Hyundai powers up with $100m investment in battery start-up SES

Korean auto company joins GM Motors with an interest in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-off

South Korean motor giant Hyundai is to pump about $100 million into lithium metal battery start-up SolidEnergy.

Founded in 2012, SolidEnergy Systems (SES) is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-off and develops anode-free lithium metal batteries.

SES’s other shareholders include General Motors Co, SK Inc and Tianqi Lithium Corp among others.

“As we have been investing in various companies related to electrification, our investment in SolidEnergy is part of that,” an official at Hyundai Motor told Yonhap news agency.

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In April, Hyundai said that the company had been developing solid-state batteries and planned to mass produce electric vehicles (EV) using them by 2030.

Hyundai currently sources its batteries for its EVs from SK Innovation Co Ltd and LG Chem Ltd’s wholly-owned LG Energy Solution.

In March, General Motors announced a partnership with SES to boost its battery development, allowing for increased electric vehicle driving range in a smaller package.

Reporting by Reuters

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Sean O'Meara

Sean O'Meara is an Editor at Asia Financial. He has been a newspaper man for more than 30 years, working at local, regional and national titles in the UK as a writer, sub-editor, page designer and print editor. A football, cricket and rugby fan, he has a particular interest in sports finance.