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After SES Goes to South Korea, QuantumScape Opens R&D Center in Japan

When we told our readers that SES would open a subsidiary in South Korea because of its clients there, we said it would probably create an SES Japan due to Honda. QuantumScape must have heard us: it anticipated its competitor and established an R&D center in Kyoto.
QuantumScape reveal its plans for 2022 9 photos
Photo: QuantumScape
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According to QuantumScape, Japan has “a worldwide reputation for excellence in battery science, development, and manufacturing.” The solid-state platform startup would be focusing on the talent pool that the Asian country has. However, it may also be a clear tip about which are the company’s other customers apart from Volkswagen.

QuantumScape gave us some tips about who they are: “a top-10 global manufacturer and an international luxury automotive company.” Together, they represented “more than 15% of global automotive sales revenue in 2020.”

With Volkswagen alone having sold a bit more than 9 million cars in a global market of 80 million vehicles two years ago, the German brand alone represents around 11% of that revenue all by itself. The other top-10 global manufacturer could be from Japan. Toyota is too big to fit, and Honda already has SES, but it is the only other Japanese automaker that fits the top-10 description.

The luxury automotive company mentioned by QuantumScape could be the luxury division of one of these Japanese automakers, such as Lexus or Acura. It could also be a completely different company about which QuantumScape has not disclosed anything yet. We’ll keep an eye on those little tips.

One thing is for sure: the solid-state cell startup did not establish an R&D center in Japan just because of how qualified its professionals are. Being close to its future clients was most certainly a need: that would make it easier to supply them with the A samples QuantumScape plans to deliver starting by the end of 2022. Perhaps not by coincidence, that’s when the Japanese R&D center will also begin its activities.
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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
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Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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