Move over Elon, solid-state batteries just getting real

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Nov 18, 2005
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There has been a lot of chatter this year about solid-state batteries. That is a battery without any liquid electrolyte. Samsung announced progress on this front in March. In Silicon Valley, another group of scientists and battery experts have been toiling away on this problem since 2010. The news today, it that they are done testing and ramping up now to address the process of mass manufacture. Quantumscape not only has solved the issue of designing a solid-state battery, but that also has impressive specs. Also of important note, also is anode-less. The anode forms on the fly. They have created a battery that will be safer, work over a wide temperature range, charge up to 80% capacity in 15 minutes, lighter, and will increase the range over the same-sized battery pack by about 100%. Their product will revolutionize the EV industry. Volkswagen is partnering to now ramp up manufacturing. We should start seeing it in the 2024 timeframe.

 
They have to be good. There are others entering into this market with their variants on solid-state batteries too. Toyota recently announced they will be there too. Competition here will be fierce, but good for the consumer in the long run I hope. Maybe not so good for companies tooled up with gigafactories making older tech.
 
I have a 1996 Jeep Cherokee, and a spare 2007 Toyota Corolla sitting in the yard if I need it. I hope to get another 5 years out of them, so I can then buy an electric vehicle. An SUV would be preferable. I really don't want to buy another ICE vehicle.

I have seen a few analysts say Tesla is overvalued and I tend to agree. They face a lot of competition from the established players.

On a another note, Nikola truck factories are being built. The company has struggled lately but they are pushing forward. I hope they make it.
 
Toyota has been holding off on EVs. They just announced that they will have a solid state battery on by next year with production in two.
 
Yes, they are working with Panasonic on the project. With biggies like VW and Toyota moving quickly toward this tech I wonder how this will affect GM's Ultium battery plans?
 
I invested in Quantumscape before the SPAC merger and made some good money but I've sold most of the stock. The hype has gotten out of control. They won't have an actual product until maybe 3 years from now and their specifications are not really much better than where Tesla's cells are likely to be in the same time period. It's interesting and there are some good people behind it but they still have a way to go.
 
They face a lot of competition from the established players.
Actually they don't. None of the big established players have vehicles which compete on equivalent range and price and none of them have the same extensive fast charge Supercharger network that Tesla has. There are rumors that some OEM's may be buying into the Tesla network. In any case it's a growing market as EV's take over for ICE's. "Competition" will take sales from traditional OEM's ICE vehicles not Tesla. Tesla is also more than just an automaker and their home and grid scale energy storage sales will continue to grow. Plus they are progressing well with their full self driving technology.
Full disclosure: I've made a ton of money on TSLA and consider it to be a long term hold though I will probably sell some more next year. I also have an order in for a Cybertruck.

On a another note, Nikola truck factories are being built. The company has struggled lately but they are pushing forward. I hope they make it.
Nikola is basically a scam and has been exposed as such. They don't have the technology they claimed, they even faked their semi truck demo by towing it up a hill and filming it coasting on the way down, pretending that it was actually driving under it's own power. Trevor Milton has been removed from the company and is basically in hiding. I've been telling people for years that he was a BS artist and that the company was built on lies and Hindenburg Research recently did a huge expose on the company which proved it.
 

Whatever the reason, gains leave Quantum stock worth almost $59 billion based on the 448 million pro forma shares outstanding after the company’s merger with a SPAC. QuantumScape wasn’t immediately available to get an updated share count.

That’s more than existing battery makers LG Chem (051910.Korea), Samsung SDI (006400.Korea), and Panasonic (6752.Japan). Contemporary Amperex Technology, or CATL, (300750.China) is valued at roughly $110 billion.


Quantum market capitalization now exceeds Ford Motor (F) and General Motors (GM). Quantum’s market cap is, in fact, larger than every auto component of the Russell 3000 Index, except Tesla (TSLA).
 
 
A variant of pump and dump. If you see a SPAC in an investment deal, run. It is not investing its gambling. The big guys running the SPACs know its all wish and hope BS, they dont care, they make their bucks up front and long gone before reality kicks in. Its just a new version of extracting money out of small investors into the pocket of large investors. Folks forget, in order for one person to make money someone has to lose money.
 
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Those lawsuits are meaningless, they are leaches and bottom feeders, they seem to go after every SPAC. There is nothing inherently wrong with SPACs and just because a SPAC is used to go public does not mean the company isn't legit.
 
Those lawsuits are meaningless, they are leaches and bottom feeders, they seem to go after every SPAC. There is nothing inherently wrong with SPACs and just because a SPAC is used to go public does not mean the company isn't legit.
Sorry, I dont buy it as an investment. I buy lottery tickets on occasion and I regard investments in SPACS by a common investor as gambling. Sure the companies may or may not be legit but the most of these lawsuits are based on wild runups in value based on slim to minimal actual information that then drop wildly once reality kicks in that the technology is early stage with no definable cash flow for the indefinite future. I cant comment about you and your investment background as I do not know it so maybe you are the exception. It may be great option for a sophisticated investor but not for the common man on the street. I doubt that many financial counselors with fiduciary responsibility are going to recommend SPAC investments to an unsophisticated investor.

IMHO, SPACS are just end run around IPOs. In the case of IPOs risks need to be stated up front in a SEC audited document. With SPAC investment its just a private entity saying "trust us with your money we know what we are doing" with a major incentive to lie to find an investment before the SPAC closes out. No wonder the legal bottom feeders are jumping in trying to make a buck.
 
I never buy lottery tickets but I've done well with a number of SPACs. I only put in what I can afford to lose because the risk can be higher but you can do research on them and gain an advantage on the market. QS was a prime example, I got into the SPAC early before it became QS and sold blocks of shares as it rose. I'll keep the rest to see how it plays out long term but even if it goes to zero I'll come out ahead on my initial investment. I've done the same with others. Most people should just buy some index funds and forget about them but active traders willing to do the research can and do beat the market.
 
GME is total speculation, could easily go either way but I'd say the odds are it's going to crash.
 
I think Robinhood was unprepared for the volume the GME/AMC/etc. craze and was under capitalized. The CEO said they had a late night call requiring them to come up with a huge amount of money far beyond anything they had seen previously. Interview with the CEO if you want to hear his side of things