QuantumScape has never made any revenue, but its stock is up 35% this morning after claiming to have hit major milestone

QuantumScape, a $2.4 billion market cap (as of last night) development-stage company working on solid-state battery tech for EVs, jumped 35% after the closing bell on Tuesday following the company’s announcement that it had reached a “major milestone” in scaling up production of its ceramic battery separators.

The separator is QuantumScape’s core product — and its new breakthrough integration is faster, more energy efficient, and takes up less space compared to earlier methods, the company said.

Founded in 2010 by a group of Stanford scientists, QuantumScape went public in 2020 after it had secured a $380 million investment from Volkswagen — still its largest shareholder — along with backing from Bill Gates and top venture firms. The company initially set out to make full lithium metal EV batteries that offer “greater energy density, longer life, faster charging, and greater safety” than conventional batteries. The plan sent shares soaring after its Nasdaq debut, giving the company a market cap of more than $47 billion at its December 2020 peak.

But as turning lab results into real-world production proved slower than expected — and many automakers delayed similar ambitions — QuantumScape shifted its focus. Last July, the company said it would stop making full batteries and focus instead on manufacturing the separator, while licensing its technologies to Volkswagen’s EV battery unit, PowerCo, which will handle battery production.

Despite Tuesday’s surge, the stock remains down 95% from its all-time high. The company has never made any revenue.