Shares of QuantumScape ( QS -3.12%) opened Tuesday trading at a loss and were down 4.7% since 9:45 a.m. ET. The business’s solid-state battery innovation is promoted to be a video game changer for the electric-vehicle (EV) market, however the business is still checking models and has actually missed its earlier due dates for the commercialization of the batteries.
If reports are to be thought, QuantumScape’s longest-standing partner Volkswagen is getting restless now and taking a look at other alternatives.
Volkswagen remains in talks with other battery makers
QuantumScape’s collaboration with Volkswagen go back to 2012. With time, the car manufacturer has actually invested more than $300 million in QuantumScape, dedicated more capital to a joint endeavor with the battery business, and currently checked its multilayer battery cells.
The joint endeavor arrangement, nevertheless, specified 2018 as the initial date for commercialization of QuantumScape’s innovation. QuantumScape, obviously, missed out on the due date, and commercialization is still no place in sight.
Volkswagen is now pursuing options and remains in talks with France’s Blue Solutions, according to a report from Reuters that came out today. Unlike QuantumScape, which is checking its battery cells, Blue Solutions is currently producing solid-state batteries for Daimler’s electrical buses and has actually signed handle German high-end carmaker BMW and another business for its upcoming passenger-car battery.
The report recommends Volkswagen might reach an arrangement with Blue Solutions in the coming months. Although it likewise specifies that Volkswagen’s endeavor with QuantumScape is still on track, this is one enormous advancement that financiers in the business need to look out for as Volkswagen likewise holds the most significant secret to QuantumScape’s development.
A huge hazard to QuantumScape?
Volkswagen has actually currently checked QuantumScape’s very first models, however screening and accreditation need time, and commercialization might be years away. Volkswagen might not wish to wait so long before it can utilize solid-state batteries in its automobiles, so it’s a rational action if it is, undoubtedly, in talks with other battery business.
Although QuantumScape shares a strong and enduring relationship with Volkswagen, it likewise postures the most significant hazard to the battery maker. With more business, consisting of car manufacturers like Toyota Motor, likewise entering into the production side of solid-state batteries, alternatives for Volkswagen are just broadening, even as QuantumScape has a hard time to advertise its batteries and meet dedications under its contracts and endeavor with the car manufacturer.
Neha Chamaria has no position in any of the stocks discussed. The Motley Fool advises Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy