Why QuantumScape Popped 29% During the First Half of 2025

Key Points

• QuantumScape has installed the Cobra process as its new manufacturing baseline.

• Cobra will demonstrate the company's ability to produce cells at a near-commercial pace.

• QuantumScape's partnership with Volkswagen subsidiary PowerCo will be instrumental in its plan to progress toward commercial production scales -- and revenue.

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When looking at the risk vs. reward balance, QuantumScape (NYSE: QS) might offer the wildest range of any company out there. QuantumScape is hard at work developing its technology for solid-state batteries -- a type of battery that no company has produced at commercial scale for the electric vehicle (EV) market yet. If it succeeds, it will be a game-changing breakthrough for EVs, but for now, the company lacks not only profits, but any commercial revenue at all.

That should change in time, but what should matter to investors is that QuantumScape is installing all of its new equipment for new processes to reach commercial production volume. And on that front, QuantumScape is making sound progress.

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In late June, the company announced a major milestone in its scale-up effort: the successful integration of its Cobra separator process into baseline cell production. Cobra is its next step toward commercialization, and the process enables faster and more energy-efficient production. QuantumScape noted that the process treats key battery cell components 25 times faster than earlier processes, and with a fraction of the equipment and operational footprint.

Image source: QuantumScape.

The Cobra process will replace the company's previous process, dubbed Raptor, which was used for sample cells and B0 cell production. Essentially, part of this development is demonstrating that QuantumScape's improved manufacturing process will work on a fast-paced assembly line.

"Cobra is a step-change innovation in ceramic processing, enabling a major improvement in productivity compared to Raptor -- which was already a considerable advancement compared to the previous generation," said QuantumScape co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Tim Holme in a press release. "This advancement is central to bringing our high-performance solid-state battery platform to market at gigawatt scale."

The announcement of that milestone was almost solely responsible for the company's 29% surge during the first half of 2025, but where is QuantumScape likely to go during the second half?

What's next?

While QuantumScape works on newer iterations of Cobra to inch closer to commercialization of its solid-state batteries, the next step for the company is already in the works. But to put that in context, we have to rewind to almost exactly one year ago, when it announced a partnership with Volkswagen Group's battery company, PowerCo.

Essentially, that partnership deal says that after the battery start-up makes satisfactory technical progress, then -- in exchange for royalty payments -- QuantumScape will grant PowerCo a license to mass-produce battery cells for EVs based on its technology. The deal will combine QuantumScape's technical innovations with PowerCo's extensive and high-quality production operations.

QuantumScape's next goal is to begin shipping QSE-5 B1 samples, and it remains on track to do so. Those are the cells it will use to show how its tech works in real-world applications, and the B1 version is expected to be distributed for the testing phase of its launch program next year.

QuantumScape stock is not an investment for the faint of heart. Anyone who buys it has to accept the considerable level of risk that comes with a company that is years away from generating revenue through the commercial manufacture of its core products. That said, QuantumScape has slowly but surely progressed, implementing each new process and hitting each new milestone on schedule. As the company continues on its quest to manufacture the "holy grail" of EV batteries, we can expect the hype train to chug forward every time it improves its Cobra process significantly.

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Daniel Miller has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.