Solid-state battery pioneer QuantumScape announced that it has begun shipping B1 samples of its QSE-5 cell. The company reached this milestone during the third quarter of 2025, achieving one of the company’s key goals for the year.
A key feature of these new B1 samples is their use of ceramic separators manufactured via QuantumScape’s innovative new production process, dubbed ‘Cobra.’ The US-based company stated that the delivery of these B1 samples was one of its most important goals for the year.
These samples are the most advanced QS cells to date and feature separators produced using the company’s Cobra process. By combining the high-performance QSE-5 design with more efficient production processes, these cells represent a major step toward high-volume commercial production of QS technology for electric vehicles and other applications.
Cobra-based QSE-5 cells are featured in QS’s first vehicle program with the VW Group, the Ducati V21L motorcycle. The Ducati program is designed as a real-world demonstration of the no-compromise performance profile of QS solid-state battery technology.
The ‘Cobra’ process is a game-changer for the ceramic separators, which are a key component of QuantumScape’s planned lithium-metal battery cells with solid electrolyte. The company announced the implementation of this process back in June.
The main benefit of ‘Cobra’ is its expected ability to significantly improve the scalability of the cells, laying the foundation for much larger-scale production of the B1 samples and ultimately, commercializing the technology.
“We are proud to announce the start of deliveries of these QSE-5 samples,” said Dr. Luca Fasoli, Chief Operating Officer of QuantumScape. “We are working together with our partners to bring our groundbreaking solid-state lithium-metal battery technology to market as quickly as possible. This announcement is another critical step toward achieving our goal of revolutionizing energy storage.”
The QSE-5 is slated to be QuantumScape’s first commercial product, offering impressive specs:
– Capacity: 5 Ah
– Energy Density: Over 844 Wh/L or 301 Wh/kg
– Charging Time: An impressive $12.2$ minutes to go from 10% to 80% state of charge.
The cell itself is compact, measuring 84.5 mm x 65.6 mm x 4.6 mm. These B1 deliveries build on previous steps, including the small-scale production of initial B-sample cells that began in late October 2024. The ‘Cobra’ process, however, was the crucial missing piece needed to move beyond small batches and toward the stated goal of bringing QuantumScape’s solid-state battery platform to market on a gigawatt scale.
The commitment to industrialization is strong, particularly with VW’s battery subsidiary PowerCo, which has a licensing partnership deal with QuantumScape aiming for the subsequent “series production of solid-state cells on a gigawatt-hour scale.”
