Ilika PLC (AIM:IKA, OTCQX:ILIKF) said it is focused on qualifying its initial Stereax miniature solid-state battery product for commercial sales in the medical and industrial sensor market after the manufacturing facility was commissioned and opened late last year.
Qualifying initial products via highly accelerated life testing (HALT)) is now underway and is expected to take until the end of the calendar year, when samples will be issued to customers.
Initial orders for these smaller format solid-state batteries (SSBs) are expected to be fulfilled in the first few months of 2023, as testing continues, the company said in a statement alongside its final results for the year to 30 April 2022.
As previously communicated, the company has largely completed the process qualification phase for Stereax batteries, aimed at the medical device and industrial sensor markets, which has included customisation of some equipment and more extensive testing to comply with medical and industrial requirements.
With cash and equivalents of £23.4mln in the bank at the year-end, Ilika said it will “continue to actively manage the deployment of capital” through this pre-commercialisation phase, with further growth of Stereax expected to involve commercial partnerships to license out the technology to larger-scale facilities.
Regarding its Goliath technology for solid-state electric car batteries and portable devices, Ilika said it aims to reach “manufacturing readiness maturity by the end of 2023”, also investing £5mln to increase the level of automation of its Goliath pilot manufacturing line.
Once Goliath has reached manufacturing readiness, the company said it “anticipates implementing a scale-up to mega-factory scale in order to support the initial stages of commercial roll-out of a small portfolio of electric hyper and super car models”, which would naturally require additional financing.
“We have continued to progress to plan with our Goliath battery with a focus on getting the right mix of attributes in a battery for our target applications,” said Ilika chairman Keith Jackson.
He said management have increased focus on building a robust material supply chain and the environmental impact of manufacture and recycling “as critical success factors in the design of a successful battery to reflect current economic, supply and environmental concerns, which look set to continue indefinitely”.
On Stereax, he said: “There has been a lot of learning in the transition to the new equipment to make the batteries faster and repeatably on the new equipment, which generates additional protective IP. The medical market is a good commercial and societal opportunity but will always have slower take up due to the obvious effectiveness, safety and approval requirements.
“Given the market dynamics and requirements we had to announce a delay in revenue expectations. However, the medical market can provide revenues at a unit price premium and, once secured, sustained for a long period as the same requirements that make the market difficult to enter make it difficult to change."
Turnover was £0.5mln for the past year, compared to £2.3mln the year before, as flagged, while the underlying (EBITDA) loss adjusted for share-based payments was £6.4mln, compared to £2.3mln.