SES AI Corporation (, a research and production company for high performance hybrid lithium metal (Li-Metal) rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and other applications, announced that its Class A common shares and warrants will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the same day under the ticker symbol "SES" and "SES.WS", respectively.
Notably, SES launched a $275 million PIPE offering at $10. 00 a share on Feb. 3. PIPE investors include a number of leading original equipment manufacturers and strategic partners, as well as major financial investors, such as Honda, General Motors, Hyundai, Geely Holdings, Kia, SAIC, Koch Strategic platform, LG Technology Ventures, Foxconn, Vertex Ventures, Fidelity Investments Canada ULC (certain funds) and Franklin Templeton. Investors in SES also include SK Inc., Temasek, Tianqi Lithium and Applied Materials. Meanwhile, SES has a market capitalization of $3.6 billion after completing its merger with Ivanhoe Capital acquisition ("Ivanhoe").
Hu Qichao, founder and chief executive of SES, said: "the money raised through this deal and our new access to the public market will help us implement our development and production plans to bring the next generation of battery technology to global electric vehicle manufacturers."
Data show that SES, founded in 2012, is a comprehensive lithium metal battery manufacturer with strong capabilities in materials, cells, modules, artificial intelligence security algorithms and recycling. Hu Qichao, founder of SES, who has a PhD in applied physics from Harvard University, worked on lithium batteries when he was a student. After graduating in 2012, Hu Qichao founded SES, 's Angel Wheel, which won Xiangfeng's investment the following year. Up to now, SES has carried out research and development for nearly a decade, but there are still no products on the market.
Why can such a company without products on the market be recognized by many mainstream well-known car companies and investors? Holding the world's leading lithium metal battery technology is its breakthrough code.
In November 2021, SES released the ApolloTM lithium-metal battery with a capacity of up to 107Ah, becoming the largest single lithium-metal battery in the world and the first public display of a single lithium-metal battery exceeding 100Ah, with a capacity density of 417Whhand kg, double the energy density compared with existing lithium batteries, and the mileage anxiety that plagued new energy vehicles will no longer be a problem.
After years of exploration, lithium-metal battery has been recognized as the ultimate solution of power battery, its advantages are not only greatly improved in energy density, but also improved in safety and charging speed by an order of magnitude.
At present, SES has signed "A-sample" (sample A) joint development agreements with General Motors, Honda, Hyundai and Kia, and more cooperation will be released one after another. According to Hu Qichao's previous disclosure, sample An is only the first step in the industrialization of the company's lithium metal battery, and the products have to go through sample B and sample C, and finally commercial production is expected to be achieved in 2025.
In addition, in November 2021, SES announced that it would build a new 300000-square-foot plant in Shanghai, Shanghai Giga, which is scheduled to be completed in 2023 and launch the world's first lithium-metal battery larger than 100ampere-hour (Ah).
In terms of capacity expansion, the Shanghai Jiading plant will reach 1GWh capacity after completion in 2023. With the start-up of factories in South Korea and other countries, the total SES capacity is expected to exceed 10GWH by 2025, 80GWH by 2027 and 100GWh by 2028.
Battery Network notes that SES has prepared materials for its battery capacity targets. Hu Qichao previously said in an interview with the media that the higher the energy density of the battery, the higher the content of nickel in the cathode, and the high probability of nickel shortage will be the real problem facing battery materials in the future. Ivanhoe is an integrated mining company with sufficient reserves of nickel and copper in many parts of the world, including about 4.1 billion pounds of nickel in the Platreef project in South Africa. Part of the important reason why SES chose to merge with Ivanhoe lies in its strategic significance to the future development layout.
Flander, Chairman and CEO of Ivanhoe, also said: "We are firmly in line with many of the world's leading automakers and we believe that SES's proprietary lithium metal batteries will make SES the only next-generation battery technology company to successfully commercialize batteries by the middle of this century. A deep vertical integration between miners who produce ethical "green metal" and major electric vehicle manufacturers is just around the corner, which is of far-reaching and long-term importance to all relevant stakeholders. "
In addition, Battery Network noted that there are currently four major lithium mines in the world, with Ganfeng Lithium Industry and Tianqi Lithium Industry each accounting for one. And Tianqi Lithium Industry is one of the shareholders of SES. In addition to Tianqi Lithium, SES has two other partners. Therefore, the supply of lithium metal materials is not a big problem.
To sum up, with material security and technical reserves, SES lithium metal battery development prospects are considerable, with a market capitalization of $3.6 billion and the favor of many mainstream car companies are also well-deserved.
