QuantumScape says shares sale to fund pilot battery facility expansion plans

US solid-state battery start-up QuantumScape has issued a share offering aimed at raising up to $859m (£627m) to fund the expansion of its planned pilot production line.

QuantumScape, which went public through a reverse merger with Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp last November, said the net proceeds would also be used to cover its full share of equity contributions to its joint venture with Volkswagen for the previously-announced 20 GWh expansion of its ‘QS-1’ joint manufacturing facility.

The company said in regulatory filing that the net proceeds from its sale of 13 million shares, plus an additional 1.95 million shares if underwriters exercise that option, "could be much as $859m, based upon an assumed public offering price of $59.34 per share”.

'Anode-less architecture'

The pilot facility, dubbed ‘QS-0’, is expected to have a capacity of more than 100,000 engineering cell samples per year. The company said earlier this year that it intended to expand QS-0 by 200,000 sq ft, and for QS-0 to be producing cells by 2023.

QuantumScape’s solid-state separator replaces the organic separator used in conventional cells, enabling the elimination of the carbon or carbon/silicon anode and the realisation of an "anode-less” architecture, with zero excess lithium.

Last December, QuantumScape released new performance data indicating that its solid-state batteries could be charged to as much as 80% of capacity in 15 minutes.