Qichao Hu expresses his views bluntly regarding the condition of the battery sector. “Virtually every Western battery firm has either failed or is on the verge of failure. That’s just the truth,” he states.
Hu leads SES AI, a battery company based in Massachusetts. The company once aspired to produce significant quantities of advanced lithium metal batteries for major sectors such as electric vehicles, but now it is focusing on AI-driven materials discovery.
Hu views this shift as vital. “A Western firm cannot create a sustainable business model,” he claims. The company continues to produce some batteries, but targets smaller markets like drones instead of high-volume sectors such as EVs. The new direction emphasizes the company’s battery materials discovery platform, which it can either license to other battery manufacturers or use to develop materials for sales.
Recently, several prominent US EV battery firms have gone under, and others, such as SES AI, are undergoing significant strategic revisions. This alteration in battery production and the locations of such endeavors could influence future energy geopolitics.
The project that would later become SES AI originated at MIT, where Hu finished his graduate studies. His battery research was intended for applications in oil and gas exploration. The sector employs sensors that penetrate deep into the ground, where temperatures may exceed 120 °C (about 250 °F). The team aimed to engineer a battery that could tolerate these elevated temperatures and maintain performance over longer durations on a single charge.
The selected innovation was a solid polymer lithium metal battery. These cells utilize lithium metal for their anode and a polymer for their electrolyte (the medium through which ions travel in a battery cell). These combined elements can significantly enhance the energy density of a cell compared to the lithium-ion technologies prevalent in personal gadgets and EVs currently. (Lithium-ion batteries typically use graphite material for their anode and a liquid for the electrolyte.)
This solid-state battery technology laid the groundwork for Solid Energy, a startup founded by Hu that emerged from MIT in 2012, securing its initial private funding in 2013.
Eventually, the team recognized that the market for underground oil exploration was limited, so after several years, they shifted focus toward electric vehicles, which were becoming mainstream. Following adjustments to the chemistry to enhance performance at lower temperatures, the company established its initial pilot facility in Massachusetts and later another facility in Shanghai.
By 2021, Hu remembers, the battery sector was thriving, and EVs were the most sought-after area of business. A significant interest in next-gen battery technology emerged from major automakers, prompting Solid Energy to collaborate with GM, Hyundai, and Honda.
Larger vehicles, such as SUVs and trucks, appeared to be suitable for next-generation batteries, according to Hu. Big vehicles favored by American drivers would require lighter batteries to achieve a practical range without excessive weight.
Additionally, the company altered its chemical focus, announcing in 2022 a battery featuring a silicon anode in place of a lithium metal one. This change could facilitate easier manufacturing of the battery.
Since then, growth in the US EV market has slowed down, partly due to substantial financial cutbacks from the Trump administration. EV tax incentives for consumers, a crucial element encouraging Americans toward electric alternatives, terminated in late 2025. With the large electric car market facing challenges, Hu remarks, “we now need to explore every market.”
The AI materials discovery platform that holds many of the company’s aspirations is named Molecular Universe. The firm aims not only to provide its software to other battery manufacturers but also to discover new battery materials and either license or sell them to these companies.
According to the company, the platform has identified six new electrolyte materials. Hu mentions that one is an additive that could enhance the lifespan of batteries with silicon anodes.
A challenge with silicon anodes is their tendency to expand significantly during operation, potentially causing physical harm and disrupting efficient charging and discharging. The industry commonly uses a substance known as fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) to create an elastic coating on the anode, enabling the battery to charge effectively. However, this additive may degrade under high temperatures, generating gases that can damage a battery’s longevity. The SES platform discovered a compound that functions similarly to FEC without releasing those harmful gases.
The company’s extensive experience and deep understanding of batteries may position its platform as an invaluable resource, Hu believes. He perceives the actual model as less significant than SES’s expertise and the data accrued from years of manufacturing and evaluating batteries.
“By not actually producing the physical battery, we’re actually capable of scaling and generating revenue more rapidly,” he remarks.
Yet, some analysts express doubts about the short-term potential for AI materials discovery to rejuvenate the industry. “The development of new materials, as much as we believed it was what stakeholders desired (and frankly, it should be what cell manufacturers are after)—I’m uncertain whether that seems to be the actual key factor in the battery industry’s advancement,” comments Kara Rodby, a technical principal at Volta Energy Technologies, a venture capital firm focusing on the energy storage sector.
Investors are retracting, and diminishing public support is complicating matters for portions of the battery industry, she adds: “I don’t believe that the capability to find any new material is going to unlock any new opportunities for the battery sector right now.”
