GM leads $139m Series D for Singapore EV battery maker

Applied Ventures, SK Group, SAIC Motor, Temasek Holdings, and its investment arm Vertex Holdings joined the round. It comes one month after a joint development agreement with GM to build a prototyping plant in the US by 2023 and highlights an evolving financial-strategic dynamic between star-ups and traditional carmakers.

"GM has been rapidly driving down battery cell costs and improving energy density, and our work with SES technology has incredible potential to deliver even better EV performance for customers who want more range at a lower cost," Matt Tsien, an executive vice president of GM and CTO and president of GM Ventures, said in a statement.

SES claims to offer the "most complete" battery product for the EV market by combining advanced technology and innovative materials with a unique manufacturing approach. Its lithium metal cells are said to deliver a level of performance sought by carmakers and consumers, while also benefiting from a faster charge and longer range than conventional products.

Lithium metal batteries have traditionally used designs characterized by high-temperature requirements and low energy density. They are also regarded as difficult to scale in part because of a dependence on expensive materials. SES says it has corrected these issues with a system that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to improve both performance and safety.

The company's tie-up with GM is hoped to reduce battery costs 60% by 2025. Batteries can account for up to 50% of the cost of an EV, compared to 2-5% for consumer electronic devices like smart phones. Most of the AI used in the battery segment has historically focused on optimizing charge and discharge rates by tracking unit performance under different conditions. It has seldom been applied to improving safety.

However, EV battery chemistry has become a major safety issue, with the risk of spontaneous combustion regularly leading to precautionary fleet recalls and "thermal runaway" chain reactions. These fires can require thousands of gallons of water to extinguish and can spontaneously reignite even after the car has been secured and towed away.

Battery fires have been a particularly acute problem in China, where strong government EV mandates are believed to have encouraged quantity over quality. Sizeable deals in this niche in recent months include a $1.5 billion investment in Shenzhen-listed Contemporary Amperex Technology. As recently as February, Svolt Energy Technology, formerly the battery unit of Great Wall Motor, raised approximately $540 million.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Industrials
• Cleantech
• Expansion
• Singapore
• Temasek Holdings
• Vertex Holdings
• automobiles
• manufacturing