SES AI Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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November 7, 2023

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

Welcome to the SCS AI Corporation Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. My name is Bruno, and I'll be operating your call today. I will now hand over to your host, Eric Goldstein, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and welcome to our conference call covering our Q3 2023 results and financial guidance for 2023. Joining me today are Chi Chau Hu, Founder and Chief Executive Officer And Jing Nielis, Chief Financial Officer. We issued our shareholder letter earlier this morning, which provides a business update as well as our financial results. You'll find a press release with a link to our shareholder letter In today's conference call webcast, in the Investor Relations section of our website atses.ai.

Speaker 1

Before we get started, this is a reminder that the discussion today may contain forward looking information or forward looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. These statements are based on our predictions and expectations as of today. Such statements involve certain risks, assumptions and uncertainties, which may cause our actual or future results and performance The risks and uncertainties that could cause our results to differ materially from our current expectations include, but are not limited to, Those detailed in our latest earnings release and in our SEC filings. This morning, we will review our business as well as results for the quarter. With that, I will pass it over to Chi Chiao.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Eric. Earlier this year, we laid out the goal to transition to B samples, and I'm happy to report we're almost there. We expect to sign a B Sample Joint Development Agreement, JDA, with one of our OEM customers in the next few weeks. This will be the world's 1st automotive B Sample for lithium metal. This will be a historic milestone for SCS, For the battery industry and for the future of transportation, we had to overcome monumental challenges to get to this point.

Speaker 2

One of the most important challenges was safety. And we're not talking about large scale safety. We are talking about practical real world safety. In the battery industry, there's an inherent trade off between energy density and safety. Many companies improve safety by using safer chemistries such as lithium iron phosphate, LFP, cathodes or solid state electrolytes.

Speaker 2

LFP is indeed safer than high nickel cathodes. And in theory, solesate appears to be less volatile So why don't we switch to these safer chemistries? While these safer chemistries Appear to improve safety, we believe they make unacceptable compromises to energy density, Manufacturability and other important parameters. For example, an LFP cathode has about Half the energy density of a high nickel cathode and solid state has yet to prove its manufacturability and performance in a cell It can actually be used in a real world application. So what's the point?

Speaker 2

We don't want ourselves to be Impractical, but safe. We want ourselves to be alive, powerful and safe. Our goal All alone has been to improve safety without any compromises to other parameters. We start with a high energy density approach that has inherently higher safety risk than a lower energy density solution, And we make it safe. It's extremely difficult, but we have always chosen to do things the hard way.

Speaker 2

That is what we will have achieved to qualify for automotive B Sample for lithium metal. No one saw Lucid metal with a high nickel cathode would achieve the level of practical safety We recently demonstrated in our internal testing. This was a combination of very exciting fundamental breakthroughs In Materials and Engineering, even advanced lithium ion with a high nickel cathode can have severe safety risks, And we believe our advancements address the safety issues in both lithium ion and lithium metal. For example, our new high nickel cathode active materials have the same capacity as equivalent traditional high nickel cathodes, But are much more stable. Our new cathode electrode coating and treatment process allows the same cathode to pass rigorous Safety tests, including nail penetration and heating.

Speaker 2

As new pouch cell engineering with a self venting mechanism that allows gradual safe release of energy during thermal runaway. A new electrolyte that is safer with no compromise on performance, A newly protected lithium metal anode and a new charging protocol that improves overall safety. These are fundamental breakthroughs in both engineering and materials, not just for lithium metal, but also for lithium ion, especially our developments in the capital. We are now able to delay the thermal runaway on-site temperature And reduced peak temperature and pressure during thermal runaway significantly. Some companies that are in earlier stage of lithium metal Development talks about dreams of perfectly safe batteries.

Speaker 2

In most cases, the battery capacity or energy density is so low that it's useless. To be in automotive B Sample, which we believe is the most advanced industrial metal development anywhere in the world, we deal with Practical safety concerns, not dreams on paper. It's exhilarating to see our batteries During safety tests going from big explosions to small explosions to big fires to small fires to just smokes, It feels like witnessing a successful rocket launch after many failures. We recently completed our second testing bunker. Now we have even greater resource to test new things.

Speaker 2

For many people, risk means danger and should be avoided. For us, risk means Innovation, and we embrace risk by creating a safe environment to test unsafe things. Without these bunkers, without this safe environment to test unsafe things, we would not be able to understand the mechanism. We will not be able to make unsafe things safe, and next generation batteries and transportation will not be able to move forward. At our upcoming Battery World 2023 in December, we will demonstrate some exciting videos of high energy density lithium metal batteries Testing very rigorous safety test, we never thought we could achieve such safety while maintaining high energy density.

Speaker 2

This is a big milestone towards our goal of commercializing large capacity, high energy density lithium cell for automotive applications. In terms of manufacturability, last quarter, we indicated we will increase our A Sample lines To 1,000 large capacity 100 ampoule cells per line per month from approximately 500 per month. November will be the 1st month that we will attempt to build 1,000 example 100 ampou cells at our Chungju line in Korea. These cells will be used for both internal testing and OEM sample qualification and avatar safety prediction algorithm training. We currently have 3 ASAMPLE lines in operation and 2 B sample lines in preparation, one line for an EV application and One for a UAN application.

Speaker 2

For the 2 B Sample lines, we are in the final stages of completing our vendor qualification review. We expect to continue to use the A Sample lines for B Sample cell development until the new B Sample lines become operational, which we expect to occur in 2024. By running our lines up to 1,000 large 100 ampoules per month, We will also gain valuable experience in avatar cell traceability and quality system development. We have even hired a dedicated field data collection To help ensure that the data are correct and collected through the correct process, this team helps our avatar algorithm safety prediction tremendously by providing verifiable and complete data. In summary, earlier this year, we established a milestone This is a major milestone for us and for the battery and transportation industry, and it's a result of Solid fundamental hardcore material chemistry and cell engineering breakthroughs in safety for high energy density lithium metal batteries with From A Sample to B Sample JDAs with EV OEMs, the most important value of these JDAs is helping us Build a solid foundation in technology development, process development, engineering development, quality development and manufacturing development.

Speaker 2

With this solid foundation, we're now able to expand into other applications that are ideal for our unique High energy density and high power density lithium metal batteries, such as drones and urban air mobility, UAM. These applications also represent early stage commercialization opportunities for us. We are very excited about the UAM opportunity and believe that lithium metal will enable UAN in the 2020s the same way that lithium ion enabled Portable Consumer Electronics 30 years ago in the 1990s. The world's first lithium metal B Sample It will be a small step for FCS, but has the potential to be a giant milestone for the future of sustainable transportation, both on land and in air. Now I'll hand the call over to Jing.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Qiqiao. Good afternoon, everyone. Today, I will cover our Q3 financial results and discuss our operating and capital budgets for full year 2023. In the Q3, our operating expenses were $19,400,000 down slightly from the same period last year. Stock based compensation expense was $2,400,000 in the quarter.

Speaker 3

We reported research and development expenses Of $8,500,000 up $100,000 from the same period last year, our gross R and D spending in the 3rd quarter It was $11,400,000 which includes $2,900,000 that was billed to our OEM customers and is treated as contra R and D expense. Our G and A expenses were $10,900,000 down $2,400,000 from the same period last year. This decline was primarily driven by lower insurance premiums And lower marketing, accounting and audit related expenses. Through the 1st 9 months of 2023, Cash used in operations was $43,900,000 and capital expenditures were 12,300,000 Importantly, our balance sheet remains very strong. We ended the Q3 with combined cash, cash equivalents And marketable securities of $342,000,000 We continue to believe our liquidity is sufficient to reach commercialization.

Speaker 3

Our updated guidance for cash usage in 2023 is now $85,000,000 to $105,000,000 This is comprised of cash usage from operations of $65,000,000 to $75,000,000 and for capital expenditures in the range of $20,000,000 to $30,000,000 We continue to be very prudent with our cash. We have a very practical process To evaluate where we should spend our cash in order to execute on our business plan and drive our commercialization roadmap forward, Well, we keep investing in core material innovation with the goal to always stay ahead of our competition. As Qichao mentioned, we're in the final stages of completing our vendor qualification review for Line 4 and Line 5 In preparation for B Sample, we expect the bulk of our capital expenditures for Line 4 and Line 5 to fall in the first half of calendar year twenty twenty four. We're making significant progress and remain on track For transition to B samples by the end of this year, our strong liquidity position allows us to continue Investing in our next generation manufacturing lines to support our OEM customers, while continuing to innovate at the forefront of battery material science and to attract and retain top talent. We are very thankful for all the support we have received from our OEM customers and shareholders.

Speaker 3

With that, I will hand the call back to Eric.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Jing. Bruno, let's open the line for questions.

Operator

Perfect. Thank you. Our first question comes from Winnie Dong from DB. Winnie, your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Yes. Thank you so much for taking my questions. I was wondering if you can Describe sort of how the next month of work will look like in the context of transitioning to B Sample. What are some of the key data points or transitions to look Within the next few months heading into 2024 as you're preparing Line 45?

Speaker 5

Yes. Good question. So from a contractual perspective, basically, we're going through The standard legal and the financial process to getting the documents signed. And then from a practical work perspective, So one key thing that we have demonstrated is safety, HAZLA level 5. And then we've already demonstrated HAZLA level 5 at a small cell level.

Speaker 5

And then in the next few months, we need to further verify HAZ Level 5 at larger cell level. So the safety It's a key thing. And then A Sample was really about demonstrating the chemistry and the cell design. And then now B Sample, In B Sample, we are going to build about 5 to 10 cars worth of batteries. So now safety and then practical safety Actually, it becomes really important.

Speaker 5

So they want to see very detailed testing under very detailed Testing parameters, and then both at the small cell level and also the large cell capacity level. And also, we are also in the process of completing vendor qualification so that we can start building the line for B Sample. So the B sample will likely take about a year to 1.5 years, so complete by end of 2024 to mid-twenty 25.

Speaker 4

Got it. And then earlier on this year, I think you guys have spoken about talent acquisition as one of the key initiatives this year. I was wondering with the year almost ending, are you where do you hope to be or need to be with your sort of like talent composition?

Speaker 5

Yes. So Talend, I mean, we always want more and better and we're never satisfied with Talend acquisition And the market is very competitive, which is a good thing. I mean, it's a really exciting market. And you can probably tell that the kind of people that we're trying to hire, battery engineers, material scientists, AI scientists, these are very much in demand almost around the world. So I'm sure we can always do better.

Speaker 5

But actually, recently, we actually made some pretty impressive hires. For example, on the material science side, We hired our Chief Scientist, Kang Shui. He is one of the world's most renowned experts in battery electrolyte. And also with on the cell engineering side, we also hired we also made a few hires recently. And then and you guys have extensive experience from the big Korean battery companies.

Speaker 5

So actually recently we made Quite a bit of progress. And then that allows us to beef up our team for the B sample and also to expand to eVitel. So we're going to have so in the past, we have 3 teams for the 3 ASAMBOLs, and now we're going to keep Beefing up our team to go from A to B and also expand into EBITDA. So we're making good progress, but it's never enough.

Speaker 4

Thanks for that. And then maybe a more high level question just in the context of like recent narratives around Easy adoption curve, that may be not coming as strong as expected. You sort of hear that from suppliers and you hear from OEMs. Understanding that you guys are sort of in the product development phase, but do you hear any of this from your any of your JDA partners In terms of the adoption curve looking forward not coming in as strong, anything color any color from that there? Thanks.

Speaker 5

Yes. I think, I mean, the adoption curve is can always be impacted by, for example, the economy and other factors. But The overall trend, that's unstoppable. And then especially these OEMs Like GM and Honda, which I will say are behind the newcomers like the Tesla, NIO, They are very much committed to EV adoption. So there might be some impacts by The economy and other factors, but in terms of the battery roadmaps, no change there.

Speaker 4

Thank you so much, El Paso.

Speaker 5

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Sean Severson from Washer Tower Research. Sean, the line is now open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Great. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Chi Chiao, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the air mobility And I'm trying to understand, I guess, for lack of a better word, the synergies between the automotive and transportation side and what you're doing in air mobility. And then extending from that a little bit of the timeline of what we'd be looking at in the urban air mobility space.

Speaker 5

Yes, John. That's a really interesting question. So all the work that we are doing with the EV OEMs in A Sample and in B Sample, Building up the line, improving the quality, improving the cell design, the safety, the performance, almost all of that Yes, transfer to the eVTOL because eVTOLs, the urban air mobility need All the parameters that the EV OEMs require, the safety, actually even more rigorous safety requirements, The cell design, the quality, they knew all of that. And then what's better is that, for the EV OEMs, You have I mean, even though the EV OEMs are very committed to lithium metal, you still have the incumbents like LG, CATL, Samsung, SK, the big companies That are very much invested in the EV space. Whereas for eVTOL, it's blue ocean and then Some of the bigger companies are less interested in the eVTOL because the near term mark they think the near term market is smaller.

Speaker 5

For us, for next gen batteries, it's really exciting. For example, say, so one eVTOL is about Two cars in terms of batteries, right? So in the EV B sample, we build 10 cars worth of batteries. That's just a B sample for EV. But 10 cars worth of batteries, that's 5 eVTOLs worth of Batteries, if we supply 5 eVTOLs worth of batteries to the likes of Joby Archer, the eVTOL companies, then that's actually considered commercial.

Speaker 5

And the volume is smaller, but then the margin, the economics are much more favorable. And also, it's a new market, so the standards have not been set yet. And then we have the opportunity, being the 1st mover in Lithium metal for eVTOL, we have the opportunity to set the standards. And once you set the standards, then the FAA or Europe, the EASA, then they will Adopt the standards, then our lithium metal could be the 1st FAA certified lithium metal battery for UAN. And then once we set the standards, then we influence the next 5, 10 years of certification process in this field.

Speaker 5

So the impact is really big.

Speaker 6

That's very interesting. And would you be able to, I assume, through this process, get a lot of data, right, a lot of operating data that would I pass to transportation, is that correct?

Speaker 5

Absolutely. And then I mean, We love working with the EV companies, but then those companies tend to be bigger, right? And then the EV companies are more entrepreneurial and they're more like minded And similar size, and we work together, and we share data, and we also tune our business model to fit What the market wants? So it's actually a really exciting market, and eVTOL is actually happening much faster than we expect. I mean, Next year, at the Paris Summer Olympics, one EBITDA company will do a demonstration flight, and then Several cities around the world are beginning to have these EBITDAO demonstrations.

Speaker 5

So it's actually happening much faster.

Speaker 6

Thanks. My last question is we've had the supply chain shift in place for Several quarters now in terms of pushing towards domestic supply, right, and qualifying for Aira. What's the progress report there? Have you seen things Materially changed. I know you have some special relationships in your supply chain, but are you seeing that this move is being made?

Speaker 6

And as far as Your strategic outlook, do you feel very comfortable that you've got everything that you need at this point going forward?

Speaker 5

Yes. So very good point. And then for example on the annual side, and then I'll just add a conference with Applied Materials. So Applied Materials, Albemarle, Livent, these U. S.-based lithium anode companies are building up plants in the U.

Speaker 5

S. Some of them are in North Carolina, some are in other states as part of the IRA initiative. And then going forward, we definitely plan to purchase And qualify the anode from U. S.-based vendors. And then also in terms

Speaker 2

of lithium salt,

Speaker 5

We are working with a few partners to potentially set up facilities also in the U. S. So we can produce It's salt for our high concentration solvent in salt electrolyte. And so the anode and the salt are 2 really Key parameters to us. And then also several of our cathode vendors are already setting up plants, for example, in Canada, North America to supply the capital.

Speaker 5

And then once we are towards the Later stage of BSAMPOL, then we've all sit down with our EV OEMs and potential EVITO OEMs to discuss Where in North America to set up a plan for the battery cells?

Speaker 6

Great. Thanks for that Yi John. Congratulations on the progress.

Speaker 5

Yes. Thank you, Yi John.

Operator

Our next question comes from Jeff Grampp from Alliance Global Partners. Jeff, your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Good morning. A question on the transition to B samples with the auto OEMs. Is there a way to assess How far behind? It sounds like you have kind of 1 kind of front runner that you're very close with. Is there a way to assess kind of how far out the other 2 are relative to this first one?

Speaker 7

And Is having 1 assuming you get across the finish line, getting one to be sampled, does that kind of give you guys an ability to nudge The others since there's some third party validation or is that not really relevant as you guys have as you guys see OEM seeing it?

Speaker 5

Yes. Good question. So actually the specs you transition from ATB for all the 3 OEMs And actually all OEMs around the world are actually quite similar, the performance and the safety. So we're going to transition to be with 1 of them Because the testing and the type of studies and testing that we've done is the most extensive. And I would say the other 2, Probably in terms of the gap, probably can be measured in months, just different OEMs in the past A year to 2 years during the ASEMPLE development process, we had different time lines because we had different focus And then for facilities, for line setup, the progress is different.

Speaker 5

But then I would say the overall platform, The core technical progress that we make for safety and performance, that's very transferable. And different OEMs may have different internal process for Getting to the next phase, but I would say they're measured in months, but that's more on the Contract level, but in terms of core technical progress, we made progress with 1 OEM and then we get to be simple and that progress be transferable to the other OEMs.

Speaker 7

Great. That's very helpful. And My follow-up, more of a macro question for you guys, but obviously there's been some articles and industry talk about some slowing EV sales and some building of inventories. I think a lot of that relates To cost as well as maybe some range anxiety, which are obviously things you guys can address pretty impactfully. So I'm wondering if you guys are maybe seeing Any different level of urgency from your JDA partners to move a solution like yours forward?

Speaker 7

Or is it pretty similar from what you guys have seen historically.

Speaker 5

Yes. So the OEMs have sort of Modify their focus, for example, from range anxiety to maybe safety to maybe cost. But then in terms of technology platform, the OEMs have not really changed their commitment because, for example, lithium metal, It can mean longer range, but then it can also mean lower cost Because a longer range battery, if you keep the range the same, then the battery is actually smaller. So your pack the packaging can be actually cheaper. So Lithium metal can actually be designed so that it can mean longer range or lower cost To fit the OEM's target.

Speaker 7

Understood. Great.

Speaker 5

Thank you for the time. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Timothy Johnson. Timothy, please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Yes. Good morning and thank you for taking my question. My question concerns The lithium metal anode, there are many processes for making such an anode. They're all problematic to one extent or another. Can you please elaborate a little bit more on The process that you use to lay down your lithium metal anode and whether or not you have any Major problems with this going forward.

Speaker 2

I'm also interested in the composite coating that you're putting on the lithium metal anode. You mentioned today that you've got a new quoting material and I'm wondering if you can elaborate on that. Thank you very much.

Speaker 5

Yes. So I'll try to cover the landscape. The first one in terms of how to put lithium foil down at the anode, there's about 3 main Techniques for putting down lithium foil. And then one is extrusion. If you take the A thicker lithium foil and then extruded, it's like a pasta maker, extruded to a thinner foil and then you laminate onto your current collector.

Speaker 5

And then another is physical deposition. Basically, inside the chamber, you evaporate lithium and then that Falls onto your substrate. And then 3rd is the slurry coating. You can take the lithium powder, you make Slurry and then you coat it and then you dry off the solvent. And there's pros and cons to each of the techniques.

Speaker 5

I will say the most mature currently is the extrusion and then lamination. That's by far the most mature process for putting down And there are disadvantages to that. For example, it's hard to make the foil wide, But we have an internal process for making the foil wide and then that's why we're able to make the large format 100 amp power lithium metal cells. And then the other so we're using the extrusion and the finalization process for now, but We are actively testing the other two approaches because the other two approaches may offer long term advantage Over the extrusion and lamination process. And for example, maybe in a year to 18 months, we might switch to the other processes.

Speaker 5

And we'll keep the industry updated. So and for us, the Different process, basically it comes down to which one gives the best metrics in terms of cost, manufacturing efficiency and performance. And then your second question about composite coating. So the composite coating serves 2 One is to improve safety. Secondly, to improve the cycle life.

Speaker 5

And we can't really get into the details of exactly what material we use. And the industry has different types of coatings and there's different ways and different places in the cell that you can put down the coatings. So I can't really get into details, but it's basically used to improve Safety and then prevent internal short and also to improve cycle life.

Operator

Our next question comes from Bimis Yu from It's a private investor, Bemis. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. My question is, so previously you have mentioned that A Sample JDA includes different cathode chemistry in addition to Hi, nickel. Has any progress been made in other chemistry other than high nickel, such as LFP Lithium Metal?

Speaker 5

Yes. So actually, In A Sample, we tested both high nickel, LFP and also mixtures of those 2. And then in B Sample, we will continue to test these different cathodes. And the reason that we do that is now that we are in B Sample and that we need to finalize the cell design. So the final output of B Sample is basically we have to finalize the cell design.

Speaker 5

And one of which is what cathodes we're going to use. And then these different capitals will have different points on the spider charge in terms of safety, cycle life and cost. And this may vary for the different types of vehicles even within the same OEM. Many OEMs will have, for example, the premium brand and the economy brand. And then, of course, they would Wish to have one standard unified cell with a unified cathode, but that's not likely.

Speaker 5

So we are actively testing high nickel and there's different types of high nickel LFP, different versions of LFP and mixtures Of those 2, and of course, there are different ways of mixing those 2. And we evaluate At the end of the day, the performance, energy density and the overall set of parameters.

Speaker 8

So during the battery vote, do you plan to share the data on Other chemistries other than lithium metal?

Speaker 5

No. So all the data will be for lithium metal. The cathodes may come from a combination of high nickel and LFP, But they're all lithium metal. We don't make any other cells. We don't make lithium metal cells.

Speaker 8

Okay. So related to Line 45, Line 4 and 5 are designed for B samples. Since eVTOL has a lower volume, can Line 5 be used for Commercialization for eVTOL?

Speaker 5

Exactly. Very good question. And I think Sean from I'll ask the same question. So line 4 and 5 are very similar. Line 4 is for EV, but then it's 10 cars of batteries a year, And that's considered B Sample for EV.

Speaker 5

Line 5, we can make 10 cars or 5 EV tolls worth of batteries per year. But that's commercial that's considered commercial because in EV, no OEM will give you an order for 10 cars, right? But in eVTOL, a lot of the eVTOL companies will happily give you an order for 3 aircrafts or 5 aircrafts and these are very high margin and these Help us set the standards in the industry. Clear. Line 5 will be for

Speaker 8

So if that's the case, will there be a sea sample line just for eVTOL? Or Line 5 is more like the C sample and SOP for eVTOL?

Speaker 5

Yes. So, EV Total OEMs don't really divide the phases as clearly as the EV OEMs. So B, C, SOP are sort of mixed together.

Speaker 8

Thanks for your time.

Speaker 5

Thank you.

Operator

We currently have no further questions. So I would like to hand the call back to the management team for closing remarks. Over to you.

Speaker 5

Yes. So thanks everyone for tuning in and also supporting us. And it's not been easy for us to get to this point and we're very close To entering B Sample for EV applications and then all the solid foundation that we've built With EV OEMs, we plan to definitely continue to work with our EV OEMs, and we continue to have a very good Relationship and partnership with them. At the same time, we plan to take this solid foundation that we built, modify it for eVTOL applications. It's a totally new field.

Speaker 5

It's a field that's happening much faster than we expected and it's a field that, like I mentioned earlier, Lithium Metal, we really believe that in this decade, 2020, lithium metal is going to enable eVTOL The same way that lithium ion enabled consumer electronics 30 years ago in the 1990s. So it's a really exciting field For the future of transportation as well as lithium ion batteries. So really appreciate everyone's support. Thank you.

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