QuantumScape partners with 'large' automaker to test battery prototypes

(Reuters) -U.S. battery maker QuantumScape Corp said on Tuesday it had partnered with a large automaker to evaluate prototypes of its solid-state battery cells, sending the Volkswagen AG-backed firm's shares 11% higher.

The deal also includes an option for the automaker to purchase 10-megawatt hours worth of battery capacity from QuantumScape's pre-pilot production line facility.

San Jose-based QuantumScape declined to identify the automaker, but said the company was a "second top ten" automaker by global revenue. (https://bit.ly/3ktT9j2)

Quantumscape, whose early investors included Bill Gates-backed venture funds, was spun out in 2010 from Stanford University and went public last year in a blank-check merger.

It has a joint venture with Volkswagen to produce solid-state battery cells, starting in 2024, for the German automaker's electric vehicles and eventually for other carmakers.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni and Ramakrishnan M.)