SES AI Enters into Framework Agreement with Doroni Aerospace to Design and Develop a Battery Pack for Doroni Aerospace’s H1-X Personal eVTOL

Key Terms

evtol technical

eVTOL stands for "electric vertical takeoff and landing" aircraft, which are small, electric-powered vehicles capable of taking off and landing vertically like a helicopter. They are designed to provide quick, on-demand transportation within cities or between locations, potentially transforming urban mobility. For investors, eVTOLs represent a growing segment of innovative transportation technology with potential for significant market impact and future growth.

li-metal technical

Lithium metal is the elemental form of lithium used as a lightweight, highly reactive material in batteries and specialty industrial applications. It matters to investors because batteries that use lithium metal can store more energy in the same size or weight—like swapping a small fuel tank for a bigger one—potentially boosting electric vehicle range and lowering costs, which affects manufacturers, raw-material suppliers and the broader clean-energy supply chain.

nail penetration technical

A nail penetration test is a safety test for batteries where a metal pin or nail is driven through a cell to create an internal short circuit and see how the cell behaves under severe abuse. It matters to investors because the outcome reveals risks like fire, smoke, or explosion, and thus affects a battery product’s safety reputation, regulatory approval, warranty exposure, and potential liability—similar to stress-testing a bridge to see how it holds up under a sudden failure.

ndaa-compliant regulatory

NDAA-compliant means that a product, supplier, or company meets the rules in the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act that bar certain foreign technologies and require specific security practices. For investors, compliance matters because it determines whether a business can sell to the U.S. government, avoid fines or bans, and reduce supply‑chain or reputational risk—similar to passing a background check that lets you bid on a sensitive contract.

See more from StockTitan in Google Search and AI answers. Adds StockTitan as a preferred source · opens Google

Add on Google Not now

Framework agreement targets up to $1,090,000 in several stages for designing battery systems, with options for expanded testing and serial production

WOBURN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SES AI Corp. (NYSE: SES) (“SES AI” or the “Company”), a leader in AI-enhanced Li-Metal and Li-ion batteries, today announced that it has entered into a framework agreement with Doroni Aerospace, developer of the H1-X two-seat personal electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, to design, develop, test and deliver a battery pack for Doroni Aerospace’s H1-X. The framework agreement establishes an aggregate price of up to $1,090,000, of which the initial tranche of $65,000 is committed, for work planned over multiple stages in 2026 and 2027, with each stage to be triggered by the issuance of a purchase order from Doroni to SES AI.

Under the framework agreement, upon issuance of purchase orders from Doroni, SES AI will design and develop H1-X battery systems to power the aircraft’s ground and flight-test campaign — building a path to H1-X testing as early as 2027. The agreement includes options to expand into additional test systems and serial production.

Under the program, SES AI will design and develop battery packs built on high energy density cells developed through its Molecular Universe AI platform — with cell energy densities approaching 400 Wh/kg and safety validated through abuse testing including nail penetration, overcharge and external short circuit, and paired with SES AI’s enabled battery health monitoring.

“Doroni is a remarkable eVTOL developer, leading the charge on American-made personal electric aviation,” said Qichao Hu, Founder and CEO of SES AI. “The H1-X is exactly the kind of aircraft our aviation battery platform was built to power. We are proud to collaborate with Doroni Aerospace as its battery designer and developer, and we look forward to supporting Doroni from flight test through serial production.”

“We have reviewed various candidates for designing and developing our battery pack, and SES AI came out ahead where it matters most for the H1-X: performance, safety, and compliance,” said Doron Merdinger, Founder and CEO of Doroni Aerospace. “We are excited to initiate this collaboration with SES AI, who we believe can support Doroni Aerospace in the course of developing the battery pack for the H1-X with the ability to scale such design and development towards testing and serial production.”

About SES AI:
SES AI Corp. (NYSE: SES) is powering the future of electric transportation on land and in the air with next-generation, high-energy-density battery technology. Building on its pioneering work in lithium-metal batteries, SES AI is the first battery company to apply AI across the battery lifecycle—from research and development and materials discovery to cell design, engineering, manufacturing, and battery health and safety monitoring. Founded in 2012, SES AI is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with R&D and pilot production facilities in Boston, USA, and manufacturing operations in Chungju, South Korea, producing some of the industry's highest-performing National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)-compliant battery cells for aerospace, defense, robotics, and advanced mobility applications. Learn more at SES.AI.

SES AI may use its website as a distribution channel of material company information. Financial and other important information regarding SES AI is routinely posted on and accessible through the Company’s website at www.ses.ai. Accordingly, investors should monitor this channel, in addition to following SES AI’s press releases, Securities and Exchange Commission filings and public conference calls and webcasts.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, about us and our industry that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “will,” “goal,” “prioritize,” “plan,” “target,” “expect,” “focus,” “look forward,” “opportunity,” “believe,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “project” and “pursue” or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. These statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of the management of SES AI. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Although SES AI believes that its plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot provide assurance that it will achieve or realize these plans, intentions or expectations. Should one or more of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, SES AI’s actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to, among other things, the risk that Doroni has no obligation to issue purchase orders to SES AI under the framework agreement and the framework agreement may not generate the level of sales currently anticipated; aircraft and battery development, testing, and certification risks; regulatory developments, including supply chain and manufacturing risks; and each company’s ability to fund its respective programs, and other factors described in SES AI’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including in the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of SES AI’s most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and other documents that SES AI has filed, or that SES AI will file, with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements made by SES AI in this press release speak only as of the date on which they are made, and subsequent events may cause these expectations to change. SES AI disclaims any obligations to update or alter these forward-looking statements in the future, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260803821866/en/

For the media: pr@ses.ai
For investors: ir@ses.ai

Source: SES AI Corporation