Volkswagen is closing in on a new battery technology that will bring “a quantum leap for the electric car”, according to the firm’s boss Martin Winterkorn.
Winterkorn told German tabloid newspaper Bild, "VW is researching a super-battery in Silicon Valley in California, that is cheaper, smaller and more powerful. An electric Volkswagen that can travel 300km (186 miles) on electricity is in sight. It will be a quantum leap for the electric car.”
As we reported back in December, VW acquired a 5% holding in QuantumScape, a San Jose-based early-stage battery startup that has been working on commercializing solid-state battery technology from Stanford University.
Volkswagen was due to decide in the first half of this year whether QuantumScape's battery technology is ready for use in its electric cars.
