The Electric: A Next-Gen Battery Maker Stumbles and Replaces Its CEO

The share price of solid state battery manufacturer Solid Power fell 14% on Wednesday after the surprise resignation of co-founder and CEO Doug Campbell. Campbell’s exit comes 18 months after the startup abruptly shifted from its original lithium-metal technology to a silicon-based battery, an easier material to develop.

The Colorado-based company, which is backed by Ford and BMW, did not respond to an email. But in its third-quarter earnings report on Nov. 8, Campbell disclosed that the company’s timeline had slipped, and that it might not deliver automotive-scale cells to Ford and BMW by the end of the year as it had promised. 

Campbell co-founded Solid Power in 2011 and took it public late last year through a special purpose acquisition company. At the time, the company was thought to be in a neck-and-neck race with fellow startups QuantumScape and SES to commercialize high-energy batteries using pure lithium metal as the anode. All three companies claimed to have found ways to reduce the high fire risk from lithium metal, though they used different methods to do so. The rivalry between Solid Power and QuantumScape—both of which use a solid state electrolyte—became especially intense, as Campbell and QuantumScape CEO Jagdeep Singh exchanged insults through the media about each other’s products.