SES AI Corporation, a global leader in high-performance Li-Metal battery development and manufacturing, has announced significant advancements in its AI initiative. Effective October 17, 2024, Dr. Kang Xu, formerly Chief Scientist, has been promoted to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to spearhead the company’s AI efforts. Additionally, SES AI has signed its first commercial agreement with a prominent global electrolyte producer to utilize AI for accelerating Li-Metal and Li-ion electrolyte development across four major applications: electric vehicles (EVs), heavy-duty trucking, consumer electronics, and grid storage.
“Our groundbreaking work in AI represents one of the world’s first applications in electric transportation, starting from the molecular level,” stated SES AI CEO Qichao Hu. “We’ve already achieved promising results, including the identification of novel molecules that enhance coulombic efficiency and extend the cycle life of electrolytes—critical advancements for SES AI’s Li-Metal batteries in both EVs and Urban Air Mobility.”
The promotion of Dr. Xu and the signing of this commercial agreement mark pivotal steps towards SES AI’s vision of becoming a leader in global battery material discovery. This encompasses end-to-end capabilities such as molecular property mapping, AI model development, human expertise, molecule synthesis, electrolyte formulation, and cell production and validation. According to Grand View Research, the global battery electrolyte market (including Li-Metal and Li-ion) is currently valued at approximately $12 billion and is projected to grow to $25 billion by 2030, with AI expected to revolutionize the industry and unlock new applications.
This partnership represents a first in the battery sector, accelerating the commercialization of Li-Metal for electric mobility. So far, research has focused on fewer than 1,000 unique electrolyte molecules out of a possible 10^12, indicating vast potential for discovery.
Dr. Kang Xu brings nearly 30 years of expertise in battery electrolyte development to his new role, having joined SES AI as Chief Scientist in August 2023. Prior to this, he held a distinguished position at the Army Research Lab. As CTO, he will lead SES AI’s AI initiatives, guiding a team of computational chemists, AI/ML scientists, data scientists, and battery scientists to deliver practical solutions that address real-world commercial challenges.
“Over the past three decades, Li-ion batteries have transformed technology, powering everything from Sony’s Walkman to today’s electric vehicles,” said Dr. Xu. “Electrolytes play a crucial role, yet many discoveries in this area have been serendipitous, leaving it somewhat of a ‘black box.’ Our AI approach combines advanced computing hardware with cutting-edge computational chemistry to thoroughly explore a vast database of molecular structures and properties. This data, when paired with our team’s expertise, will help train AI models to generate new molecules that we can synthesize at our Electrolyte Foundry, formulate into electrolytes, and test in cells ranging from small lab sizes to A-sample and B-sample Li-Metal cells.”
Earlier this year, SES AI announced a collaboration with NVIDIA, Crusoe, and Supermicro to utilize state-of-the-art computing software and hardware, including NVIDIA H100 GPUs, to accelerate material discovery for electric transportation by mapping the physical and chemical properties of a vast array of small molecules.
