What changed in SES AI Corp's 10-K — 2024 vs 2025

Our differentiated battery technology has been designed to combine the high energy density of Li-Metal and Li-ion with the large-scale manufacturability of conventional Li-ion batteries in order to help promote the transition from the global dependence on fossil fuel-based vehicles to clean and efficient EVs, with the goal of enabling a new era of electric transportation on land and in the air.

Our team has dedicated the past decade to developing a comprehensive and proprietary Li-Metal and Li-ion battery technology platform, including high concentration solvent-in-salt electrolyte, ultra-thin wide format lithium anode, protective anode coating, and novel cell engineering processes that are based on scalable Li-ion manufacturing but address unique lithium metal plating challenges.

As we build more AI-enhanced Li-Metal and Li-ion cells and generate more data, AI has become an increasingly integral part of our business in material development, battery health monitoring and incident prediction, with our AI initiatives consisting of AI for Science, AI for Manufacturing and AI for Safety.

We believe that our AI for Science has the potential to accelerate our pipeline material discovery by mapping the vast universe of small molecules, with the goal to improve battery performance and safety. Our AI for Manufacturing uses machine learning to help define and fine-tune quality specifications based on manufacturing process data.

Our AI for Safety is designed to monitor battery state-of-health and predict incidents more accurately than conventional battery management system. Four Pillars of our Business There are four pillars to our mission. 1. Electric Vehicles (EV) In 2012, we transitioned away from solid state Li-Metal so our Li-Metal batteries could operate at room temperature and be manufactured at large scale.

In 2024, we began producing large 50 Amp-hour (“Ah”) and 100Ah B-sample Li-Metal battery cells for EVs.

We made significant progress in automotive Li-Metal cell manufacturing by addressing key manufacturing challenges in ultra-thin wide format lithium anode, issues related to powder and metal bur in lithium anode punching, high concentration electrolyte scale-up, and other issues related to quality and safety in automotive large Li-Metal cell manufacturing.

We have performed in-house testing on these 50Ah and 100Ah Li-Metal B-sample cells and shared testing data with our OEM partners, as well as shipped these B-sample cells to other third parties and OEMs for their further performance and safety testing.

We believe that our AI-enhanced Li-Metal battery technology demonstrates industry-leading energy density and performance and have the ability to: ● deliver a lightweight and compact battery, and substantially reduce range anxiety of EV consumers; ● provide fast-charge capability to charge the battery to 80% in less than 15 minutes, significantly reducing charging times; ● incorporate AI software and battery management systems (“BMS”), which will accurately monitor the state of health of the battery and apply appropriate self-healing protocols; ● achieve rapid market adoption due to our strategic partnerships, including with leading global OEMs, such as Hyundai Motor Company (“Hyundai”) and Honda Motor Company, Ltd.

(“Honda”); and ● capitalize on the innovation occurring in Li-ion, including improvements in energy density, manufacturing efficiency and cost reduction, as our manufacturing processes are very similar to Li-ion. In 2024, we transitioned from developing and producing A-Sample batteries to B-Samples to meet carmakers' requirements for their electric vehicles.

A-Sample batteries are functional prototypes developed for OEMs based on their technical specifications.

These are in contrast with B-Sample batteries, which are A-sample batteries manufactured under much higher throughput and tested in actual vehicles. 5 Table of Contents We expect to develop and produce C-Samples batteries beginning in 2026, which would be fully functional, mature samples for mass production and tested for full drivability in actual EVs.

As we remain focused on B-Sample battery development, we do not yet have any arrangements with OEMs to manufacture consumer-ready batteries for their EVs. We expect this progress will pave the way for commercial production of our technology in 2027. For more information on collaborations with these OEMs, see “ Our Partnerships” below. 2.

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) We believe that UAM is a perfect fit for Li-Metal. In our view, B-sample battery cell technology requires less additional development to reach commercial production for use in UAM than in EVs, and that our B-sample technology for EVs can be adapted for UAMs.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) We started our AI programs to address the need to provide a high level of safety in, and to further accelerate our future roadmap for, material Li-Metal battery development.

Our AI programs fall under three major categories: AI for Science - We are developing new AI models designed to screen a vast universe of small molecules for potential electrolyte solvent candidates. We have also built an electrolyte foundry designed to provide high throughput synthesis and testing of these materials.

AI for Manufacturing – The traditional approach to optimizing cell design and process and improving manufacturing quality is through human experience, where the human engineers define and optimize quality specifications, which typically is a very lengthy process. We believe our AI for Manufacturing can accelerate this timeline.

AI for Manufacturing uses machine learning to help define and fine-turn quality specifications based on manufacturing process data. AI for Safety - We seek to provide a high level of safety in the field, and we are leveraging our automotive 50Ah and 100Ah cell production volume and quality data to train our AI for Safety.

Our AI for Safety prediction accuracy increased to 95% in 2024, meeting the target we set at the start of the year. Our ultimate goal is to be able to reach near 100% safety in the field, which we believe will be paramount to both EV and UAM OEMs.

We are currently using and intend to continue using and developing AI for our own product innovations. Additionally, in the future we plan to work toward generating additional service revenue from the use of our AI programs by third parties. For more information, see “Our AI-Related Initiatives.” 4.

We have only begun to tap into this market and look forward to growing our presence in energy storage. Our Li-Metal Battery Technology Limitations of Current Battery Technology 6 Table of Contents Conventional Li-ion technology is currently being used in most commercially available EVs. Li-ion typically uses a metal oxide-based or phosphate-based cathode and graphite or graphite/silicon-based anodes.

The anode and cathode are separated by a polymer-based separator. Finally, the whole cell is filled with a liquid electrolyte that conducts lithium ions from the anode to the cathode as the vehicle is being driven (or battery is being discharged), and from the cathode to the anode as the vehicle (or the battery) is being charged.

Conventional Li-ion cells have been instrumental in kick-starting the current EV market and are being manufactured at scale at capacities of hundreds of GWh today.

However, the automotive industry desires a battery with higher energy density to improve the electric driving range (the distance that a vehicle can be driven on a single charge) while reducing battery cost to enable mass-adoption. Li-Metal Batteries Li-Metal is widely considered and accepted as the EV battery technology capable of achieving the highest energy density.

In fact, switching the current Li-ion graphite/silicon anode with Li-Metal will currently result in the highest possible energy density for any given cathode in lithium chemistry.

Li-Metal is the lightest un-engineered pure metal on earth and since the lithium ions do not have to diffuse in and out of the anode host material (like in the case of graphite or silicon in conventional Li-ion), the battery cells made with Li-Metal anode can be very compact and light.

This combination of a lightweight and compact anode results in the highest possible gravimetric (Watt-hour (“Wh”)/kg) and volumetric (Wh/liter) energy density, respectively, for any given cathode in lithium chemistry.

SES’s Approach to Li-Metal Cell SES’s approach to Li-Metal cell utilizes the high energy density benefits of lithium metal anode while utilizing a cell design that primarily uses a liquid electrolyte in the cathode and separator to transport the lithium ions. There is also a protective anode coating between the anode and the separator.

This approach results not only in improved energy density due to using a lithium metal anode, but also superior performance at room and lower than room temperatures and enables manufacturing at scale just like Li-ion, which is manufactured at scale today. In fact, we have been successfully making multi-Amp-hour, multi-layer cells using our Li-Metal approach for many years.

The key breakthrough in SES’s Li-Metal cells is its proprietary and patented liquid electrolyte. This electrolyte was developed internally at SES with many years of scientific research and development. We use a high-concentration, solvent-in-salt electrolyte. While liquid electrolytes used in conventional Li-ion cells are volatile and flammable, SES’s liquid electrolyte has low volatility and is self-extinguishing.

Conventional liquid electrolytes are primarily made up of organic solvents with low concentrations of salt to aid lithium-ion conduction. SES’s liquid electrolyte primarily consists of salt with a low concentration of proprietary solvent molecules. This new type of high-concentration solvent-in-salt liquid electrolyte is fundamentally different from conventional liquid electrolyte.

It maintains the manufacturability advantage of liquid electrolytes in conventional Li-ion manufacturing but can enable Li-Metal due to its stability on lithium metal. SES’s Li-Metal technology also helps resolve an issue that has plagued Li-Metal adoption and progress for decades.

With repeated charge and discharge cycles, lithium metal anodes are known to develop needle-like mossy structures known as dendrites, which can penetrate the separator and short-circuit the battery cell. The use of our liquid electrolyte changes the morphology of dendrite formation in our Li-Metal battery cells from needle-like mossy structures to a smooth lithium metal surface or dense deposition.

Our proprietary anode coating provides an added layer of protection against separator penetration by making lithium plating denser during charging. Additionally, our AI-powered safety software and BMS monitors the state-of-health of the battery cells and can accurately detect any safety issues much earlier. The combination of these elements significantly increases cell cycle life and safety.

The rest of the cell is assembled using our proprietary ultra-thin wide-width Li-Metal anode, a conventional separator and a cathode.

With the exception of the Li-Metal anode, all materials and components utilized in our battery cells are either already being manufactured at scale or have the capability to be easily manufactured at scale without the need for intensive research and development, or development of new equipment.

To our knowledge, SES Li-Metal battery cells are the only Li-Metal cells demonstrated to meet or exceed the preliminary OEM target requirements for energy density, low temperature discharge, room temperature fast charge and discharge, cycle life and safety.

Our unique high-energy density Li-Metal battery is expected to be: ● light and compact, with high energy density of at least 400 Wh/kg and 1,000 Wh/liter in our large 100 AH cells, compared to approximately 265 Wh/kg / 535 Wh/L in Li-ion battery cells using a high nickel content cathode, and with one version of our 100 Ah 7 Table of Contents multi-layer battery cells demonstrating energy density of 380 Wh/kg / 850 Wh/L in third-party testing.

This higher energy density is expected to translate into significantly more range, which we believe will help to enable the expansion of an electrified world; ● durable and safe, with the ability to meet stringent cycle life, overall lifetime and safety targets for EVs and UAM aircrafts; ● capable of fast charge, charging up to 80% in less than 15 minutes; ● capable of high power discharge, at room and low temperatures; ● low-cost, taking advantage of existing Li-ion manufacturing scale and best-practices to enable cost-reduction; ● capitalizing on the innovation occurring in Li-ion, in terms of incremental improvement in energy density, supply chain development, cost reduction and manufacturing efficiency, since the cathode and cell manufacturing process are the same as in Li-ion; and ● smarter, with AI-powered safety software and BMS that can predict safety incidents in real time and make appropriate diagnostic recommendations Our AI-Based Initiatives Through our AI-based initiatives discussed above targeted at material discovery, we believe that we can rapidly introduce enhancements to Li-Metal and Li-ion batteries for use in a multitude of applications, including EVs, UAM, storage, drones and robotics, among others.

We believe that our AI-discovered electrolyte materials provide a pathway to generate service revenue earlier than previously anticipated through targeting the large addressable market in each of the aforementioned applications. Since AI-enhanced electrolytes can simply be dropped into existing Li-ion manufacturing infrastructure, they also require significantly less capital expenditure than traditional battery manufacturing.

Our Partnerships We have entered into strategic alliances and may in the future enter into additional strategic alliances. For example, we previously had a JDA with General Motors (“GM”), have entered into JDAs with Hyundai Motor Company (“Hyundai”) and another OEM partner, and have a service contract with Honda Motor Company, Ltd. (“Honda”), which expire at different points in time.

For more information, see Note 4 to our consolidated financial statements. We expect to continue to strengthen these partnerships in the use of our battery technology.

Also, we intend to work closely with other OEMs and other strategic partners to develop and produce our Li-Metal battery cells, as well as support our supply chain and the build out of manufacturing facilities, with the aim of making our Li-Metal battery cells widely available in EVs, UAM aircrafts and other applications over time Our Research and Development We conduct research and development at our facilities in Woburn, Massachusetts in the United States, Shanghai, China, and Chungju, South Korea.