SES Holdings Pte. Ltd. announced that it entered into a Joint Development Agreement with Honda Motor Co. Ltd. to develop Li-Metal batteries as part of Honda's next generation battery strategy.

The partnership marks a key milestone on SES' strategic roadmap to achieve commercial production of hybrid Li-Metal batteries for electric vehicles. Honda joins General Motors and Hyundai Motor Company as the third major global car manufacturer to enter into an “A-sample” joint development agreement with SES. Honda previously agreed to invest in the combined company as part of the common stock private investment in public equity financing in connection with SES' pending business combination with Ivanhoe Capital Acquisition Corp.

Honda agreed to join industry leaders General Motors, Hyundai Motor Company, Geely Holding Group, SAIC Motor and Foxconn as the sixth major international car manufacturer to invest in the combined company. Immediately following the business combination, PIPE proceeds are expected to total $275 million and Honda will be the largest single PIPE investor owning approximately 2% of the outstanding shares of the combined company. Honda has been looking into several options toward the realization of high-capacity, safe and low-cost next-generation batteries.

The joint development agreement, following Honda's previous agreement to invest in the PIPE, is a testament to Honda's long-term plan to leverage key technologies SES has developed to broaden options for next-generation batteries for Honda.