QuantumScape unveiled Osprey, an all-solid-state battery platform. The company's current product, QSE-5, uses a solid ceramic separator but a cathode with liquid. Osprey replaces that liquid with a sulfide solid electrolyte, keeping the ceramic separator and anode-free design. According to a company white paper, a two-layer cell with the same cathode area as QSE-5 ran 1,000 full charge and discharge cycles (1C, 0 to 100%, at 30°C) to about 80% capacity, at one atmosphere of pressure.
Pressure matters to automakers: sulfide cells usually need heavy clamping, from 20 to more than 100 atmospheres, and therefore heavy packs. According to Electrek, no published data contradicts the claim that this is a first. Still, these are small lab cells, of about 0.3–0.4 amp-hours versus about 5 for QSE-5. The five-minute fast charge was achieved at 80°C, and the figure of about 1,100 Wh/L is a projection.
QuantumScape pitches Osprey as an open platform that manufacturers can pair with their own sulfide cathodes, in line with its licensing model with Volkswagen's PowerCo and Honda. There is no production timeline: the company writes that the process has been shown "at laboratory scale" and that significant work remains. Samsung SDI, BYD and Toyota are targeting solid-state sulfide battery production between 2027 and 2028.