Solid Power Q3 2024 Earnings Report

Solid Power EPS Results

• Actual EPS: -$0.13
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Solid Power Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $4.65 million
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Solid Power Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q3 2024
• Date: 11/7/2024
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, November 7, 2024
• Conference Call Time: 4:30PM ET

Solid Power (NASDAQ:SLDP) (NASDAQ: SLDP) is a Colorado-based company specializing in the development and manufacturing of all-solid-state rechargeable battery cells for the electric vehicle (EV) and aerospace industries. Founded in 2012 as a spin-out from the University of Colorado Boulder, Solid Power has focused on advancing solid electrolytes and high-energy battery architectures to deliver improved safety, higher energy density and longer cycle life compared with traditional lithium-ion batteries.

The company’s core offerings include multilayer solid-state battery cells that utilize sulfide-based solid electrolytes and high-capacity cathode materials. Solid Power operates a pilot production line in Louisville, Colorado, where it manufactures sample cells and modules for testing by strategic partners. Its technology roadmap envisions scaling to larger formats suitable for passenger vehicles, commercial fleets and aerospace applications.

Solid Power has entered development agreements and joint programs with leading automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers in North America, Europe and Asia. These collaborations aim to integrate Solid Power’s cells into next-generation EV platforms, with validation protocols emphasizing thermal stability, manufacturability and cost competitiveness. The company’s global partnerships underscore its ambition to support the transition to zero-emission transportation.

Headquartered in Louisville, Colorado, Solid Power is led by President and Chief Executive Officer Doug Campbell, who has guided the company through multiple funding rounds and development milestones. Under his leadership, Solid Power has expanded its research capabilities, optimized cell performance and advanced toward commercial readiness. The company continues to invest in its technology infrastructure and strategic alliances to position itself as a key supplier of solid-state batteries.

Solid Power Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Solid Power was chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy to negotiate a potential $50 million grant to build the first continuous manufacturing pilot line for sulfide solid electrolytes, targeting 75 metric tons/year by 2026 and 140 metric tons/year by 2028.
• The newly launched Electrolyte Innovation Center will accelerate small-scale R&D and pre-pilot continuous flow processes, enhancing customization and speeding transition to pilot-scale production under the DOE grant.
• Solid Power is actively sampling multiple electrolyte variants with EV OEMs and Tier 1 partners and has refined its A2 cell design—tweaking cathode, anode and separator—for higher safety and energy density, with cell testing slated for early 2025.
• Key partnerships were advanced globally, including a JDA extension with BMW, milestone achievements and upcoming line installation with SK On in Korea, a nonbinding MOU for an electrolyte-focused JDA, plus new collaborations with Korean research institutes.
• In Q3 2024, Solid Power reported $4.7 million in revenue, a $27.6 million operating loss and $22.4 million net loss, invested $2.7 million in capex and closed the quarter with $348.1 million of liquidity while reiterating full-year guidance.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good day, everyone, and welcome to today's Solid Power Inc. Third Quarter 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, you will have the opportunity to ask questions during the question-and-answer session. You may register to ask a question at any time by pressing Star one on your touch-tone phone. You may withdraw yourself from the queue by pressing Star two. Please note this call may be recorded. I'll be standing by should you need any assistance. It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Melanie Solomon, Investor Relations.

[Melanie Solomon, Head of Investor Relations at Solid Power]

Thank you, Operator. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm joined on today's call by Solid Power's President and Chief Executive Officer, John Van Scoter, and Chief Financial Officer, Linda Heller. A copy of today's earnings release is available on the Investor Relations section of Solid Power's website, www.solidpowerbattery.com. I'd like to remind you that parts of our discussion today will include forward-looking statements as defined by U.S. securities laws. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions about future events and are based on currently available information as to the outcome and timing of future events. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, Solid Power disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

[Melanie Solomon, Head of Investor Relations at Solid Power]

For a discussion of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in today's forward-looking statements, please see Solid Power's most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be found on the company's website at www.solidpowerbattery.com. With that, let me turn it over to John Van Scoter.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

Thank you, Melanie, and thank you all for joining us. We accomplished a lot in the third quarter, and I'm excited to share our progress with you today. A major highlight of the quarter was the US Department of Energy's announcement that we were selected to negotiate a $50 million grant for a project focused on continuous production of sulfide-based solid electrolyte materials for advanced all-solid-state batteries, or ASSBs. The process was highly competitive, and we view our selection as a validation of our technology and business model. We thank the DOE for its faith in Solid Power. Wide adoption of EVs in the United States will require continued advancement of battery technologies, including the materials that support that advancement. We believe our sulfide solid electrolyte can offer a step function increase in battery performance compared to conventional lithium-ion.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

While performance is critical, so is the ability to efficiently manufacture and process our product. As we continue to innovate on electrolyte performance based on feedback from partners and potential customers, we also need to demonstrate that our electrolyte can be manufactured on a high-volume and high-quality basis. To do so, we will need to shift from our current batch production to a continuous manufacturing process. Over the next 12 months-18 months, the team is planning to install the first globally known pilot line that can continuously manufacture sulfide-based solid electrolyte materials for ASSBs. The first pilot line we are planning to install has been part of our overall electrolyte technology development roadmap. We expect that by using a continuous manufacturing process, we will have better control of the final electrolyte product and a greater ability to tailor our electrolyte to a customer's requirements.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

As an added benefit, following phase one of the project, we expect to be able to produce 75 metric tons of electrolyte per year to support our customer development programs. Our projection is that phase one will be completed in 2026. After finishing the full project, projected to be in 2028, we expect to have the capability to produce 140 metric tons per year at SP2, which is more than four times our current capability. Last month, shortly following the DOE's announcement, we hosted Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Deputy Secretary of the Department of Energy, David Turk. We gave them a tour of our electrolyte facility and showed them how we plan to deploy the DOE funds in a continuous manufacturing process. Deputy Secretary David Turk spoke about the DOE's rigorous selection process and the criteria used to select companies for grants. Solid Power satisfied their three main criteria.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

First, having a strong technology and business model. Second, addressing challenges in the U.S. supply chain for clean energy by producing battery cells domestically. And third, improving our surrounding communities by hiring locally to staff this project. We're thrilled to have the validation and support of the federal government and our local community here in Thornton, and look forward to undergoing negotiations for the grant. The next step in the DOE process will be to negotiate a contract for the grant funding. We expect that will take several months, and we will provide updates when we are able to. Another highlight of the quarter was beginning development activities in our state-of-the-art Electrolyte Innovation Center, or EIC. The EIC was designed to significantly enhance our research and development capabilities and improve pre-pilot electrolyte manufacturing processes.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

The EIC will allow us to focus on smaller-scale electrolyte development and pre-pilot manufacturing processes before transferring our processes to pilot-scale manufacturing. The EIC will enable speed and flexibility, emulating a full process on a smaller scale. The work we do in the EIC will help us customize electrolyte for customers' needs and enhance our feedback loop between our electrolyte and cell development programs. This pre-pilot continuous flow process and equipment development will also be a precursor to the work we expect to do under the BIL grant and increase our confidence in executing that program. I'm very excited about the potential the EIC gives us as we continue to position Solid Power as a leader in the sulfide electrolyte space. Moving on to electrolyte sampling, we continue to sample multiple customers on a repeat basis with multiple variants, and we have received constructive feedback.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

As we iterate our products, we believe we are well-positioned to react quickly to our customers' requirements. While the total addressable market is large, the number of customers within is finite. As we have said before, we believe many EV OEMs and Tier 1 battery producers have sulfide-based solid-state products in their future roadmap. Of this group, we are now actively sampling a substantial portion. The feedback from sampling is providing important learnings as we continue to evolve our technology, and as I mentioned, with our new EIC, we can rapidly adapt and adjust to meet their needs. On the cell side, we've made significant progress on our A2 cell design this year. In order to address gaps we identified with the A1 design, the team has been hard at work to improve the design of our cathode, anode, and separator for the A2. These are not major chemistry changes.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

Rather, we are tweaking and enhancing the current design in our pursuit of higher performance. In addition, the team has made some mechanical improvements to the lines with the goal of higher-quality cell builds. The work is continuing on these efforts, and I believe they will provide notable improvements from our A1 design, especially around safety and energy density. We have begun small production runs of our A2 material set for internal testing and expect to begin testing A2 cells in early 2025. As I segue to our progress with partners, I want to note two things I am excited about. First, the feedback loop we have created is fueling our technology development with sampling and customer response as key components.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

Second, our cell technology will soon be in development on three continents through our work with BMW in Europe and SK On in Asia, broadening our reach and depth of experience globally. With BMW in the third quarter, we finalized the JDA extension as we continue to collaborate with them on cell development and manufacturing. The overall goal of the JDA remains what it has always been, to develop a competitive solid-state battery technology that can be used in an automotive application. We continue to drive performance around A2 and our overall roadmap to achieve a product that meets BMW's exacting standards prior to vehicle integration. We are laser-focused on continuing to develop our cell technologies prior to BMW bringing online its pilot line in Parsdorf, Germany, next year. We value our partnership with BMW and continue to enjoy the collaborative nature and beneficial feedback loop.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

With SK On, we remain on track with our agreements and have already met all of the required milestones for the year. The line drop and tech transfer are going well, and we expect to send electrolyte to Korea this quarter to support factory acceptance activities ahead of planned line installation in mid-2025. Additionally, during the third quarter, we signed a non-binding MOU with a major battery manufacturer to explore the possibility of an electrolyte JDA. While it is very early in this engagement, if we successfully advance to an agreement, it would be our first electrolyte-specific JDA. We expect such a collaboration would give us valuable feedback and insights into the electrolyte design and development. We are continuing to deepen relationships across the Korean battery landscape by collaborating with Korean research institutes such as Korea Electronics Technology Institute and Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

We have entered into several agreements to leverage the Korean ecosystem on materials and battery performance and are excited by what we can learn from these new relationships. We expect these collaborations to advance our understanding of market needs while expanding our network in Korea as we benefit from the talent and experience of these leading institutions. Overall, I'm pleased with the progress in the third quarter and excited about our momentum as we exit the year and move into 2025. I will now turn the call over to Linda to review our financials. Linda?

[Linda Heller, CFO at Solid Power]

Thank you, John. I'll start with Q3 results, beginning with revenue. Solid Power delivered $4.7 million in revenue during the third quarter of 2024, primarily driven by continued execution on the SK On agreements and government contracts. Operating expenses were $32.2 million, driven by increased production costs, cell and electrolyte development costs, scaling of operations, and execution under our joint development agreements. Operating loss was $27.6 million, and net loss was $22.4 million, or $0.13 per share. Capital expenditures totaled $2.7 million during the quarter, primarily representing investments in the electrolyte production capabilities, including the build-out of the EIC. Solid Power's liquidity position remained strong with $348.1 million of total liquidity as of September 30th, 2024. In addition, accounts receivable totaled $2.6 million, deferred revenue was $6.7 million, while total current liabilities were $20.3 million. As John mentioned, we have already achieved our SK On milestones for the year.

[Linda Heller, CFO at Solid Power]

We expected $14.9 million in progress payments in 2024, which have already been collected. For 2024, we are reiterating the guidance we provided on the last call, which may also be found in the press release we issued today. As a reminder and point of clarification, the Department of Energy award is a grant, not a loan, for funding of up to $50 million. The total estimated project cost is $110 million, and we are dedicating $60 million over a multi-year period. The $50 million grant represents a potential offset of our plans, not an incremental investment expense. We are well-positioned to execute our strategy, and I'm excited about the company's plans. I'll now turn it back to John for closing comments before we take your questions.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

Thank you, Linda. In closing, I'm pleased to reiterate that the company remains on track to achieve our goals for 2024. I would like to thank our employees, our partners, and stakeholders for their loyalty and dedication. We have been planning an analyst and investor event to showcase our technology, strategy, and long-term model. As the team will be focused on negotiating the BIL grant over the next few months, we believe that negotiation and further progress on our strategy will better position us for an exciting event in the first half of 2025. Overall, I am encouraged by our progress as we continue to focus on improvement of electrolyte and cell performance. We will now take your questions. Operator?

[Operator]

Thank you. At this time, if you'd like to ask a question, please press Star one on your telephone keypad. You may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing Star two. Again, that is Star one to ask a question. We'll pause for just a moment to allow questions to queue. And our first question will be from Mike with D.A. Davidson.

[Mike Shlisky, CFO at D.A. Davidson]

Hi, everybody. It's Mike Shlisky here at D.A. Davidson. How are you?

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

Good, Mike. Good to hear your voice.

[Mike Shlisky, CFO at D.A. Davidson]

Yes, same here. A couple of quick ones from me. One, the ASSB grant award that you just mentioned, can you just give us a little insight as to how that's going to work? Is it a competitive process? Are you up against other companies for this grant? And is it kind of give the DOE the best deal? Are you already selected and it just comes down to some minor details? I just want to make sure I understand the likelihood of the grant coming through for close to the amount that you've been talking about, at least.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

Sure. The process started late last year to make a proposal to the DOE under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation. We actually submitted the formal proposal in March of this year. We then were invited back to defend that proposal in Washington, D.C., in front of a skilled panel in the DOE facility. It was an hour and a half, kind of like a thesis defense, if you will. We were allowed five people to attend that. They peppered us with questions on all of the major areas: the technology, the business model, the viability of the supply chain domestically, and then the community benefits program.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

The knowledge that we have, and this is actually through a lobbyist that we use in Washington, D.C., was, again, it was very highly competitive, and there were 25 total awards that were given, and about 10% were actually awarded of the proposals that were put in, to the best of our knowledge. In our specific category, it was even more selective, and about 5% of proposals were actually granted. So that's an overview of how the proposal process went and then the selective nature of the grants.

[Mike Shlisky, CFO at D.A. Davidson]

Okay.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

Did that address the question, Mike?

[Mike Shlisky, CFO at D.A. Davidson]

Yes, but I just wanted to follow up. So assuming the grant money does come through in the reasonable near future, does it represent funding of the plan that you have already had in place all along, or is this a bit of a branching out, a different initiative that would require some brand new funding? I'm trying to figure out if the cash flow on hand will just be bolstered by this additional grant funding, and would you have been fine without it?

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

It's the former, Mike. In fact, we had this in our plan, so this is essentially a cash offset for what we had planned to spend. As with any DOE program, it is a cost-share program. So we will have to put $60 million in for the project. So the total project spend will be $110 million to get to the continuous flow operation over the course of the next three-plus years.

[Mike Shlisky, CFO at D.A. Davidson]

Okay. I do have other questions, but maybe I'll just throw out one more question for you that's somewhat related. We just had an election in the United States a couple of days ago, as you know, and the president-elect coming in seems to be a bit less enthusiastic about the electric vehicle world than maybe prior administrations was. So I want to make sure I'm clear that this particular grant and even your customer's ability and desire to even pursue further EV platforms is still relatively intact after the changeover in January.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

Yeah, we really can't speculate on how things are going to play out relative to the new administration. Mike, I think time will tell on that. We just remain focused on our strategy, solving for longer range, lower cost, and safer EVs. We believe that's what the market's looking for. Some of the softness that is out there right now with the current EVs, I believe, are caused by inadequacies in those areas. And so we're focused on our strategy and executing our strategy and believe that it will be a winner in the long run.

[Mike Shlisky, CFO at D.A. Davidson]

All right. Okay. I'll leave it there. Thanks so much for the discussion.

[John Van Scoter, President and CEO at Solid Power]

Thank you, Mike.

[Operator]

Thank you. Again, as a quick reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press Star one now. I'm showing no additional questions at this time. I'd like to now turn the conference over to our presenters for any closing remarks.

[Operator]

Thank you for joining the call today and for your interest in Solid Power. Linda and I look forward to updating you next quarter. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Linda Heller, CFO
• John Van Scoter, President and CEO
• Melanie Solomon, Head of Investor Relations

Analysts

• Mike Shlisky, CFO at D.A. Davidson