Honda partners with QuantumScape to accelerate solid-state batteries
Honda took a significant step towards production of its highly anticipated solid-state battery system in June 2026, entering into a new partnership with American company QuantumScape. The collaboration aims to accelerate the automotive giant’s progress towards carbon neutrality. This announcement comes just months after the cancellation of the launch of three electric vehicle models in North America, the Honda 0 SUV, the Honda 0 Saloon and the Acura RSX, which resulted in the company’s first annual financial loss in nearly 75 years. The union with QuantumScape, an American company specializing in battery development, could indicate a change in Honda’s strategy for electric vehicles, prioritizing solid-state batteries over existing EV technologies.
The partnership, announced in June 2026, will focus its efforts on the research and development of solid-state batteries, including related manufacturing techniques. In sealing the deal with the San Jose, Calif.-based research firm, Honda seeks to leverage QuantumScape’s expertise in creating next-generation solid-state lithium-metal batteries. The objective is to find solutions that offer greater autonomy, faster charging, reduced costs and improved security. Last year, QuantumScape had already reached a similar agreement with Volkswagen’s battery company PowerCo SE, which reinforces the market’s growing confidence in its ability to supply ready-made solid-state batteries for electric vehicles.
In a press release about the partnership, Atsushi Ogawa, chief operating officer of Honda’s Center of Excellence in Research and Development, said QuantumScape’s solid-state technology platform “demonstrated compelling and unique advantages” during a technical study. Ogawa also predicted that the collaboration could “add value in a number of applications.” In addition to the potential for the future of electric vehicles, QuantumScape positions its solid-state batteries as a solution for several emerging technology markets with high energy demands, such as data centers, drones and robotics. Honda, in turn, appears to be betting everything on this technology to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
How the technology behind solid state batteries works
To understand the advantages that solid-state batteries can offer Honda’s line of electric vehicles, you must first understand the basic operating principles of the lithium-ion batteries used in current models. A battery operates with electrolytes that transport positively charged electrons between its positive and negative terminals, known as the cathode and anode. In the lithium-ion batteries of most electric vehicles, the separation between the anode and cathode is carried out by liquid electrolytes, usually a solution of lithium salts in organic solvents. As the name implies, a solid-state battery replaces these liquids with solid electrolytes, such as oxides, sulfides, polymeric salts, or gel polymers. This change also allows for the replacement of carbon or silicon anodes in lithium-ion batteries with more energy-dense alternatives such as lithium metal. QuantumScape describes its batteries as “anodeless”, as the anode “forms in situ on the first charge”.
More on this story: Honda’s New Alliance with QuantumScape Boosts Solid Batteries
Although these modifications may seem small to non-experts, they represent a major advance in battery technology, as solid electrolytes have several advantages over liquid electrolytes. Firstly, they have the potential to achieve higher energy densities, meaning electric vehicles with solid-state batteries could have much longer ranges with smaller, lighter battery systems. QuantumScape projects that an electric vehicle can expand its range from 350 to between 400 and 500 miles using one of its battery cells. Another significant benefit would be shorter recharge time, due to the higher conductivity rates of its materials. Honda calculated that a solid-state battery could, in theory, reach 80% to 90% of its charge in a few minutes.
Solid electrolytes also provide several safety benefits. They eliminate the possibility of leakage, a considerable concern with lithium-ion batteries. Additionally, solid-state electrolytes are non-flammable and are less likely to degrade through additional chemical reactions. Solid-state batteries can also operate in extreme temperatures, further expanding their operating range and ensuring a more stable battery system. This change has the potential to eliminate the need for graphite anodes, reducing the electric vehicle market’s dependence on Chinese suppliers and favoring higher capacity alternatives.
Advocates of solid-state batteries have long seen this technology as key to driving the electric vehicle market forward, as its theoretical benefits resolve many of the limitations of traditional lithium-ion electric vehicles. However, no manufacturer has released an EV entirely powered by solid-state batteries for the consumer market. Scalability, amid exorbitant costs, has been the biggest obstacle, with the technology largely restricted to smaller form factors such as medical implants, IoT devices and wearable electronics. But with several major manufacturers investing in the technology, it may only be a matter of time before cars with solid-state batteries are on the streets.
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Competitive Landscape and the Future of Solid State Batteries
Honda’s journey into developing solid-state batteries began in 2024, when the company announced plans to produce prototypes at its facility in Sakura City, Japan. Since then, the manufacturing giant has invested significantly in the technology. The partnership with QuantumScape could be a key step towards realizing the goal of launching a solid-state electric vehicle by the end of the decade. The project will utilize QuantumScape’s recently opened Eagle Line facility to produce its QSE-5 solid-state, lithium-metal, anode-free battery cells, which were featured on a Ducati V21L motorcycle prototype last fall. Honda executives said the technology has the potential to double the range of current electric vehicle models by the end of the decade. In the long term, the company aims for electric vehicles to represent 100% of its sales by 2040.
Honda will likely face stiff competition as several global brands race to bring the technology to market. In the near future, this dispute is likely to manifest itself in the form of semi-solid batteries, which employ a hybrid solid-liquid electrolyte solution and have already begun to be introduced into the consumer market. Chinese manufacturer CALB, for example, began mass production of such a hybrid battery last year, culminating in the presentation of a battery for light commercial vehicles at a trade show in March 2026. Meanwhile, Stellantis and Mercedes-Benz have partnered with startup Factorial to test a fleet of Dodge Chargers and EQS sedans, respectively, powered by semi-solid systems.
However, Honda is not the only company betting on solid-state batteries. Several Chinese electric vehicle giants are emerging as formidable competitors. Both BYD and CATL have announced plans to begin small-scale production of solid-state batteries for electric vehicles next year. Another Chinese manufacturer, Dongfeng Motors, is developing a solid-state electric vehicle capable of traveling 600 miles on a single charge.
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Japanese companies are also at the forefront of the race for solid-state batteries. Nissan, for example, recently joined a development initiative similar to Honda’s QuantumScape project, this time in partnership with the British conglomerate Gelion, which specializes in sulfur batteries. The project targets Nissan’s stated goal of launching a line of all-solid-state electric vehicles by 2028. Toyota, in turn, which has already registered more than a thousand patents for this technology, recently signed a partnership with Sumitomo Metal Mining to produce cathodes for its all-solid-state batteries. Until last year, Toyota planned to launch solid-state electric vehicles by 2028.
Western companies are also entering the fray. BMW, for example, began testing solid-state batteries in its i7 prototype last year. Volkswagen, on the other hand, invested $1.2 billion in Chinese battery developer Gotion High Tech in 2020. This year, the company began testing its all-solid-state EV battery, which promises a range of 620 miles. Mercedes-Benz is also close to its own battery. The United States’ first foray into the solid-state market could come from luxury electric vehicle startup Karma Automotive, which announced the launch of its Kaveya super coupe with solid-state batteries from Factorial in late 2027.
Ultimately, it seems unlikely that solid-state batteries will overtake lithium-ion batteries in the near term. Despite widespread investment, scalability concerns will likely persist as companies build out their solid-state battery supply chains. However, with several manufacturers believed to be on the verge of a breakthrough, the technology could become a mainstay of the electric vehicle market sooner than expected. Overall, Honda’s bet on QuantumScape testifies to the promise of solid-state technologies.
