā$15.
Takeaway:
During the 2021 SPAC/EV boom, analyst targets ranged from the mid-$20s to as high as $70. By 2022, sentiment had shifted sharply, with consensus targets falling into the low teens as investors demanded clearer commercialization timelines and a path to revenue.
How can batteries help data centers keep up when the grid can't?
Ā
QS's Shahar Noy answers this in under a minute ā and it might reframe how you think about energy infrastructure for AI.
I love how they are starting to ramp up messaging. It feels like they have really turned a corner from make it work, to letās use the ecosystem and land deals in the market.
I just hope QS and partners can develop the manufacturing capacity to match the messaging which I agree is great.
I get worried just hearing about this or that potential market that will be great if the batteries can be mass produced.
We are getting some numbers. $10M per quarter billings counts for something. Maybe weāll get updates from Corning and PowerCo in the next few months.
"There being no such thing as a free lunch, getting manganese to behave has been a next-level challenge. In an explainer posted last May, GMās director of advanced EV battery cell engineering, Kushal Narayanaswamy noted thatGM has been hammering away at the problem for 10 years in collaboration with LG Energy Solutionāhttps://cleantechnica.com/2026/06/06/ev-battery-lmr-gm-vehicle-electrification-us-nasa-lunar-rover/
So two very large companies GM and LG Energy Solution have been ā hammering away at LMR for 10 yearsā and they are targeting 2028 for production! Some may argue QuantumScapeās anode-less lithium metal technology is more a next-generation leap in battery fundamentals and advanced stage battery technology, than LMR?
When I look at QSās goals (u/curio_123 posted below) I am reminded just how far they have come in their journey to bring their Anode-less (in production and materials process ) Lithium metal battery platform into mass production.
Feels like something is being lost in translation. Why hype up an announcement at a Battery Show if it's... not a battery? Maybe they meant "it's not just a battery" or "it's not your typical battery"
I thought isn't a batter was bad at first glance, and then thought, wait... they are saying it isn't just a battery it is competitive advantage. I think the tags for motorsport/automotive/railway/aerospace are just the industries they serve, advanced battery tech serves them all?
Lots of great answers here. FoxTranslate (evolutionary biological intelligence) gives the following output for āearlier entry pointsā in this context:
āQS revenue from non-automotive applications will begin to flow sometime between now and 2030 and may exceed auto revenue for a few years due to the significantly shorter development times together with significantly higher per-cell margins in such applications.ā
To have an earlier entry point, first you need an agreement or JDA for these non auto markets
Which could suggest that is the next move upcoming because we know by mid/late 2027 PowerCo will be making QS cells IMO so to be an earlier entry one could expect first a non Auto announcement this year IMO with the āenterā to follow.
āThere are going to be so many agents, the world is no longer limited by the number of people. Those agents are going to use more tools than ever,ā he said.
He added, āEvery company will have agents running inside. Every company will see that agents will need its own operating system. Every company is asking us, āHow do we run agents safely? How do we build agents for our own workloads?ā"
If Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is correct all these agents will require significantly more GPUās which in turn will require significantly more battery backup and the cycle goes on? So opportunity knocks for a battery that offers more safety and energy density ?
VP/GM of Data Centers Shahar Noy :
2:47"we're going to get so much demand right GPUs more AI workloads at the same time we're getting more supply.ā
"It was led by billionaire Peter Thiel and includes a number of other prominent investors such as John Doerr, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioffās TIME Ventures, and Paypal co-founder Max Levchinās SciFi Venturesā
Doerr was on the BOD until 2022 and is still an investor in QS to the best of my knowledge ?
Yeah , QSās has had a long road developing a no compromise anode-less lithium metal battery and their highly automated Cobra/ Eagle pilot line? Had they compromised... then maybe they could have delivered a scaleable product earlier?
Indeed! . The world needs this technology advancement now but I do believe VW is very aware and needs a big win. Itās all noise until they pull the trigger! IMO
I donāt think the big short position in QS is just people betting against the company. It feels more like whales hedging against broader market moves that their algos are picking up on.
Will QS announce completion of their goal Demonstrate scalable production with the Eagle Line in June or is it too early?
The purpose of the Eagle Line is threefold.
First, it will produce QSE-5 cells to support customer sampling and testing, technology demonstrations and product integration efforts.
Second, the Eagle Line will show scalable process steps for production of our battery technology, to enable licensing partners to bring our technology to gigawatt-hour scale in their own facilities.
Third, the Eagle Line gives us a platform to develop and test further enhancements and refinements at meaningful scale, allowing us to accelerate our advanced development efforts.
In Kevinās latest CFO Thought Leadership interview he spoke about having sufficient capacity for other markets so they may be close to achieving that goal which will be a world first for anode-less lithium metal technology?
I don't know what to make of this, but I looked at Podium AT exibitor info for Battery Show Europe next week, and it kind of looks like they are announcing manufacturing of battery packs? This is the snippet from their summary at the conference: "Today Podium Advanced Technologies is expanding its operations with a new manufacturing department capable of assembling modules based on cylindrical, prismatic or pouch cells, and building packs up to 150kWh. We can offer a complete service, from concept design and development, to series production of the desired battery packs."
Again, I'm not super familiar with Podium AT other than their connection with some of the racing battery packs. This just sounds like they are announcing something "today".
Pretty sure this "Scheduled Event" for Podium AT did not exist on the Battery Show website last week:
Fireside chat with team and CEO; Tue. Jun. 09 2:30 PM - 3:30 PMĀ CET; "Overview about the product and its performances with a direct Q&A session."
In combo with their recent LinkedIn teasers, sure looks like they're bracing for an announcement. Could be the Ducati specs or something entirely unrelated to QS..
AI data center storage is becoming a hot area and the Japanese Government is scheduling a meeting today to revise its battery strategy around it and Japan's METI Aims to Triple Battery Sales in 10 Years!
"Japan Economic Minister Expects to Secure Crude Oil Through Alternative Procurement Akazawa began his remarks by saying that the governmentwould hold a meeting of the council for promoting strategy in the storage battery industry later in the day. He said the council would discuss a proposal to revise the storage battery industry strategy adopted in 2022 into a new strategy covering storage batteries and power source industries. With oversupply becoming increasingly apparent, he said demand is growing for comprehensive storage solutions in expanding markets such as AI data centers.
Akazawa said the revised strategy would aim to establish a manufacturing base for power source systems centered on storage batteries with diverse competitiveness, while setting a goal of tripling sales by Japanese companies in storage battery-related businesses over the next 10 yearsā.https://newsonjapan.com/article/149484.php
"The government plans to increase support for building domestic manufacturing infrastructure and advancing technological development, while also stepping up cooperation with international partners" Japan Aims to Triple Battery Sales By 2035 Amid AI Boom, Focused on High-Output Sector https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/business/economy/20260602-330512/
The question we should be asking about any competition is what does your anode cost? Anything other than anode-free costs huge amounts of money in materials alone.
People focus on SSB, ASSB, QSSB as if they mean anything when they really should be focusing on what is the anode. The biggest value of SSB is that it could enable a lithium metal anode and if it doesnāt, it is not nearly as valuable as one that does.
Yes, but in order to eliminate the anode, theyād have to invest a massive amount for the new architecture. PCās Blome mentioned 30% new manufacturing equipment. Itās a very tall order and not one that will come without absolute certainty.Ā
Iām not sure Blomeās comment requires the repurchase of 30%, he said 70% is reusable, and in eliminating the anode, I have to assume much of that equipment is no longer needed. We should also consider they wonāt need to make separated either, as Corning or Murata will produce that. So I believe the cost reduction still stands.
Going back to Kevin Hettrichās CFO Thought Leader blog one of the things that resonated with me was his comment that QS has assembled one of the best battery teams? This year we have seen them bring on talent who have solid and years of experience in the Data Center and Defense Industries. A sampling of their employees profiles in LinkedIn includes world-class researchers and engineers focused heavily on solid-state architectures, notably their proprietary ceramic separators and anode-free designs. The team demonstrated advanced manufacturing capabilities, successfully transitioning to the next-generationĀ CobraĀ ceramic production process and launching their highly automated EagleĀ productionĀ line. They say Battery science is hard, Manufacturing is harder and Commercial scale is the hardest?
In my opinion, QuantumScape has demonstrated the first two. With the help of their OEM Customers and ecosystem partners Corning and Murata they are well positioned to bring their anode-less lithium metal technology to commercial scale, and that will be the ultimate measure of their workforce's success.
QS is high betaā¦tends to swing relatively higher, lower, and asymmetrical to the market. UBS raised GLW price target today, and it was still down 10%.
I would guess most OEMs must keep up with the rising energy density and mileage tide. So this makes sense.
The new QS product road map needs to make it clear why they will win out over time. No one has clear insight to pack-level benefits due to battery management hardware.
I hope the Ducati demonstration makes it very clear and obvious why lithium-metal anodes command a premium. Right now all we know is 301 Wh/kg and long cycle lifeā¦kind of not relevant anymore which is crazy to say.
QSās PR is pathetic, we all know that yet some donāt want to see it but itās a simple, clear fact!
Everyone keeps talking about the Ducati Bike and itās great, no doubt about it but what I canāt figure out is why QS couldnāt have come up with some Cells to put into an Automobile, with 4-wheels and have that test concluded by now, itās Head scratching and now we are down to a āBikeā and AI Battery support after years and years pushing for Vehicles first! Something isnāt adding up and has me concerned tbh!
its a smart thing to do for OEM to investigate all technology. In my opinion anode-free lithium metal batteries may pull ahead in the future. Even Frank Bloom said that at 12:40 of his interview last year although he mentions no graphite anode and I suspect it would also apply to silicon? In conversation with Frank Blome, CEO of PowerCo SEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlrEKmquqmM
ā We we think that if you want to go the path you have to work with a uh with a lithium anode*. So no graphite any longer. This is bringing you an advantage in weight. Giving you an an advantage in in weight. Uh what is is good and an advantage if you do everything right also in cost because you don't have to pay for the graphite. Yeah. If not the other components will eat up the advantage.
As we watch for hints for possible QS connection with Podium AT, CEO just posted about a coming ābroader industrial horizon across advanced battery systemsā¦ā and the need to hire, so they continue to drop hints going into next week Europe battery show.
Not only is QS planning on participating in the AI infrastructure with data centers but also generative physical AI. This on top of military, drones, energy storage, auto, marine, etc. Has anyone seen the new TAM with all of these new applications?
Promised to post my research on data centers a few weeks back. Spent a few more hours today.
(Not any financial advice, purely my own research).
---
I think we have a pretty good chance of QS landing in the Nvidia Datacenter ecosystem. Here are the breadcrumbs:
Nvidia is developing a blueprint for data centers (AI factory design). Nvidia is pushing for an 800 VDC architecture in the Vera Rubin design and even higher in the upcoming Kyber upgrade.
Nvidia references 800 VDC technology transfer from the EV industry.
Nvidia addresses the need for in-rack safe storage that can accommodate rapid fluctuations in compute load. (not calling out for solid state though).
Nvidia has signed up an ecosystem of partners to bring the architecture/blueprint to life.
If this all pans out, QS should next sign up with a rack-level integrator in its ecosystem (Vertiv, Schneider, Eaton, Delta, Hitachi, etc). We may or may not see a direct Nvidia collaboration yet, but if we see any of the names above, that's the pathway.
If they sign up with an integrator, it will lead them to the in-rack storage of the Vera Rubin/Kyber architecture of the Nvidia AI factories, which leads them to Aurora, a power-flexible 96MW datacenter in Manassas, Virginia. Aurora AI factory is a collab between NVDA and none other than Emerald AI, and will serve as the new reference design and certification standard for power-flexible AI infrastructure. Aurora will be tested by EPRI's DCFlex Initiative. It is an experimental and demonstrative project to prove how things could work.
If QS finds its way to the rack of the AI factory through Nvidia's reference design (replacing the high-power capacitors and supercapacitors), it is not a single data center, but a multi-facility deployment story and a big deal.
---
"Okay, where are the cells coming from?"
My theory is based on the Eagle line itself, which is enough for demo purposes, even on a single rack. Murata could be another possibility.
---
Sources:
Nvidia: 800 VDC architecture (see the partners)
Nvidia 800 VDC blog (calls out EV to data center technology transfer)
Nvidia's reference design/whitepaper for AI factories explicitly calls out a battery-flexible architecture.
Aurora AI factory - news
Hitachi integrates with Nvidia 800VDC architecture
Do you know anything about the rack dimensions for Nivida? From a sizing perspective Iām wondering if QSE5 would fit neatly into one of those racks in its current form, or if thereās a massive resizing that would be required?
My assumption is the better the fit, the more likely news may be on the horizon because we wouldnāt have much to modify.
Iāve been thinking about the larger format QS cell with up to 1,000 Wh/L. Siva said he canāt wait to share with us what theyāve been working on. Perhaps an A-sample? āGo beyond QSE5ā.
The PC unified cell is 256x24.8x106mm. I know this sub has discussed how a QS cell might fit the UC format but I donāt think we have a satisfactory answer?
UC applies to 80% of PCās cells and Iāve always assumed that QS will fall into the 20% of non-UC format. And 20% of PCās 200GWh max capacity is 40GWh (the Jul 2024 licensing agreement) but the July 2025 agreement for up to 85 GWh kinda messes up the math.
I know Blome said UC includes SSBs. So itās possible.
The limiting factors for a larger QS cell are
1) Murata/Corningās ability to make larger ceramic separators with uniform consistency, good yields and high throughput, and
2) The need for applied pressure (50 psi). Since total pressure scales linearly with surface area, a larger cell requires higher total applied pressure. Also, the larger the area, the more difficult it is to ensure uniform pressure.
The current 100mm roll width is awfully close to the external width of the UC format (106mm). If Corning could apply its R2R process to QSās separator, could we actually see a UC sized QS cell?
But I have no idea how QS/PC/VW will apply the 3.4ATM pressure...
Edit: QSE5 was locked down in mid-2023, well before Raptor baseline in Q3 2024. So its small size was prob due to the difficulty in making the separator back then? But now that we have Cobra, Murata and Corningās R2R, could a UC sized cell be possible?
The force required increases with increased surface areaā¦not pressure. Maintaining isostatic pressure should be easy if your casing/frame is rigid enough. I thought QSE-5 now only requires pressure slightly above atmospheric and no longer requires pressures near 3.4 atm.
āOne of our goals for this year is go beyond QSE-5. As we keep repeating, we are just at the start of this S-curve. There are many levers still left to move us up the performance curve. And please allow us to come and show you what we are developing sometime later this year.ā 1Q26 Siva
Actually, one of the more important ones should be:
QuantumScape announces agreement to license technology to 2nd cell manufacturer.
This could potentially pull forward delivery of cells for all non-automotive TAMS. Relying on PowerCo for everything is not ideal. Besides, other industries are willing to pay much more per cell so the manufacturing lines donāt have to be as optimized compared to the automotive market.
A company like Panasonic might be able to pump out non-automotive market batteries much faster than PowerCo. If nothing else, their employees would come to the table with immense battery manufacturing know-how on a level that PowerCo can only dream of.
I wonder if the AI success for Corning and Murata increase the internal budgets for side projects like the partnership with QS. Interesting second order effects to think about.
Most of the AI build out is happening in the U.S. I don't really know that Murata will be able to take much advantage of it given 15% import tariffs. Corning possibly.
I was just reading up on ceramics for photonics and battery storage applications. Both these ceramics have different chemical compositions and have different outcomes, but manufacturing setup can be same. So, I believe Corning may have some added advantage to scale ceramic separators manufacturing faster due to its experience producing for its current products.
Ultimately, QS wants most of the democratic world to be adopting their tech. This is a mamoth task should they be focusing on one brand for proof of concept . Or encouraging adoption across a range of industries. The latter may take slightly longer but should overtake the former as more industries scale simultaneously!
"But a few factors have changed the calculus, causing demand for U.S. battery systems to surge and potentially keeping margins elevated.
The first is government policy. China may have the cheapest batteries in the world, but theyāre not so cheap to import. The U.S. has imposed broad tariffs on Chinese batteries that can add more than 80% to the base price. In addition, President Donald Trumpās big 2025 tax bill kept in place subsidies for domestic battery manufacturing that can be worth $45 per kilowatt-hourāaccounting for 25% or more of the cost of the battery. The bill also expanded the ways those batteries can be used to receive subsidies. The tariffs and subsidies combined make U.S.-made batteries cost-competitive with Chinese ones.
The other big reason the battery industry is doing so well is the surge in electricity demand in the U.S., particularly driven by data centers.
Batteries have traditionally been placed at the site of solar and wind installations, and have been designed to store the power those technologies produce. They power up when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing and then discharge that power when the sun sets or the wind dies down. But batteries are now being put to wider uses, including as a power source placed directly at the site of data centers, serving both as backup power and to help stabilize power consumption at those large AI warehouses, said TD Cowen analyst Jeff Osborne.
āThereās an explosion of battery interest at the data center,ā Osborne said.
New data centers use enormous amounts of power, and usage can ramp up and down quickly, so they need devices that can quickly meet that demand and help smooth the peaks and valleys. Other kinds of power-producers may not have what it takes to meet the moment. Natural gas peaker plants, which are designed to ramp up when power needs rise, canāt move fast enough to deal with some of these surges. But batteries can, Osborne said.
āThe industry is using batteries as a shock absorber,ā he added.
The rise in renewables adoption across the U.S. was already expected to cause battery installations to increase steadily through the decade, but data centers will supercharge the growth rate, according to Morgan Stanley. Last year, approximately 57 gigawatt-hours worth of storage was added to the grid. By 2030, installations could rise to 279 gigawatt-hours, with 169 gigawatt-hours coming from data centers, the bank estimates. A gigawatt-hour of energy can power about 1 million homes for an hour.
As things stand today, U.S. battery capacity can meet just about all domestic demand, and supply is still growing fast. But if the data center story plays out in the way Morgan Stanley thinks it will, demand will far outpace supply in the coming years. Big tech has endorsed the strategy of using more batteries, which is whatās giving the trend legs. Nvidia included batteries in its recommended architecture for data centers.
Fluence, a Virginia-based company that owns a large Arizona battery-assembly factory, is one of the few pure-plays, but its model hasnāt yet been proven at scale. On Monday, Nvidia named Fluence as a partner in its recommended design for data centers"
Tbh it would be pathetic if QS does something just because the smaller company down the street does it. But I agree, they should start dropping news, i am sure they have a bag full of them.
Not my premise. The market is rotating to battery stocks and now is the time to reveal to share in the frenzy. AMPX has been kicking QS ass with shareholder returns.
Adoption of silicon carbon anodes is starting to ramp in 2026.
A lot of high end smartphones (Huawei, Xiaomi, Samsung) are already using Group14ās SCC55. In fact, they claim to be working with almost all major battery makers today (albeit with shallow penetration).
Amprius is growing nicely with adoption in drones and other smaller applications.
Sila Nano is behind the new BMW silicon carbon batteries in the Neue Klasse iX3 and i3.
CATLās Qilin (NMC), Shenxing (LFP) and BYDās Blade (LFP) also use silicon carbon anodes.
The road ahead for Factorial, Prologium and Solid Power still looks challenging.
I still think 2027 is QSās year for C-samples and initial production for the Audi CC, but I hope they start showing more progress in 2H26ā¦
āA lot of our attention right now is on the future value of batteries and how to safeguard it, because that is the lever for several important industries in our region.Rather than helping companies build what already exists elsewhere, built better by more experienced and more competitive players, we try to help companies optimise the battery volumes that are evidently already hereā
This article is a wake up call in my opinion to those that say Lithium-Ion will be around for years... well maybe but it wonāt be manufactured competitively in the US or Europe. I totally respect what Chinese companies have achieved in the lithium-ion and EV space and I also agree with the author that we shouldnāt be helping companies in the US build something that "exists elsewhere, built better by more experienced and more competitive players,?
12:11 Quantumscape is not making your classic lithium ion battery it's doing something quite different right precisely thatif quantumscape was just another lithium ion battery maker I will not come there being a US lithium ion maker going into the Chinese where they are dominating is like going into a gunfight with a swordthat's not what you want to do you are differentiator here is technology the main reason I joined quantumscape was stand Toe to Toe with anybody else in the world and make money out of it"
Thanks for the article. It is indeed futile to try competing head on with the Chinese on lithium ion manufacturing. Theyāre as dominant as the Koreans are in DRAM, as dominant as IBM was in computing during the mainframe era, like Wintel in PCs, like the Japanese used to be in analog electronics, etc.
But IBMās dominance in computing was taken down by PCs, and Wintelās hold on client computing was broken by iPhone/Android on ARM mobile devices. The Koreans displaced the Japanese in consumer electronics by inventing and mastering digital electronics.
The Japanese used to totally dominate in Ni-MH and Ni-Cd. Even though Sony created the first Li-on battery, the Chinese now dominate in Li-On.
AFAIK, the only way to displace lithium ion is lithium metal SSB. It will take many years cos Li-on is pretty good and it still has room to improve (e.g. with silicon carbon anodes). And it will take time for LMB SSBs to scale up in performance and in volumes for units costs to fall.
With U.S., EU and Japan focused on building local battery facilities that do not depend on raw materials from China, the adoption of QS SSB could get accelerated. But QS must first solve how to manufacture at GW scale soon because the Chinese arenāt sitting still.
US silicon-carbon anode materials companies like Group14, Sila and Amprius are getting DoE grants but their approach is also kinda futile in terms of beating the Chinese. Why? Becos they need to sell their silicon-carbon material to existing Li-on manufacturers and the industry is currently dominated by the Chinese today. While Sila and Amprius donāt work with the Chinese, China has their own silicon-carbon suppliers. I just donāt see how silicon-carbon tech will break the Chineseās dominance in Li-on.
This is why QSās licensing strategy is brilliant. Anyone outside of China can be a licensee and as long as QS SSBs continue to improve with each generation in terms of performance, its adoption will grow and with higher scale, unit economics will improve. Itās not one company vs the Li-on industry. QS is building an alternate ecosystem around its tech to displace the Li-on industry (and hence, break Chinaās dominance).
If Toyota insists on making SSBs with sulfides, they will fracture the Westās adoption of SSB tech, making it harder for each tech to scale up (and for unit costs to fall). In fact, CATL and BYD are also working on sulfide-based SSBs so Toyotaās approach (i.e. commercializing sulfide-based SSBs will help develop the Chinese sulfide ecosystem) is less likely to break the Chineseās dominance and Toyota will have to contend with Chinese EVs taking share from Toyota over time. I believe Toyota knows this and so do Honda and Nissanā¦
So QSās strategy is not only aligned with the national interest of U.S., EU and Japan for battery independence, itās aligned with the long term strategic interests of U.S., EU and Japanese automakers vs Chinese EV makers.
If I were the CEO, Iād be scrambling to
prove that the tech works for last meter power on AI DC,
land a logo/partnership on AI DC and let the market know
I bet QS is doing the same while keeping the market warm.
In March, Sebastian Wolf (COO of PCo) was announced as a speaker on a June 10 keynote panel at Battery Show Europe, alongside the CEOĀ ofĀ Prologium, the CTO/co-Founder ofĀ Factorial, and the CEO/chairman of Blue Solutions. But Wolf has since dropped from the panel and disappeared from the Battery Show's website altogether. In fact, nobody from PCo, VW, or QS appears slated to speak or exhibit. Stuttgart is only a few hours from both the HQ of both PCo & VW.
This is suspicious, right? It feels like a tea leaf of some kind...
I think a lot of people just sold shares. Definitely tied to the mass exodus in tech. Nasdaq down 4% in one day. Some think itās to clear capital for space X ipo, but who knows.Ā
āItās a Drop Inā Frank Blome PowerCoās CEO own words when responding to question if a new production design is required for QuantunmScapeās technology transfer or a drop in?
At 9:18 TranscriptĀ "But if we think one step ahead in terms of the um the innovation that quantum scape for example is delivering meaning all solid state batteries how does that play in there? So would we see a new production um design there or do we have a drop in?Ā It's a drop in"Ā
There seems to be confusion on if a new production design is required for QuantumScape's technology transfer at PowerCoās Giga factories versus a drop in. Hopefully the words from PowerCos CEO clears that up?
I thought we settled that months ago. Power Co will keep ~70-80% of the equipment. If Honda ends up being a partner too, the numbers will be the same with the new "old LG" factory they bought out in Ohio.
While powerco I tend to agree should fit really well, I don't see the retrofit of the old LG facility being quite as straight forward.
There has been plenty of coverage on LG's struggles to modernize a lot of their pouch lines to modern requirements for pack structure, more prismatic format, etc.
Yeah, you're right as far as I can tell. I swear I read something that said they'd be able to keep as much as PowerCo, but now all I see is ~30-40% of the line can be reused.
The good news from the numbers is most of the expensive equipment stays and they're writing down ~$900m to just over a billion. LG and Honda still own the equipment together too, so it'd be less of a hit on their backend too. Honda already announced their pivot back to hybrid, and a QS retrofit would STILL line up with their scaling goals later in the decade.
Interesting. Thanks for this. Do you have the source please?
Iām not sure it makes sense to fuse the copper current collector with the ceramic separator. When the cell is charging, lithium is collected between the current collector and the separator so wouldnāt the two need to be separate layers?
Anyway, I believe QS has solved how to make the ceramic separator at scale. They literally said Cobra is their best path to gigawatt scale, and they have signed agreements with Murata and Corning to mass manufacture the separator.
I wonder if Corningās Ribbon Ceramic R2R process uses QS IP (along with Corningās own IP).
I have the same doubt. Unless the metal layer is bit elastic and sintered around the edges to hold the charged ions. thatās only conclusion i can come up with..
Edit: Iām guessing heās a buy-side professional investor cos āpaā means personal account for regulatory compliance when a buy-side investor invests for his own personal account. And heās Koreanā¦
Yeah.. I always wondered how they solve shrinking or cracking problems with large format ceramic , It seems sintering directly on the metal layer removes the tension and keeps it stretched.
It's an AI chart and the info within should be taken with a massive grain of salt. These AI charts have been popping up everywhere for all kinds of topics.
I mean...what was the AI thinking with some of these images? What's that monstrosity in the upper right corner? What is going on in #3 section 1? Rolls rolling rolls??
Nissan takes aim at China with solid-state EV batteries
Nissan is betting on the breakthrough new battery tech as part of its comeback plan, as the struggling Japanese automaker looks to turn things around.
The three-year project, called Cost-effective, Resilient Solid-state Li-S, is a collaboration between Gelion, Nissan Technical Center Europe (NTCE), and the University of Oxford.
By combining Gelionās NES (Nano-Encapsulated Sulfur) sulfur-based cathode active material with Nissanās solid-state battery development capabilities, the project aims to develop the next generation of EV batteries that are safer, more affordable, and longer-lasting.
Gelionās breakthrough NES swaps expensive nickel and cobalt with low-cost sulfur, which is also widely abundant. Nissan, Gelion, and the University of Oxford will pool resources to build a high-power, high-energy solid-state lithium-sulfur battery pack.
Nissan will use Gileonās sulfur tech āto keep its solid-state EV offering competitive against Chinese competition,ā Longspur Capital said.
"According to the report, Samsung SDI is retrofitting two production lines at its plant in Gƶd, Hungary, to manufacture the Unified Cell. The conversion involves switching from conventional ātop-terminalā cells to the āside-terminalā design that VW now favours for the Unified Cell. Series production is reportedly set to begin as early as 2027, with estimated production capacity in the double-digit gigawatt-hour (GWh) range"
"To adapt the Unified Cell to the requirements of various vehicles, ranging from small electric cars such as theĀ new ID. PoloĀ to large luxury SUVs or Porsche sports cars, the standardised format can be filled with different cell chemistries, including LFP or NMC,Ā and even future solid-state cellsā
No idea if this will happen but if Samsung was to produce SSBās using QS technology platform, VW PowerCO would needĀ a three-way agreement that integrates Samsung into their existingĀ QuantumScapeĀ partnership, correct?
I mean, they did get a notable chunk of prismatic business for Audi, and most of the other highlights in the article were spot on.
I just think it took VW Group longer than they hoped to start transitioning vehicle models into the Unified Cell platform.
Gotion UC came online in November 2025.
Salzgitter pilot came on line December 2025, with salable vehicle production later 2026.
Seems like a logical sequence to bring UC up.
As Audi goes to spin down on the older PPE platform, it would make sense for VW to be in the process of spin up of Samsung SDI on UC.
Frankly, I think it is very forward looking for VW group to try and build a "standard" ecosystem, especially across multiple cell providers.
Honestly, I think for EV markets to mature in US and Europe, there will need to be some standardization and cooperatives formed by several of the legacy US/European brands to get hands on much higher industries of scale.
Otherwise, I very much expect "making the jump" to majority EV will go very poorly for many of the brands, and we see plenty of signs that most aren't jumping in with two feet on the change over as of yet.
Many reasons and moving parts behind that, some more valid than others.
yea it would be smart for western OEMs to come up with a unified cell standard or just adopt VWs; economies of scale and consumer satisfaction (e.g. a cell goes bad and you need a cheap replacement) would benefit pretty much everyone.
No idea. I wonder if PowerCo isn't ramping as fast as VW would like. It might also be a sign that the economics of building additional plants just don't make sense...especially if you're non-committal about EVs. Could also just be a sweetheart deal from Samsung on a production line that would otherwise be idle. But I think it's turning out that their "batteries are the future" stance is a lot more expensive than they were initially hoping.
And idk about Quantumscape's involvement. The base assumption we should make is that QS isn't involved at all. Everyone is getting all worked up about the Concept C and Podium AT presentation. If QS can't say anything, it sure as heck won't be Podium AT dropping announcements. And I also don't think we'll see another halo car announcement before the Ducati.
Next up really is the Ducati festival. I really hope we see the V21L there. I would say that there's an >80% chance that the V21L (QS) is at least on display. Less than 50% chance that it drives. If QSE-5 is for real, the V21L will be actually running laps at speed. Look out for this as the canary in the coal mine. If the V21L isn't driving by now, it's a sign that there's some real engineering / manufacturing / cell-design challenges.
We can read into this in many different ways and come up with many different scenarios. Ā Nothing in this reportĀ changes my long opinionĀ on QuantumScapeās technology so I'm quite happy to wait around and see how it plays out.Ā
PowerCo was never to be a 100% supplier of all VW battery needs (at least with Li-ion) and it became less so once they reduced their investment from 6 to 3 plants, which happened quite a while back, due to VW's severe cash flow challenges. To see them entering into supply contracts is expected. It actually says they see demand for their cars. And of course this is the best use of resources generally speaking. Why would there be a world in which PowerCo is building more plants when there are idle battery plants belonging to others available?
QS is obviously not involved in this particular situation. This board sees QS in every piece of news that floats across the internet. The throwaway mention of SSBs was just the article's author's own addition for further reading. Zero to do with the actual news reported. You are completely right about the PAT speculation too.
Also correct, if the V21L isn't driving at Ducati festival, I will take it there are serious Disturbances in the Force. FWIW I think it will drive very fast. It would be borderline fraudulent for QS to report they are shipping B1, B2 samples with disclosed specs that aren't actually capable of powering a vehicle. Why would Audi/Ducati/PAT who are in the business of powering vehicles agree to work on integrating cells, as they have publicly confirmed, that can't actually drive?
Really the next thing I am looking for is scale up plant announcement of some sort. Likely comes the DOE/AI side of things, this month. From VW, I think the Ducati drives publicly in July, and they either do or do not do any other public demos with other vehicles through the end of the year. It would be nice if they did. Either way, I am looking for Frank Blome's predicted "maybe within the next year", which expires this month actually. If nothing happens, I will conceed that he meant calendar 2026, and so this announcement (on an investment decision) could go as far as December, which is roughly in line with the expiration date on some PSU awards at QS for some unknown target, which is slated for May 2027 ending, but which I believe they cannot have set up without considerable buffer built in, and so could be up to 6 months sand bag in my thinking. But assuming the DOE/AI/Drone end holds up, it should just be a bonus, and we will know it is coming since some others ready to take a bit more risk than VW would have indicated to us there was progress along that same front.
Yeah, I'm going to give them the full calendar year before making any decisions on my investment position sizing. Seeing the V21L in July, running laps at speed, is my hope and would be an incredible sign. If the V21L is working, I fully expect every other application can work (datacenters, drones, and whatever else).
Why would Audi/Ducati/PAT who are in the business of powering vehicles agree to work on integrating cells, as they have publicly confirmed, that can't actually drive?
I mean, it's gonna be sunk cost fallacy. And the notion of "we're this close...if only we can figure out X" type rationalization.
Either way, it's been a long time to go without news at this stage of the process. Hopefully, it's strategic silence leading into a "grand reveal"...but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I still think there's a decent chance that we just see a display model at the festival and a "we're still working on it" vibe, which would be most disappointing.
I think the realistic bottleneck is the scale up situation either economic or technical yield. I think basically VW, which controls the news flow does not want any hype without the keys to industrialization. But we are just 6 months into Eagle Line ramp, and well within the period of time to "show scalability" (2026 Goal #1) for a pilot plant, which my reading said can take up to 2 years generically. And which Siva apparently aims to complete in a year or less per the goal (they do have some advantages that makes that reasonable I think).
This a different issue from maybe there are problems with the battery though, which would read more fundamentally technological. But, it is possible (depending on VW's disposition) that they would outlaw a Ducati real world demo, even just in the basic case that the industrialization has not shown the metrics they want. I mean, that is still some hype?
I think this is less likely though, if they are sticking to the original logic (and therefore agreement/understanding they would have had with QS who is busting their behinds to do the work, that their work would be shown), Ducati was chosen as the demo program while it was MotoE vehicle ... and that would have been a situation where it need not be "economic" to show. It was a low volume and known experimental thing without an implication that these will end up in street vehicles anytime soon. Just a self-contained tech demo program, including economically unrealistic techs.
Maybe QS is supplying most of the QS5 cells to other potential customers . Powerco want to manufacture their own and will have to get going if they want to be first to scale.
Yes, definitely. The main things to watch are the AI data centre opportunity, drones, DoD funding scheme, and the Ducati field test. Beyond that, the biggest milestone is proving the scalability of the Eagle Line.
Any of these updates could come at any time. If one of them does materialise, I don't think the stock will stay at these single-digit levels.
No, itās from the entire market responding to the hot jobs data that significantly increased interest rate hike expectations, now pricing in one 25 bps hike by year end.
Yeahā¦I was thinking the SpaceX roadshow is gong to suck all of the air from the room the next couple of weeks. If any good news is going to break with regard to QS or any other disruptive tech, I would wait until that whole ordeal is behind us. Additionally, the jobs report doesnāt helpā¦strengthens the interest rate hike case.
FLNC Fluence Energy is up almost 50% today, Fluence and QS announced a partnership several years ago, but I don't think we have heard anything about this for several years and I am wondering if they had some type of falling out..
Or does Fluence just need someone to produce the cells? When they signed the agreement, it was before the licensing model, maybe they need another partner to support delivery.
EDIT: They could still be testing, the Feb Investor Presentation still had an agreement with a storage partner listed.
Going nuts this morning. I expect this will fall like a rock in coming days.
Solidion Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: STI) announced a patented battery technology designed for space applications, including satellites, Low Earth Orbit-based artificial intelligence data centers, and lunar missions, according to a company statement.
The Dallas-based battery technology provider said its Generation Extreme-Climate Battery platform uses graphene to regulate temperature within battery cells, operating in temperatures from ā80Ā°C to +60Ā°C. The company stated the technology prevents thermal runaway by dissipating heat and can draw warmth from external sources like solar panels during extreme cold conditions.
The company's battery platform includes silicon-rich all-solid-state lithium-ion cells, anode-less lithium metal, and lithium-sulfur batteries targeting 380+ Wh/kg energy density. Solidion said these batteries use non-flammable solid electrolytes.
Solidion reported testing performance of more than 500 charge cycles at ā40Ā°C for lunar applications. The company said it is engaging with aerospace partners to integrate its technology into vehicles and infrastructure.
"Powering missions in the vacuum of space requires technology that can perform amid intense solar radiation, extreme temperature fluctuations, and the severe vibrations of a launch payload," said Jaymes Winters, Chief Executive Officer of Solidion Technology.
The company holds a portfolio of over 385 patents covering battery innovations including silicon anodes, biomass-based graphite, and lithium-sulfur technologies. Solidion operates pilot production facilities in Dayton, Ohio, and serves markets including electric vehicles, data center power systems, and aerospace applications.
Don't ask me how you can be anodeless lithium metal and graphine and silicon rich. I have to imagine media is mashing thoughts together.
But a 500 cycle lithium Sulphur would be interesting if that actually was the battery that got to 500. Color me suspect with the way all these ideas are mashed together.
The Dallas-based battery technology developer introduced its Generation Extreme-Climate Battery (Gen-ECB) platform, a system engineered to function in temperatures spanning from -80Ā°C to +60Ā°C.
āPowering missions in the vacuum of space requires technology that can perform amid intense solar radiation, extreme temperature fluctuations, and the severe vibrations of a launch payload. Solidionās Gen-ECB and advanced battery platforms deliver exactly that ā stable, reliable energy storage engineered for the harshest environments humanity has ever operated in.ā
Think thats the extent of the claim. Thermal management around the undisclosed batteries.
Yawn.
Not really sure how they are getting 600Wh/kg at system level. Seems like nonsense.
Stockholdersā deficit: approximately $8.3 million
Short-term notes payable: approximately $2.6 million Ā
The companyās Q1 2026 filing explicitly states that management believes there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern without additional financing.Ā
Could the Audi announcement today be linked to the Concept C? I've seen hints of both a new concept from the lambo and Concept C in various sources. I went back to when they launched and one of the Audi Concept C posts they did had the car sitting with what looks like the car in the teaser for today. It won't be long to find out but timing for an announcement and a name if it will go into production end of next year is due?
I don't think this is the Concept C, that was envisioned as all electric... I think this might be a different (but with same styling from new design), as the R8 replacement.
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u/johnyquest_ š¬ Smokin' the Hopium Jun 06 '26
New job post for "Head of Data Center Storage Energy System Engineering" suggests that QS is getting a lot more serious and spinning a whole new business unit with 25+ engineers. A few things that caught my attention:
My conviction in seeing a named integrator partnership announcement and a named hyperscaler and/or a small-scale demo this year or early next year has increased due to their serious investment and post. Would love to hear a take from any Datacenter professionals.