SES AI Corporation (NYSE:SES) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Qichao Hu: Yes, as I mentioned earlier, we’re really targeting ’25, ’26 for the larger scale introduction of lithium-metal into vehicles. And then, already right now, 2023, we and then a few suppliers were planning to implement capabilities for lithium-salt, the electrolytes, and then also lithium refining capabilities in North America. And then, a lot of these implementations will take about two years. So, by the time 2025 comes, and then lithium-metal is ready for commercial, several of the key materials, at least from my perspective based on our perspective, electrode and lithium-anode will also be sourced in North America. So, we are preparing both the cell level as well as the material level in parallel.

Shawn Severson: Great. Thanks, Qichao. I’ll jump back in the queue.

Qichao Hu: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. We currently have no further questions for today. So, I’ll hand back to Qichao for any further remarks.

Qichao Hu: Yes, so back in 2021, we were the first to enter automotive A-sample and then last year ’22, that’s when we really started manufacturing lithium-metal cells in pilot scale. It was really difficult because it was something no one had done before and we encountered a lot of issues, and we were very transparent about those issues, but we also made tremendous progress solving these. Now entering B-sample is not magic, it’s just a natural next step. And it will be a huge milestone, not just for us, but the entire industry. It will be a huge validation for our practical approach to making lithium-metal cells using lithium-ion manufacturing process. It’s something that we’ve been talking about since the beginning and also it will be a huge step forward for our OEM partners. We made a lot of progress, but still a lot of work to do, and hope everyone will stay tuned, and we will provide lot more exciting updates later. So, thank you.

Operator: Thank you for joining today’s call. You may now disconnect your lines.