Solid Power - Earnings Call - Q2 2025

Executive Summary

• Q2 2025 total revenue and grant income was $7.54M, up 25.3% QoQ and 48.6% YoY, driven primarily by completion of SK On pilot line factory acceptance testing milestones; EPS was $(0.14), worse than Q1 $(0.08) but slightly better than Q2 2024 $(0.13).
• Operating expenses rose to $33.4M (+11.2% QoQ) due to $6.7M costs to complete SK On factory acceptance testing; operating loss was $(25.9)M.
• Liquidity remained strong at $279.8M as of June 30, 2025; H1 operating cash use was $40.7M and capex was $5.0M, with Q2 capex $2.6M focused on the continuous electrolyte pilot line.
• BMW introduced an i7 test vehicle powered by Solid Power cells—an external validation milestone—and SK On’s line advanced to site acceptance later in 2025, reinforcing the customer roadmap; management reiterated commissioning of the continuous electrolyte pilot line in 2026.
• Wall Street consensus estimates (S&P Global) for revenue and EPS were unavailable; no explicit revenue or margin guidance was provided. Consensus values unavailable via S&P Global.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Significant validation: BMW introduced an i7 test vehicle powered by Solid Power’s cells, showcasing real-world progress in solid-state technology and customer engagement.
• SK On pilot line milestone: Completed factory acceptance testing; site acceptance testing targeted for later this year, supporting partner scale-up on Solid Power’s electrolyte.
• Liquidity and capital return: Maintained $279.8M total liquidity; repurchased ~3.3M shares at ~$1.05 for ~$3.6M, signaling confidence while preserving cash discipline.

What Went Wrong

• Higher operating costs: OpEx rose to $33.4M (+$3.4M QoQ), including $6.7M tied to SK On FAT completion, pressuring operating loss to $(25.9)M and EPS to $(0.14).
• Limited revenue mix diversity: Q2 revenue growth was milestone-driven (SK On) rather than broad-based commercial electrolyte orders; sampling remains active but early-stage.
• No quantitative guidance: Management reiterated operational objectives but provided no explicit revenue or margin guidance, leaving limited near-term visibility; Street consensus not available via S&P Global.

Transcript

Speaker 1

Good day and welcome to Solid Power Second Quarter 2025 earnings conference call. All participants will be in the listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Charlie Wengetz, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 0

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 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.

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.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Charlie, and thank you all for joining us. I'm pleased to provide an update on our 2025 operational goals since our last earnings call. As announced this quarter, we reached a significant achievement in our partnership with BMW, who introduced their i7 test vehicle powered by ourselves and solid-state battery technology. We believe this development marks a major step in our overall strategy as it underscores the potential of our electrolyte and cell technologies. It also highlights our 2025 corporate objective to drive electrolyte innovation and performance through feedback from cell development and customers. We're excited and proud to continue our partnership with BMW. This quarter, we completed factory acceptance testing of the SK On pilot line, which is a key milestone under our line installation agreement.

Our collaboration with SK On supports their efforts to develop solid-state cells based on our technology and operate a solid-state pilot line that we designed to use our electrolyte. We have begun working towards site acceptance testing of the line at SK On’s facilities, which we expect to complete later this year. We're making progress on our electrolyte development roadmap. During the quarter, we finished ordering long lead equipment and began detailed design for our planned installation of a continuous manufacturing pilot line for sulfide electrolyte production at SP2. The line is expected to expand our production capacity to 75 metric tons and enable us to support anticipated small volume programs of current and future customers. As of June 30, we have received $3.3 million in reimbursements under our agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy for this project. We remain on track for commissioning of the line in 2026.

Finally, we are working to ramp electrolyte sampling and identify long-term customers. During the first half of the year, we continued to see demand for multiple generations of our electrolyte from customers, including both existing and new customers. We've engaged in active sampling to key strategic customers so far this year, and we remain encouraged by our customer engagement and electrolyte sampling activities. I'll now turn it over to Linda to discuss our financial results and progress towards achieving our financial discipline goal. Linda?

Speaker 2

Thank you, John. I'll start with Q2 and year-to-date results, beginning with revenue. During the second quarter of 2025, we generated revenue of $7.5 million compared to our Q1 2025 revenue of $6 million. This brings revenue year-to-date to $13.5 million. Revenue recognized this quarter was driven primarily by the achievement of the factory acceptance testing milestone under our line installation agreement with SK On. Operating expenses for the second quarter were $33.4 million, an increase of $3.4 million compared to our first quarter of 2025 at $30 million. This increase is driven by costs incurred to support the achievement of factory acceptance testing, which was $6.7 million of our operating costs for the quarter. Operating loss year-to-date was $49.9 million, and year-to-date net loss was $40.5 million, or $0.22 per share. Capital expenditures totaled $5 million, primarily representing costs for the construction of our continuous sulfide electrolyte pilot line.

We repurchased 3.3 million shares during Q2 at an average share price of $1.05, totaling approximately $3.6 million under our stock repurchase program. Thanks to a strong balance sheet, we were able to return this capital to shareholders and maximize long-term shareholder value. Turning to our balance sheet and liquidity, during the quarter, we invested $14.4 million into operations and $2.6 million into CapEx. This brings our total year-to-date cash investment to $45.7 million. We ended the quarter with total liquidity of $279.8 million as of June 30, 2025. In addition, contract receivables totaled $4.6 million, and total current liabilities were $12.4 million. We continue to be disciplined fiscally, balancing efficiency and process improvements with the strategic investments in technology developments and critical infrastructure. I will now turn it back to John for some final thoughts.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Linda. In closing, we are steadily advancing towards our strategic objectives. I want to express my gratitude to our employees, partners, and stakeholders for their continued commitment and support. I remain optimistic about our potential to deliver strong returns for our shareholders. We will now take your questions. Operator?

Speaker 1

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your questions, please press star, then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Again, if you have a question, please press star, then one. This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to John Van Scoter for closing remarks.

Speaker 3

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

Speaker 1

Thank you. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.