Solid Power (SLDP) Q3 2026 Earnings Call: MOBIUS Ramp and Lower Cash Investment Outlook

Key Takeaways

• Solid Power generated $1.2 million in Q3 2026 revenue and grant income, bringing the year-to-date total to $4.0 million.
• The company reported a $29.8 million operating loss and a $24.4 million net loss, equal to $0.11 per share. Quarterly operating expenses were $31.1 million.
• Solid Power ended Q3 with $397.6 million in total liquidity and no debt. It lowered its 2026 cash investment outlook to $75 million-$85 million from $85 million-$100 million.
• The company began introducing materials into MOBIUS in October. The continuous manufacturing line is expected to add 45 metric tons of annual electrolyte capacity, increasing total capacity by 150% to 75 metric tons.
• Management expects MOBIUS commissioning and ISO 9001 certification to be completed by year-end 2026. Customer requalification on the new line is expected to begin in 2027.
• Solid Power remains in advanced discussions with two potential partners regarding a South Korean joint venture for a possible 500-metric-ton annual electrolyte facility, although management cautioned that timing could move into 2027.

Key Financial Data

Business and Operating Performance

MOBIUS, previously called the SP 2.5 continuous manufacturing pilot line, was the central operational update. Solid Power began feeding materials into the line in October and is commissioning its four unit processes sequentially before running material continuously through the full system.

Management said MOBIUS is designed to demonstrate the scalability and efficiency of Solid Power’s proprietary wet-process electrolyte technology. The company believes this process offers capital expenditure and operating cost advantages over dry-process alternatives, although management said it is too early to quantify unit-cost or yield improvements before the line reaches demonstrated nameplate capacity.

MOBIUS is expected to become Solid Power’s primary production platform. The existing batch line will continue operating as long as demand remains, including support for the SK On supply agreement announced in 2024. No portion of MOBIUS’s additional 45 metric tons of annual capacity is currently secured under a supply agreement.

Solid Power continued supplying electrolyte to Samsung SDI and SK On during the quarter. Management said customer cell-design progress remains the main constraint on shipment volumes and higher-volume sales.

The company also completed Stage 2 of its ISO 9001 certification process. Management said certification would strengthen process control, traceability, documentation and operational consistency as production scales.

Beyond electric vehicles, Solid Power is holding early-stage collaboration discussions covering humanoid robotics, drones and defense. Management described these opportunities as being between the first and second innings and said their qualification cycles could be shorter than the typical automotive cycle. EVs remain the company’s primary focus, while adjacent applications could provide technology validation and modest medium-term revenue.

Management Guidance

Solid Power reduced its expected 2026 cash investment range to $75 million-$85 million from $85 million-$100 million. Management attributed the improvement to production cost reductions, disciplined spending, renegotiated supplier contracts and capital expenditure efficiencies.

The company said quarterly cash investment could vary based mainly on timing, including Department of Energy reimbursements and payments to MOBIUS equipment vendors. Solid Power plans to provide its 2027 outlook with its Q4 2026 earnings report.

Management continues to target full MOBIUS commissioning and ISO 9001 certification by year-end 2026. The company also aims to advance its proposed South Korean joint venture, but acknowledged that a transaction could shift into 2027.

Risks and Points to Watch

• MOBIUS remains in early commissioning, and its nameplate capacity, production yields and cost benefits have not yet been demonstrated.
• Customer demand depends on progress in customers’ cell designs, which management identified as the current gate for shipment growth.
• None of MOBIUS’s incremental capacity is currently covered by a supply agreement, and customer requalification is not expected to begin until 2027.
• The proposed South Korean joint venture remains under negotiation. Management said large transactions can be delayed despite its goal of reaching an agreement in 2026.
• Robotics and defense discussions remain at an early stage and are currently focused partly on educating potential OEM partners about all-solid-state battery applications.

Analyst Q&A Highlights

Management said MOBIUS commissioning will proceed process by process across four unit operations, followed by continuous full-line production during the remainder of 2026. Cost and yield comparisons with batch production will be available only after nameplate performance is demonstrated.

On scaling, management said the 45-metric-ton MOBIUS expansion provides a continuous-process foundation for a potential 500-metric-ton annual plant in South Korea. Solid Power expects to use MOBIUS operational data, yields and cost learnings to support that larger-scale project.

Regarding adjacent markets, management emphasized applications with requirements similar to EVs, particularly energy density, safety and cycle life. Humanoid robotics and military applications could move faster than automotive programs, but potential revenue was characterized as modest over the medium term.

Management also clarified that the lower 2026 cash investment outlook reflects both supplier contract renegotiations and improved capital spending efficiency. Variability within the revised range is expected to be driven more by payment and reimbursement timing than by changes in underlying expenses.

Full Earnings Call Transcript

Complete Earnings Call Transcript

Management Remarks

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Solid Power Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Charlie Van Goetz, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Charlie Van Goetz

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 to 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.

John Van Scoter

Thank you, Charlie, and thank you all for joining us today. The third quarter was marked by continued focus on advancing our electrolyte technology and expanding our strategic relationships. We also reached an important milestone in our manufacturing road map with MOBIUS, previously referred to as the SP 2.5 continuous manufacturing pilot line. I'm pleased to report that in October, we began introducing materials into MOBIUS. This new line is expected to increase our electrolyte production capacity by 150%, adding 45 metric tons of capacity and bringing total annual capacity to 75 metric tons. MOBIUS is designed to demonstrate the scalability and efficiency of our proprietary wet process technology and to serve current and future near-term customer programs as we transition from batch to continuous production. We are now progressing toward full commissioning, which remains on track for year-end. MOBIUS represents an important step in our journey to commercial scale by providing us with manufacturing capabilities, operating experience and foundation we believe are critical to scaling our electrolyte technology. Our vision is to build on what we established with MOBIUS as we pursue a potential 500 metric ton annual production facility in Korea. During the quarter, we continued to advance discussions with leading battery materials manufacturers regarding a potential joint venture in South Korea for commercial scale electrolyte production. With Korea at the center of all solid-state battery development, we believe combining our technology and manufacturing know-how with the scale and expertise and market access of an established industry leader could create a powerful platform to accelerate commercial adoption. Our customer engagement also continued. During the quarter, we once again provided electrolyte to Samsung SDI and SK On to support their continued development efforts, and we remain committed to helping our customers advance towards commercialization. Operational excellence remains a core priority as we prepare for commercial readiness. Building on the Stage 1 milestone we reported last quarter, we recently completed Stage 2 of our ISO 9001 certification process and certification remains on track for year-end. This is an important milestone for Solid Power as we continue the transition from development toward commercial supply. ISO 9001 provides an externally recognized framework for maintaining consistent, repeatable quality across our operations, strengthening areas such as process control, traceability, documentation and continuous improvement. Importantly, it also gives our customers greater confidence that we have the systems and operating discipline in place to consistently deliver high-quality materials as we scale production. EVs will continue to be our North Star as we scale, but the potential of our technology extends well beyond a single market. We see exciting opportunities for all solid-state batteries in applications such as humanoid robotics, drones and defense, where safety and performance are increasingly important. We have entered collaboration discussions with potential partners to evaluate our sulfide electrolyte for these uses. We also see an opportunity to leverage our cell testing and pilot production capabilities to support development in these emerging markets. Together, these opportunities demonstrate the broader potential of our technology platform and give us multiple avenues to create long-term value as we execute on our EV strategy and expand into new markets. Overall, we are pleased with our progress this quarter. We continue to execute against our commercialization road map across manufacturing scale-up, collaboration programs and strategic partnerships, and we are doing so with financial discipline as reflected in improved cash outlook Linda will discuss. With that, I'll turn it over to Linda to review our financial results and provide an update on our financial discipline goal. Linda?

Linda Heller

Thank you, John. I'll start with our third quarter results, beginning with revenue. During the third quarter of 2026, we generated revenue and grant income of $1.2 million, driven primarily by the assistance agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy funding a portion of the MOBIUS construction. This brings year-to-date revenue and grant income to $4 million. Operating expenses were $31.1 million in the third quarter compared to $30 million in the second quarter of 2026. The increase was driven by strategic consulting fees supporting our commercial readiness objectives. Operating loss for the quarter was $29.8 million and net loss was $24.4 million or $0.11 per share. Capital expenditures totaled $4.7 million during the quarter, primarily related to construction of the MOBIUS line. During the quarter, cash investment, representing cash used in operations and capital expenditures was $21.5 million, bringing year-to-date cash investment to $56.6 million. Turning to our balance sheet and liquidity. Solid Power's liquidity position remains strong. We ended the third quarter with total liquidity of $397.6 million. In addition, contract assets and accounts receivable totaled $6.2 million, and total current liabilities were $18.8 million. We continue to operate with no debt. Our financial discipline is also reflected in our outlook. We have reduced our expected 2026 cash investment to a range of $75 million to $85 million, an improvement from our prior range of $85 million to $100 million. The improved outlook reflects strong execution on production cost reduction and disciplined spending, enabling us to lower expected cash investment while continuing to advance our commercialization road map. We are accomplishing this in a cost-effective way while continuing to build the team, expertise and production capabilities needed to execute our strategy and support future commercialization. Overall, we remain committed to disciplined capital allocation while continuing to invest in the initiatives that drive long-term growth. We believe our balance sheet provides the financial flexibility to execute our commercialization strategy and support our collaborators' development programs. I will now turn the call back to John.

John Van Scoter

Thank you, Linda. As we close, I want to thank our employees for their continued dedication and our customers, collaborators and shareholders for their ongoing confidence in Solid Power. We appreciate your support as we continue executing our strategy and advancing our path towards commercialization. As we enter the final quarter of the year, our focus is on finishing 2026 strong. We are working to complete the commissioning of MOBIUS, advance our discussions regarding a potential joint venture in Korea, achieve ISO 9001 certification and continue working closely with our customers and collaborators to support their development goals. We have accomplished a great deal in 2026, and these priorities build on the meaningful progress we have made throughout the year. Our focus now is on achieving our near-term milestones and carrying that momentum directly into 2027. We believe the foundation we have built positions us to continue executing against our strategy and take the next steps towards commercialization. We are energized by the opportunities ahead for Solid Power. Thank you for your time today, and we look forward to updating you on our continued progress in the quarters ahead. We will now take your questions. Operator?

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. The first question comes from Colin Rusch with Oppenheimer.

Question-and-Answer Session

Colin Rusch

Congratulations on all the progress with MOBIUS. Could you talk a little bit about the key steps that you guys -- we should be watching as we get through the final acceptance and the initial ramp here through the balance of this year? It seems like you guys have this pretty well under control, but I just want to get a sense of which steps are the key ones for us that we should be attending to?

John Van Scoter

Good to hear from you, Colin. Thanks for the question. Yes, it's all very recent that we started to put materials into the line. So it's very early days, but the team is very, very excited to complete the commissioning this year. It's going to be stepwise. We have 4 unit processes within the continuous flow operation. And so we're going about that, again, in a stepwise fashion, whether it be the first part of the process or the last part and then finally, material all the way through the line continuously. So I would expect in the coming months that we'll have the unit processes largely checked out and spend the balance of the year around running material through the full line.

Colin Rusch

Excellent. And then with the increase of available material and the capital efficiency that you guys have talked about with this process relative to other attempts out in the field. Can you just talk about what that means for your customers? Obviously, folks have been going through testing, but they're going to want to do more volume and the validation of the cost structure as you get this up and running. I just want to understand kind of how quickly things might start shifting for you guys in terms of higher volume sales with some of these customers.

John Van Scoter

Yes. We've mentioned a number of times, but we have a unique wet process. We take precursors and mix them with solvents at the beginning of our line. Our competitors have a dry process, and they cannot scale as well as we can with the wet process. So we believe we have a structured CapEx and OpEx advantage compared to the majority of our competitors. We can just increase the size of our unit processes to get to those larger and larger scale volumes. The demand and what we ship, obviously, will be driven by our end customers' progress with their cell designs. That is largely the gate right now for us, we believe. And the other beauty of MOBIUS is it's 45 metric tons and our next objective is the 500 metric ton plant in Korea. So a 10x scalable off of that continuous flow is very doable based on precedent there in terms of scaling. So that's what I see happening with the unit processes and the scaling up as we go forward.

Operator

The next question comes from Jake Sekelsky with Alliance Global Partners.

Jacob Sekelsky

Are you able to provide a bit more color on the other markets you're looking at outside of EVs? I guess what inning do you feel you're in with partners here? And do you see any potential for them to accelerate commercialization ahead of the EV market? And just trying to get a sense of how we should be thinking about the opportunity here.

John Van Scoter

Thanks for the question, Jake. Yes, it is very early days. I don't know if you said innings or not, if you were referring to a baseball analogy, we're probably in between the first and second innings in discussions with humanoids and with defense applications. But yes, we believe they will move faster. The qualification cycles will be shorter. The number of cycles per period will be greater. I kind of draw an analogy to say, a CES consumer electronics kind of cycle more so than a typical 4-plus year automotive cycle. So that's what it makes it so attractive. Again, I want to emphasize, automotive continues to be our North Star. We're looking for markets that have synergies from a system requirement standpoint, both in energy density and safety, in cycle life, that sort of thing. So we won't take our eye off that ball, but it could create some validation points for us and some modest revenue for us in the medium term.

Jacob Sekelsky

Okay. That's helpful. And then just building off that a bit, how much of the planned 45 tonne per annum capacity increase at MOBIUS is spoken for existing customers or partners? And do you expect to reserve any output there for these additional markets in '27?

John Van Scoter

Right now, we don't have any of it secured in terms of a supply agreement. We do have the existing SK On supply agreement that we announced back in 2024 for metric tons, but that is largely being supplied through our batch process continuously. We will -- we expect to be requalifying with MOBIUS with our various customers. So we need to get through commissioning and get to demonstrated nameplate capability, and then we'll start that process in 2027.

Operator

The next question comes from Sameer Joshi with H.C. Wainwright.

Sameer Joshi

So the guidance for -- first, congrats on the progress on MOBIUS. My first question is -- yes, the cash investment guidance is now $75 million to $85 million from $85 million to $100 million. So that's understandable, but that implies a wide range, by my calculation, it's around $18 million to $28 million for the fourth quarter. Should we expect it towards the lower end or high end? Or maybe asked another way, what would make it go up to $28 million or what could make it stay at $18 million?

Linda Heller

Well, we feel very comfortable with the guidance of $75 million to $85 million for the year. There's a number of things that can be lumpy -- in terms of that, for example, our DOE assistance agreement when we -- the timing of reimbursement could have a swing either way. So there's items like that, payments to vendors, equipment vendors when they complete their checklist so that we will continue to pay that on MOBIUS. Those can have swings in timing as well. So it's mainly timing issues, I would say, not so much expense issues.

Sameer Joshi

Understood. Got it. Thanks for the clarification. Similar -- part 2 of that question is, do we have a 2027 plan of similar investment guidance -- cash investment guidance for 2027?

Linda Heller

We have not. We -- our plan will always be to provide an outlook for '27 in our fourth quarter 2026 earnings call that is consistent with our pattern in previous years.

Sameer Joshi

Understood. And then on the Korea JV that we are looking at, you are talking to several partners. Is this -- should we expect any initial -- at least some kind of an announcement during 2026? Or will this be a 2027 event?

John Van Scoter

Well, we've been targeting with 2 partners through advanced negotiations and discussions to get something done this year. We'll see. We'll see if we can get that done. We're trying like heck to put something out, get it put together. But sometimes these big deals do move to the right. So we're pressing hard. We'll see how it lands. We've got 6 weeks left to make it happen.

Sameer Joshi

Understood. May I squeeze in one more on sort of MOBIUS, the continuous versus batch processing. Are you able to quantify sort of the costs per production unit or yield improvements that would happen because of the continuous process versus batch? Or is it too early to talk of such things?

John Van Scoter

We certainly will be able to do that ultimately, but it really is too early. We've got to get the nameplate demonstrated for MOBIUS. Then we'll be able to easily do those comparisons and show the cost down. You recall that we did show a representative cost down curve in our investor deck recently. That is, we believe, a good representation of what we will get as a next step with MOBIUS, but we will certainly be able to confirm that once we have it fully commissioned and nameplate demonstrated.

Operator

The next question comes from Adam Kelsey with Titan Partners Group.

Adam Kelsey

John, I really enjoyed your comment about EVs being your North Star, but that there's potential beyond that. Would love to better understand how you balance your attention between the auto side as well as these emerging markets?

John Van Scoter

Yes, great question. I would say we are still primarily focused on the EV segment. But again, we're looking to these other newer markets where there is synergy from a system requirement standpoint, notably energy density, safety and cycle life. So other markets that don't have those kind of requirements that EV markets have, we're not spending time on those, but we are spending time where there's synergy.

Adam Kelsey

Great. And obviously, some of those markets like robotics, there's an educational process upfront. But I'd be curious from a technical and technology perspective, is there anything you're seeing that either builds a moat or helps you guys compete in those markets against any potential competitors?

John Van Scoter

Yes. It's really a great point, Adam. The relative battery knowledge in the EV market is much higher than it is in these other markets largely. So we're spending a lot of our time just educating the end OEMs around the value proposition for all solid-state batteries and specifically sulfide-based ones. We've gotten really good reception, but it is a relatively new topic for them. So we're exploring different system applications with these OEMs as ways to give them things that they can't do today with traditional LIB batteries. Weight and balance is a big deal, say, in humanoids and then payload differences say, in the military applications. So yes, we're kind of in the education phase right now of the art of the possible with all solid-state batteries in these new markets.

Adam Kelsey

Awesome. And I know it's still early days, but when we think about initial MOBIUS production, are you -- how are you thinking through these other potential markets and utilizing your capacity effectively and efficiently?

John Van Scoter

I believe that MOBIUS will become the core going forward. We'll continue to operate the batch line as long as there's demand for those -- for that product. But our objective is to, as soon as we can switch over to the MOBIUS line and primarily support customers with that line moving forward to get the learnings, to get the yield, to get the cost -- so then we can scale up to that 500 metric ton plant based on that continuous process in Korea rapidly.

Adam Kelsey

Awesome. And one final one for me. With respect to the reduced spend, it sounds like there are a few operational improvements. I'm just curious if there's anything you guys would like to call out or highlight.

Linda Heller

On the operational performance, a couple of things. We renegotiated some supplier contracts in terms of that, which yields benefits for multiple years. Those were significant for us, very important as we work down the unit cost for our electrolyte as well as just getting some efficiencies out of our capital expenditures working that through on our cash. So we did a very good job on those. So those are 2 of the biggest impacts, I would say, on that.

Operator

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to John Van Scoter for any closing remarks.

John Van Scoter

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

Operator

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