Shares of electric vehicle (EV) battery start-up Solid Power (SLDP 3.67%) were moving higher on Thursday after rival QuantumScape (QS -4.03%) announced a new deal with Volkswagen (VWAGY -2.03%).
As of 11 a.m. ET today, Solid Power's shares were up about 13.5% from Wednesday's closing price.
Solid Power's stock is moving on a rival's big news
Colorado-based Solid Power is working to develop better EV batteries. The company's investors include automakers Ford Motor Company (F -4.11%) and BMW (BMW -2.09%). It also has a manufacturing partnership with Korean battery maker SK Innovation, which supplies several major automakers, including Ford, with EV batteries.
NASDAQ: SLDP
Key Data Points
Solid Power itself didn't make news on Thursday. But its stock tends to move in tandem with that of another EV battery start-up, QuantumScape. Like Solid Power, QuantumScape is working to commercialize so-called solid-state batteries, which promise to make future EVs safer, lighter, and quicker to recharge.
Volkswagen is a key investor in QuantumScape, which -- like Solid Power -- is still finalizing development of its solid-state battery design. Under the deal announced on Thursday, VW's battery company, PowerCo, now has the right to produce up to 80 gigawatt-hours of QuantumScape-designed batteries per year under license. That's enough to power about 1 million EVs.
Image source: Getty Images.
What QuantumScape's deal really means for Solid Power
For QuantumScape, the new deal is a vote of confidence from Volkswagen and an important step toward mass production, although the companies didn't share a timeline.
For Solid Power, the deal doesn't mean much by itself. But it reminded investors that solid-state battery technology is now closer to moving out of the laboratories and into EVs that consumers can buy.
