QuantumScape unveils Osprey, an all-solid-state battery platform it says cycled 1,000 times at 1 atmosphere

The backstory: why "all-solid-state" has been talked about for years, and is still rare in cars

In today's common lithium-ion batteries, a liquid electrolyte usually sits between the two electrodes. An all-solid-state battery tries to replace that liquid with solid materials, with the usual aims of higher energy density, faster charging, and better safety. Energy density, roughly, is how much electricity you can store in a battery of a given size.

Sulfides are one of the most closely watched solid electrolytes on that path. In its announcement, QuantumScape said the industry has pursued them for a long time without arriving at a commercially viable technology. The reasons, it said, include sulfides reacting with lithium metal, which shortens life, and the need to operate under high pressure, which is impractical in vehicles and many other uses.

What the company announced

On November 11, San Jose-based QuantumScape introduced Osprey, its next-generation open platform for all-solid-state batteries. The company said Osprey cells have delivered "the world's first public data" showing a sulfide-based cathode cycling 1,000 times under just one atmosphere of pressure, a capability it called necessary for automotive solid-state batteries and previously undemonstrated in public. That is the company's own framing and laboratory result, not an independent ranking.

According to QuantumScape, Osprey pairs its ceramic separator and anode-free lithium-metal design with a solid cathode to make an all-solid-state cell. It builds on the company's existing QSE platform and opens licensing and co-development to current customers and to other developers of sulfide-based solid-state batteries. The company also said the solid cathode plus ceramic separator should enable faster charging, a wider operating-temperature range, and projected energy densities of up to about 1,100 watt-hours per liter. That 1,100 Wh/L figure is a projection, not the nameplate rating of a mass-produced cell.

Siva Sivaram, QuantumScape's president and CEO, said the industry has invested heavily in sulfide batteries and keeps hitting the same limits, and that the company believes Osprey can address them and become a leading platform for solid-state development. The release also flags some of these statements as forward-looking. QuantumScape said it is already working with automotive partners on the Osprey platform; cells based on the QSE platform are shipping to customers today, and Osprey is described as its long-term all-solid-state solution.

This is not "electric cars change overnight"

A thousand cycles at about one atmosphere, if the data hold up under outside scrutiny, would speak directly to two of the hardest problems on the sulfide path. What is public today is the company's test result and a white paper, not a battery already in mass-produced cars, and not something you can buy.

What it could mean for you

If cells like these later work reliably under the pressure, temperature, and lifetime conditions cars actually need, electric vehicles could pack more range into a similar volume and lean less on complicated pressure hardware. That step has not arrived. The accurate statement for now is that a solid-state battery company has published data on an all-solid-state platform it says can cycle 1,000 times near ordinary pressure. The next test is whether partners and independent checks reproduce those results, and whether the work can move from the lab into a vehicle.

Original source published: QuantumScape, Nov 11, 2026, 22:00:58 Beijing time (UTC+8)