Investing.com -- Quantumscape Corp shares traded over 20% higher in pre-market on Thursday following the announcement of a joint solid-state research agreement with Honda.

The multi-year program will focus on solid-state battery development and related manufacturing processes. QuantumScape said the agreement follows Honda's completion of a technology evaluation agreement, which included a technical study of the company's solid-state platform and competitive benchmarking across standard technical tests.

Atsushi Ogawa, Chief Operating Officer, Research Center of Excellence at Honda R&D Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., said "QS technology demonstrated compelling and unique advantages during our evaluation. We see potential for QS technology to add value across a range of applications, including automotive, and we are excited to move forward into the next phase of our partnership."

Dr. Siva Sivaram, CEO and President of QuantumScape, said Honda's evaluation represented "one of the most rigorous assessments of our technology to date."