ESS Tech Inc (GWH) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the conference over to Erik Bylin. Please go ahead.

女士們、先生們，感謝你們的支持。（操作員指示）現在我想將會議交給 Erik Bylin。請繼續。

Thank you. Welcome to ESS' first quarter of fiscal year 2025 financial results conference call. Joining me on the call today from ESS are Kelly Goodman, Interim CEO; and Tony Rabb, CFO. Following management's prepared remarks, we will hold a Q&A session.

謝謝。歡迎參加ESS 2025財年第一季財務業績電話會議。今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有 ESS 臨時執行長凱利古德曼 (Kelly Goodman) 和財務長托尼拉布 (Tony Rabb)。在管理階層準備好發言之後，我們將舉行問答環節。

Earlier today, ESS released financial results for the first quarter of 2025. The earnings release is available in the Investor Relations section of the company's website.

今天早些時候，ESS 發布了 2025 年第一季的財務表現。收益報告可在公司網站的投資者關係部分查閱。

As a reminder, the information presented today will include forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements about our growth prospects, partnerships, financial performance, capital raising, and strategy for 2025 and beyond.

提醒一下，今天提供的資訊將包括前瞻性陳述，包括但不限於有關我們的成長前景、合作夥伴關係、財務業績、融資以及 2025 年及以後的策略的陳述。

The forward-looking statements are also subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or implied during this call, in particular, those described in our risk factors set forth in more detail in our most recent periodic filings filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the current uncertainty and unpredictability in our business, challenges with raising capital, issues with our partnerships, the markets, the economy, and the current geopolitical situation.

前瞻性陳述也受到已知和未知風險和不確定性的影響，這些風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果與本次電話會議中預測或暗示的結果存在重大差異，特別是我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新定期文件中更詳細列出的風險因素，以及我們業務中當前的不確定性和不可預測性、籌集資金的挑戰、我們的合作夥伴關係、市場、經濟和當前政治局勢的政治局勢。

You should not rely on our forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. All forward-looking statements that we make on this call today are based on assumptions and beliefs as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

您不應依賴我們的前瞻性陳述來預測未來事件。我們今天在電話會議上所做的所有前瞻性陳述均基於截至本電話會議之日的假設和信念，除非法律要求，否則我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

During the call, we will also present certain financial metrics on a non-GAAP basis. Management believes that non-GAAP financial measures taken in conjunction with US GAAP financial measures provide useful information for both management and investors by excluding certain items that are not indicative of our core operating results. Management uses certain non-GAAP measures internally to understand, manage and evaluate our business and make operating decisions. Reconciliations between US GAAP and non-GAAP results are presented within our earnings release.

在電話會議中，我們也將以非公認會計準則 (non-GAAP) 為基礎提供某些財務指標。管理階層認為，非公認會計準則財務指標與美國公認會計準則財務指標相結合，透過排除某些不反映我們核心經營績效的項目，為管理階層和投資者提供了有用的資訊。管理階層在內部使用某些非公認會計準則指標來了解、管理和評估我們的業務並做出營運決策。我們的收益報告中列出了美國 GAAP 和非 GAAP 結果之間的對帳。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Kelly.

說完這些，我會把電話轉給凱利。

Thank you, Erik, and thank you, everyone, for joining the call. I am pleased to be here again to report our first quarter results for 2025. As we noted on our last call, we continue to work diligently to manage liquidity in the near term, support capital-raising measures, and give us time to implement our turnaround and current strategy. Our focus this quarter was execution of the Energy Base launch and gaining commercial momentum, which I will talk about momentarily.

謝謝艾瑞克，也謝謝大家參加電話會議。我很高興再次在這裡報告我們 2025 年第一季的業績。正如我們在上次電話會議上所指出的，我們將繼續努力管理短期流動性，支持融資措施，並給我們時間實施扭虧為盈和當前策略。本季我們的重點是執行能源基地的啟動並獲得商業動力，我稍後會談到這一點。

Our first quarter revenue is tied to final deliveries of our battery systems to our Florida utility customer and came in at $0.6 million with roughly 65% tied to equipment and 35% tied to site preparation. Additional project revenues are anticipated to be realized as the project is installed and commissioned through the course of this year. We expect that revenue will maintain these levels in the first half of the year and ramp in the back half based on Energy Base sales, although we are certainly exploring near-term revenue opportunities.

我們第一季的收入與向佛羅裡達州公用事業客戶最終交付的電池系統有關，為 60 萬美元，其中約 65% 與設備有關，35% 與場地準備有關。隨著該項目在今年內安裝和調試完畢，預計將實現額外的項目收入。我們預計，今年上半年的收入將維持這些水平，下半年的收入將基於能源基礎銷售額而增加，儘管我們當然正在探索近期的收入機會。

The results reflect in part our pivot from the Energy Warehouse and Energy Center products to implement a more focused business strategy related to the Energy Base product and address longer-duration storage opportunities at 10-plus hours.

結果在一定程度上反映了我們從能源倉庫和能源中心產品轉向實施與能源基礎產品相關的更有針對性的業務策略，並解決 10 小時以上的長期儲存機會。

This strategic shift is already yielding results. Within just three months of launching the Energy Base product, we secured early momentum. We were notified in late April that ESS beat more than 10 shortlisted competitors in a non-lithium RFP initiated by an Arizona public power utility that serves 2 million people and services a significant load from hyperscale leaders.

這一戰略轉變已初見成效。在推出 Energy Base 產品僅三個月內，我們就獲得了早期的發展動能。我們在 4 月下旬收到通知，在亞利桑那州一家公共電力公司發起的非鋰電池 RFP 中，ESS 擊敗了 10 多家入圍競爭對手，該公共電力公司為 200 萬人提供服務，並為超大規模領導者提供大量負載服務。

Contracting and approvals for the 50-megawatt hour 5-megawatt pilot project are anticipated to conclude by September. We expect there will be a significant follow-on RFP opportunity for this customer, and our proposal included indicative pricing for a 2-gigawatt hour, 200-megawatt follow-on project.

50兆瓦時5兆瓦試點計畫的簽約和批准預計將於9月完成。我們預計該客戶將有一個重要的後續 RFP 機會，我們的提案包括 2 千兆瓦時、200 兆瓦後續專案的指示性定價。

This opportunity is representative of the significant emerging demand for non-lithium-ion longer-duration storage technologies. We believe that our ability to deliver 10-plus hours of storage, offer competitive pricing, perform in a wide range of temperatures, and bring broad field experience with our core technology, scaled to gigawatt capacity in the Energy Base, were important factors in securing this opportunity.

這一機會代表了對非鋰離子長時儲存技術的巨大新興需求。我們相信，我們能夠提供超過 10 小時的儲存、提供具有競爭力的價格、在各種溫度下運行，並憑藉我們的核心技術帶來廣泛的現場經驗，並擴展到能源基地的千兆瓦容量，這些都是獲得這一機會的重要因素。

In addition, the project offtaker is confirmed, and we are in further discussions for two additional projects. The project will be structured as a power purchase agreement, allowing us to deploy capital and raise financing at the project level.

此外，專案承購商已經確認，我們正在就另外兩個專案進行進一步討論。該專案將採用電力購買協議的形式，使我們能夠在專案層級部署資本並籌集融資。

Project-level capital and monthly payment structures like PPAs or tolling agreements also open new opportunities for ESS to maintain some level of ownership in project companies and receive revenue ratably that will help to smooth our revenue projections and provide a revenue baseline to the extent these projects close and become operational.

專案級資本和每月付款結構（如 PPA 或收費協議）也為 ESS 提供了新的機會，使其能夠保持在專案公司的一定程度的所有權並按比例獲得收入，這將有助於平滑我們的收入預測，並在這些專案結束並投入營運時提供收入基準。

Separate from this particular project, proposal activity has increased substantially on the back of the Energy Base launch, totaling approximately 1.2 gigawatt hours and $400 million in the last two quarters, with over 70% representing the Energy Base.

除了這個特定項目之外，在能源基地啟動的推動下，提案活動也大幅增加，過去兩個季度總計約 1.2 千兆瓦時和 4 億美元，其中 70% 以上代表能源基地。

Our Portland General Energy Center systems are continuing grid operation and running daily cycling, having transacted another 158 megawatt hours. In addition, we are taking steps to leverage the grid infrastructure that was installed to support the PGE project to connect additional ESS systems and deploy a Wilsonville energy hub right here in our backyard. These batteries are demonstrating commercial applications and daily cycling.

我們的波特蘭通用能源中心系統正在繼續電網運作並進行日常循環，已交易了另外 158 兆瓦時的電力。此外，我們正在採取措施利用為支援 PGE 專案而安裝的電網基礎設施來連接其他 ESS 系統，並在我們後院部署威爾遜維爾能源中心。這些電池正在展示商業應用和日常循環。

We plan to deploy our first extended-duration stacks in an on-site system to demonstrate a 12-hour duration during the second quarter. This effort is a key step in demonstrating the technology at longer durations of up to 22 hours.

我們計劃在第二季度在現場系統中部署第一個延長持續時間的堆棧，以演示 12 小時的持續時間。此項努力是展示最長可達 22 小時的長時間技術的關鍵一步。

Operating multiple systems on site that all utilize our core technology will allow us to continue to understand product deployment and field activity firsthand and optimize a hands-on operational approach to better implement learnings and usability for our customers.

在現場操作所有利用我們核心技術的多個系統將使我們能夠繼續直接了解產品部署和現場活動，並優化實際操作方法，以便更好地為我們的客戶實施學習和可用性。

We continue to work closely in our partnership with Honeywell across a number of fronts, including related to the Energy Base product, as discussed on our last call, based on Honeywell's expertise and process design and procurement position related to core elements like tanks, pumps and control systems.

我們將繼續與霍尼韋爾在多個領域密切合作，包括與能源基礎產品相關的合作，正如我們上次電話會議中所討論的那樣，基於霍尼韋爾在儲罐、泵和控制系統等核心元件方面的專業知識和流程設計和採購地位。

Our first four projects under our joint development agreement are complete or near completion, and the next round is already in flight or will be executed during the second quarter. There have been significant changes in the last several weeks related to tariffs. But as noted on our last call, we are proud that we have made our batteries here in the United States since day one.

我們聯合開發協議下的前四個項目已經完成或接近完成，下一輪專案已在進行中或將在第二季度執行。過去幾週，關稅方面發生了重大變化。但正如我們上次通話中提到的那樣，我們很自豪地從第一天起就在美國生產電池。

All of our manufacturing is conducted in our Wilsonville facility, and we do not import foreign cells for US assembly. We have an extremely high degree of American-made inputs from our supply chain with over 98% of the components in our bill of material sourced domestically.

我們所有的製造都在威爾遜維爾工廠進行，我們不會進口外國電池在美國組裝。我們的供應鏈中美國製造的投入比例極高，我們的物料清單中超過 98% 的零件都來自國內。

The cost for Chinese lithium-ion batteries have recently come down, but the tariff landscape remains both significant and volatile. The 90-day agreement between the US and China that was announced last weekend and came into effect yesterday still imposes over 40% cumulative tariffs on Chinese stationary lithium-ion batteries in the near term and over 50% tariffs in 2026 if a broader trade agreement isn't reached before the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese stationary lithium-ion batteries are scheduled to increase from 7.5% to 25%.

中國鋰離子電池的成本最近有所下降，但關稅格局仍然嚴峻且不穩定。中美上週末宣布並於昨日生效的90天協議仍規定，近期將對中國固定式鋰離子電池徵收超過40%的累計關稅，如果在301條款下對中國固定式鋰離子電池徵收的關稅從7.5%提高到25%之前，不能達成更廣泛的貿易協議，則到2026年，將徵收超過50%的關稅。

We also continue to see positive legislative tailwinds for domestic battery manufacturing, including for long-duration energy storage manufacturers. On April 8, Senator Bill Cassidy introduced the Foreign Pollution Fee Act, which would levy tiered and escalating tariffs on selected imported goods, including battery components, based on their carbon emissions, with the intention to boost US manufacturing competitiveness in low-carbon goods and raise tax revenue. Based on the FPFA's variable charge by sector and country of origin formula, battery inputs from China will face an additional 200% levy if the bill becomes law.

我們也繼續看到國內電池製造業（包括長時儲能製造商）的積極立法推動力。4月8日，美國參議員比爾·卡西迪提出《外國污染費法案》，將根據碳排放量對包括電池零件在內的特定進口商品徵收分級和遞增的關稅，旨在提升美國製造業在低碳產品方面的競爭力，並增加稅收收入。根據FPFA按產業和原產國計算的浮動收費公式，如果該法案成為法律，來自中國的電池進口將面臨額外200%的稅。

On March 10, the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act passed the House of Representatives. This bill would prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from purchasing batteries produced by CATL, BYD, Envision Energy, EVE Energy, Gotion High-tech, and Hithium.

3月10日，《脫離外國對抗性攻擊依賴法案》在眾議院獲得通過。該法案將禁止國土安全部購買 CATL、比亞迪、遠景能源、億緯鋰能、國軒高科和 Hithium 生產的電池。

On Monday, the House Ways and Means Committee released its bill as part of the budget reconciliation process. While many in the industry were concerned that the Section 45X advanced manufacturing production tax credit would be rescinded, the Ways and Means Committee proposed adjustments to 45X as foreign entity of concern provisions that strengthen a company like ESS' ability to claim the credit between now and 2031.

週一，眾議院籌款委員會公佈了預算協調程序的一部分法案。儘管許多業內人士擔心第 45X 條先進製造業生產稅收抵免將被取消，但籌款委員會提議對第 45X 條進行調整，將外國實體列為關注條款，以加強 ESS 等公司從現在到 2031 年申請抵免的能力。

There is broad bipartisan support for the Section 45X credit as a vehicle to scale domestic manufacturing of energy technology and reduce dependence on Chinese technology and supply chains for domestic energy projects.

兩黨廣泛支持第 45X 條信貸，將其作為擴大國內能源技術製造規模和減少國內能源項目對中國技術和供應鏈依賴的工具。

In short, these multiple pending legislative efforts indicate strong continued support for domestic manufacturing, and we continue to believe that ESS and its technology are well positioned to support the administration's mission to reestablish American energy dominance at home and abroad.

簡而言之，這些多項待決的立法努力表明對國內製造業的持續大力支持，我們仍然相信 ESS 及其技術完全有能力支持政府重建美國在國內外能源主導地位的使命。

All of that said, while our team has made significant progress over a very short period, we have not completed our capital raise, and the current capital markets environment is challenging against the current uncertain macro political landscape. We are aggressively pursuing all available options to extend our runway and maximize the value of what we believe is a critical technology in the broader energy landscape.

儘管如此，雖然我們的團隊在很短的時間內取得了重大進展，但我們尚未完成融資，而且當前的資本市場環境在當前不確定的宏觀政治格局下充滿挑戰。我們正在積極尋求所有可用的選擇，以延長我們的跑道並最大限度地發揮我們認為在更廣泛的能源領域中至關重要的技術的價值。

With that, I'll pass it on to Tony to review the financials and our outlook.

有了這些，我會把它轉交給東尼來審查財務狀況和我們的前景。

Thanks, Kelly. Unless otherwise noted, all numbers we discuss today will be on a non-GAAP basis. You'll find the reconciliation of GAAP to the non-GAAP financial measures in our earnings release, which is posted on our Investor Relations website.

謝謝，凱利。除非另有說明，我們今天討論的所有數字均基於非 GAAP。您可以在我們的收益報告中找到 GAAP 與非 GAAP 財務指標的對帳表，該報告發佈在我們的投資者關係網站上。

We reported GAAP revenue of $0.6 million in the first quarter with the associated GAAP cost of revenue at $8.7 million. This reflected the remaining two Energy Center deliveries in Q1 to a Florida utility following the six Energy Centers we delivered in Q4 for a total of eight Energy Centers delivered. As Kelly mentioned, these Energy Centers will be installed and commissioned later this year as ESS completes all of the project site EPC activity.

我們報告第一季的 GAAP 收入為 60 萬美元，相關 GAAP 收入成本為 870 萬美元。這反映了我們在第一季向佛羅裡達州一家公用事業公司交付了剩餘的兩個能源中心，而我們在第四季度已經交付了六個能源中心，總共交付了八個能源中心。正如凱利所提到的，隨著 ESS 完成所有專案現場 EPC 活動，這些能源中心將於今年稍後安裝並調試。

I'll note again that our cost of revenue associated with these ECs doesn't reflect the numerous product cost-out initiatives we have realized across both of our current products that will also flow into the Energy Base. We will continue to control our spend to minimize our cash burn.

我要再次指出的是，與這些 EC 相關的收入成本並未反映出我們在當前兩種產品中實現的眾多產品成本削減舉措，這些舉措也將流入能源基礎。我們將繼續控制支出，以盡量減少現金消耗。

We're encouraged by the interest in our Energy Base product, as Kelly noted, and that's reflected in our inquiry responses and proposal activity. And we anticipate realizing revenue from our recent EB award once fully contracted and from other EB projects in 2026 and beyond.

正如凱利所說，我們對人們對我們的 Energy Base 產品的興趣感到鼓舞，這反映在我們的詢問回覆和提案活動中。我們預計，一旦完全簽約，我們將從最近的 EB 合約中獲得收入，並從 2026 年及以後的其他 EB 項目中獲得收入。

From a cash perspective, we received a portion of customer payments upon contracting, which we expect to help provide cash inflows to support material purchases and offset other costs and working capital while we continue to ramp up Energy Base deal activity.

從現金角度來看，我們在簽訂合約時收到了部分客戶付款，我們預計這筆款項將有助於提供現金流入以支持材料採購並抵消其他成本和營運資金，同時我們將繼續加大能源基礎交易活動。

As we've noted, our COGS in the first quarter 2025 still reflects an LCNRV adjustment that continues to impact our results. This adjustment will continue to impact us at our current lower volumes as well while we're purchasing materials and producing products for sale in future quarters.

正如我們所指出的，2025 年第一季的 COGS 仍然反映了 LCNRV 調整，這將繼續影響我們的表現。當我們採購材料和生產未來幾季銷售的產品時，這項調整將繼續對我們目前較低的產量產生影響。

Our non-GAAP operating expenses for Q1 were $9.4 million, and our R&D spend of $2.3 million reflects our investment in our cost-out initiatives as well as the technology and product development improvements in performance, reliability and durability of the Energy Center as well as the Energy Base product.

我們第一季的非 GAAP 營運費用為 940 萬美元，而 230 萬美元的研發支出反映了我們對成本削減計劃的投資以及能源中心和能源基礎產品在性能、可靠性和耐用性方面的技術和產品開發改進。

As a result of our Q1 activity, we reported adjusted EBITDA of negative $15 million. We continue to expect this loss to narrow as units produced in 2025 and beyond will be non-GAAP gross margin positive. And based on the expected ramp of our Energy Base production and sales in 2026 and beyond, we believe we have a path to transition to EBITDA and cash flow positive in the next few years.

由於我們第一季的活動，我們報告的調整後 EBITDA 為負 1500 萬美元。我們繼續預期這一損失將會縮小，因為 2025 年及以後生產的單位將實現非 GAAP 毛利率為正。根據我們預計 2026 年及以後能源基礎產量和銷售額的成長，我們相信我們將在未來幾年內實現 EBITDA 和現金流為正的轉變。

As we mentioned last quarter, we've crossed over to non-GAAP gross margin breakeven on our Energy Center. We continue to make good progress on further reducing costs, improving performance, reliability, and durability in all of our ongoing initiatives and efforts.

正如我們在上個季度所提到的，我們的能源中心已經實現了非 GAAP 毛利率盈虧平衡。在我們所有正在進行的計劃和努力中，我們在進一步降低成本、提高性能、可靠性和耐用性方面繼續取得良好進展。

Due to the response we're seeing for our Energy Base product, we're actively reallocating our engineering, supply chain, and product management resources to accelerate our progress on the Energy Base cost-out, performance, and durability initiatives.

由於我們看到能源基礎產品的反響，我們正在積極重新分配我們的工程、供應鏈和產品管理資源，以加快我們在能源基礎成本、性能和耐用性計劃方面的進展。

These initiatives will further ready the Energy Base for field deployment while also delivering a product with a lower cost per megawatt hour, allowing us to both increase unit profitability while also delivering a more cost-competitive product to the market.

這些措施將進一步為能源基地的現場部署做好準備，同時提供每兆瓦時成本更低的產品，使我們能夠提高單位盈利能力，同時向市場提供更具成本競爭力的產品。

The years of significant cost reduction in our Energy Warehouse and Energy Center are being leveraged into further capitalizing on our fundamental cost entitlement advantage, a product that delivers energy from iron, salt and water to compete head-to-head with lithium-ion in the coming years.

我們多年來在能源倉庫和能源中心大幅降低成本的努力正在幫助我們進一步發揮根本的成本優勢，即一種利用鐵、鹽和水來提供能量的產品，在未來幾年與鋰離子展開正面競爭。

We're actively bidding projects to be delivered starting in 2027 and '28 and beyond, where pricing expectations are trending towards 200-kilowatt hours or less on a fully installed cost basis. Our current projected long-term cost reductions and technology road map for the Energy Base can deliver a product that is on par or can beat lithium-ion and other long-duration energy storage technologies available. Couple that with safety and reliability of our core technology, and you could see why we were awarded the 50-megawatt hour PPA project in Arizona.

我們正在積極競標將於 2027 年、2028 年及以後交付的項目，這些項目的定價預期趨勢是按完全安裝成本計算為 200 千瓦時或更少。我們目前預期的能源基地長期成本削減和技術路線圖可以提供一種與鋰離子和其他現有的長期儲能技術相當甚至超越鋰離子和其他長期儲能技術的產品。再加上我們核心技術的安全性和可靠性，您就會明白為什麼我們能中標亞利桑那州的 50 兆瓦時 PPA 專案。

Turning to cash flow and liquidity. We ended the first quarter with $12.8 million in cash and short-term investments. Our cash burn rates in the first quarter reduced from the fourth quarter due to lower production rates, lower material purchases, and proactive measures we took to reduce spend and more efficiently allocate resources across the organization.

轉向現金流和流動性。第一季結束時，我們的現金和短期投資為 1,280 萬美元。由於生產力下降、材料採購減少以及我們採取主動措施減少支出並更有效地在整個組織內分配資源，我們第一季的現金消耗率較第四季下降。

Based on the progress we made on our cost-out initiatives to the designs as of March 31, 2025, we'll see the benefit of those lower costs on materials purchased for production in 2025 while we are ensuring we're allocating our resources to initiatives that will generate the greatest returns.

根據截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日我們在設計成本削減計劃方面取得的進展，我們將看到 2025 年生產採購材料成本降低的好處，同時我們確保將資源分配給能夠產生最大回報的計劃。

In addition, we monetized $1.9 million of our 2024 production tax credits in Q1 2025. We're also aggressively continuing to work to prioritize allocation of capital across internal resources and third-party services, closely managing spend on value added relative to cash burn. We anticipate that our lower bill of materials, actions taken to reduce spend, and reallocation of resources will further reduce our burn rate in the coming quarters.

此外，我們在 2025 年第一季將 2024 年生產稅收抵免中的 190 萬美元貨幣化。我們也積極地繼續努力優先分配內部資源和第三方服務的資本，密切管理相對於現金消耗的增值支出。我們預計，降低物料清單、減少支出的行動以及資源的重新分配將在未來幾季進一步降低我們的燒錢率。

As Kelly mentioned, we're continuing with our capital raise process to bolster our balance sheet with the funding required to continue to execute on our business plans and growth objectives. However, we have not yet concluded on that process.

正如凱利所提到的，我們正在繼續我們的融資流程，以透過繼續執行我們的業務計劃和成長目標所需的資金來增強我們的資產負債表。然而，我們尚未就該進程做出結論。

While the variability and uncertainty surrounding tariffs and the Inflation Reduction Act will have nominal impact on ESS, there are clearly implications to capital markets that are impacting our fundraising activities. We're still exploring a number of near-term interim financing solutions that could also allow us to extend our time line to achieve our broader capital raise objectives.

雖然關稅和《降低通貨膨脹法案》的變化和不確定性對 ESS 的影響不大，但對資本市場顯然有影響，從而影響我們的籌款活動。我們仍在探索一些近期臨時融資解決方案，這些解決方案也讓我們延長時間表，以實現更廣泛的融資目標。

I'll now address the going concern disclosure we included in our 10-Q. As both Kelly and I noted, we are working towards the optimal path to clearing this analysis, and we're focused on extending our cash runway through securing new capital, aggressively managing and reducing our spend, and very actively reducing our cash consumption.

我現在將討論我們在 10-Q 中包含的持續經營揭露。正如凱利和我所指出的，我們正在努力尋找清除這項分析的最佳途徑，我們專注於透過獲得新資本、積極管理和減少支出以及非常積極地減少現金消耗來延長我們的現金跑道。

I reiterate again that we're constantly evaluating a variety of strategic financing alternatives, both dilutive and non-dilutive, to choose the best possible means to strengthen our balance sheet and extend our cash runway to enable ESS to continue operating through 2025.

我再次重申，我們正在不斷評估各種策略性融資方案，包括稀釋性和非稀釋性方案，以選擇最佳方式加強我們的資產負債表並延長我們的現金流，使 ESS 能夠繼續營運到 2025 年。

And with that, I'll open it up for questions.

現在，我將開始回答大家的提問。

(Operator Instructions) Justin Clare, ROTH Capital Partners.

（操作員指示）賈斯汀·克萊爾（Justin Clare），ROTH Capital Partners。

First, I wanted to just ask about the outlook to make sure I heard correctly. It sounds like Q2 sales might be similar to Q1, and then you could see a ramp in the second half. So I wanted to just check in and make sure I heard that correctly. And then I just wanted to see, is the second half ramp contingent upon a successful capital raise? Do we need to see that first before you could kind of unlock the production at your facilities and ramp sales up?

首先，我只是想詢問一下前景，以確保我聽得正確。聽起來第二季的銷售額可能與第一季相似，然後您可能會看到下半年成長。所以我只是想檢查一下並確保我聽得正確。然後我只是想看看，下半年的成長是否取決於成功的融資？在您能夠解鎖工廠的生產並提高銷售量之前，我們是否需要先看到這一點？

Yes. Thanks for the question, Justin. Yes, that's accurate, Justin. We do continue to moderate our spend in production until we can access the additional capital to support ramping production and orders.

是的。謝謝你的提問，賈斯汀。是的，賈斯汀，確實如此。我們確實會繼續控制生產支出，直到我們能夠獲得額外的資金來支持增加生產和訂單。

Okay. Got it. And then just wondering if you could speak to how long your cash runway might be here, how many quarters of operations can you support at the current burn rate, and then also considering the other levers that you might have at your disposal to extend that cash runway. I think you did mention some intermediate steps that you might take here. If you could just share a little bit more about how you're thinking about it, that would be great.

好的。知道了。然後我只是想知道您是否可以談談您的現金跑道可以持續多長時間，按照目前的消耗率您可以支持多少個季度的運營，然後考慮您可以使用的其他手段來延長現金跑道。我認為您確實提到了您可能在此採取的一些中間步驟。如果您能再分享一下您對此的看法，那就太好了。

Yes. Sure, Justin. I mean I think if you look at the last several quarters of cash burn, that's an indicator for you in terms of what our cash burn rates typically have been. Our go-forward cash burn will be lower than what we've seen in the past couple of quarters because a big part of what we went through in the fourth quarter and part of the first quarter was tied to the Florida utility project and the Energy Centers. And right now, we're not producing significant volumes of product. So I think if you look at it from that standpoint and our cash balance at the end of the quarter, I think you can gauge in terms of where that runway would get us to.

是的。當然，賈斯汀。我的意思是，如果你看一下過去幾季的現金消耗情況，你就會知道我們的現金消耗率通常是多少。我們未來的現金消耗將低於過去幾季的水平，因為我們在第四季和第一季的大部分現金消耗與佛羅裡達公用事業項目和能源中心有關。目前，我們的產品產量還不大。因此，我認為，如果從這個角度和本季末的現金餘額來看，你可以根據這條跑道將帶我們到達哪裡來判斷。

And then in terms of interim things that we're working on, we did launch our ATM at the end of the first quarter, and we'll go to market with that at the appropriate time. And then there's other interim capital available to us that we also will evaluate to draw on at the appropriate time, like the EXIM loan that we have in place. And then there's a few other things that we've been exploring as well. But obviously, critical for us to access additional capital to extend that runway.

就我們正在進行的中期工作而言，我們確實在第一季末推出了我們的 ATM，並且會在適當的時候將其推向市場。我們也會評估其他可用的臨時資本，並在適當的時候動用，例如我們現有的進出口貸款。我們也一直在探索其他一些事情。但顯然，對我們來說，獲得額外的資金來延長跑道至關重要。

Got it. Okay. Makes sense. And then I did want to ask about the Energy Base product here that you guys have launched. And I was wondering, with the RFP in Arizona and the award that you won, could you share a little bit more about the requirements of that RFP?

知道了。好的。有道理。然後我確實想問你們推出的 Energy Base 產品。我想知道，鑑於亞利桑那州的 RFP 和您贏得的獎項，您能否分享一些有關該 RFP 的要求？

I mean I think it had to be non-lithium, but was there a -- particular duration requirements or other requirements that maybe you were uniquely suited to provide?

我的意思是，我認為它必須是非鋰的，但是是否有特定的持續時間要求或其他要求，也許您特別適合提供？

Yes. This is Kelly. I'm happy to answer that one. It was non-lithium, as you noted. I think this utility is really looking at seeking additional and incremental technologies to support their needs.

是的。這是凱利。我很樂意回答這個問題。正如您所說，它不含鋰。我認為該實用程式確實在尋求額外的和漸進的技術來滿足他們的需求。

There wasn't any particular duration, but I think the ability of the Energy Base to deliver at the 10-plus requirement is one of the things that helped us get over the edge.

雖然沒有特定的持續時間，但我認為 Energy Base 滿足 10 以上的要求的能力是幫助我們克服困難的因素之一。

The other thing that is unique for our technology is the ability to operate in various temperatures. So Arizona, you have both the extreme heat in the summer, but I think people don't realize it gets fairly cold at night as well. So we were able to accommodate that broad temperature range. And then we were competitive on cost in this case.

我們的技術的另一個獨特之處是能夠在各種溫度下運作。因此，在亞利桑那州，夏天不僅會出現極端高溫，而且我認為人們沒有意識到夜晚也會變得相當寒冷。因此我們能夠適應如此大的溫度範圍。在這種情況下，我們的成本具有競爭力。

And then I think lastly, the operational experience that we have in the field, I think, really proved invaluable in pitching our overall solution, and we were very pleased with the result.

最後，我認為，我們在該領域的營運經驗對於推銷我們的整體解決方案確實非常有價值，我們對結果非常滿意。

Thomas Boyes, TD Cowen.

托馬斯·博伊斯 (Thomas Boyes)，TD Cowen。

Maybe the first one just since we were speaking on the kind of the cash position, for customers that move forward for maybe booked order, like what is a deposit range as a percentage that gets put down in kind of the early innings of a project?

也許第一個問題只是因為我們在談論現金狀況，對於可能已預訂訂單的客戶來說，例如在專案初期存入的押金範圍佔比是多少？

The ranges that we've seen historically are anywhere from 5% up to about 20%. And as we move forward on future contracts, our expectation is that we'll be looking to push that to the higher end of that range and have additional interim milestones to ensure that from a working capital perspective, we'll be at least cash neutral.

我們歷史上看到的範圍是從 5% 到 20% 左右。隨著我們未來合約的推進，我們期望將其推向該範圍的高端，並設定額外的中期里程碑，以確保從營運資金的角度來看，我們至少能夠保持現金中立。

Got it. That's helpful. And then just thinking through kind of forward demand for the Energy Base, are there opportunities with customers that you've identified maybe that are not ready to move forward just because of the current manufacturing capability where a second facility or additional capacity would unlock that where a lot of customers don't want to be, say, 50% of your overall capabilities. I'm just wondering how you think about that and what you're seeing.

知道了。這很有幫助。然後，僅僅考慮一下能源基礎的前瞻性需求，是否存在與您所發現的客戶合作的機會，這些客戶可能還沒有準備好繼續前進，僅僅是因為目前的製造能力，而第二個設施或額外的產能將解鎖這些機會，而很多客戶不想成為您整體能力的 50%。我只是想知道您對此有何看法以及您看到了什麼。

Yes. I guess no, we're not seeing that. In general, and this sort of cuts both ways, we've had contracts with customers, SoftBank Energy, Honeywell among them, that tend to have pretty significant order volumes. So we're happy, and we haven't heard concerns from customers about being at the level of scaling.

是的。我想不會，我們沒有看到這種情況。總的來說，這種做法是雙向的，我們與軟銀能源、霍尼韋爾等客戶簽訂了合同，這些客戶的訂單量往往相當大。所以我們很高興，我們還沒有聽到客戶對擴展水平的擔憂。

One of the things that's relatively straightforward for us to do, too, is we have pretty significant additional manufacturing capacity at our facility in the sense of being able to deploy additional lines. Additional lines are relatively inexpensive from a CapEx perspective and also pretty quick to deploy. So we have the ability to extend manufacturing capacity and diversify, but we haven't heard from customers concerned about being sort of more robust as far as our manufacturing capacity at the moment.

對我們來說，相對簡單的事情之一就是我們的工廠擁有相當大的額外製造能力，能夠部署額外的生產線。從資本支出角度來看，增加線路相對便宜，部署也相當快。因此，我們有能力擴大製造能力並實現多樣化，但就目前而言，我們還沒有聽到客戶擔心我們的製造能力是否更強大。

Got it. Understood. And then if we could just squeeze in one more, I just wanted to get -- maybe you had mentioned this, I missed it, but was there a status update on any of the delays associated with the customer in Australia? I wasn't sure where we were there.

知道了。明白了。然後，如果我們可以再擠進一個，我只是想得到 - 也許你已經提到過這一點，我錯過了，但是有沒有關於與澳大利亞客戶相關的任何延誤的狀態更新？我不確定我們身在何處。

Yes. No, I didn't. Good question. So our understanding is that the government funding for that project still has not come through. So we don't have any further update or visibility on timing for that project at this time.

是的。不，我沒有。好問題。因此，我們的理解是，政府對該項目提供的資金仍未到位。因此，我們目前還沒有關於該專案時間表的進一步更新或資訊。

Ben Kallo, Baird.

本卡洛，貝爾德。

Just on sources of cash, could you talk about any discussions with strategic partners, Honeywell in the past and SoftBank in the past as well, but if you've had those or how you think that could be an option?

僅就現金來源而言，您能否談談與戰略合作夥伴的任何討論，例如過去的霍尼韋爾和軟銀，但如果您有過這些討論，或者您認為這可能是一種選擇嗎？

Yes. We are having a lot of ongoing discussions across multiple fronts with Honeywell and other existing investors, and we continue to have that dialogue, and they're -- they continue to be productive conversations. So I think that's ongoing for us, and we'll continue to work with our existing investors as well as having multiple conversations with other parties around our strategic capital raise.

是的。我們正在與霍尼韋爾和其他現有投資者在多個方面進行大量持續討論，並且我們將繼續進行這種對話，而且這些對話仍然富有成效。所以我認為這對我們來說是持續的，我們將繼續與現有投資者合作，並就策略融資與其他方進行多次對話。

This is Kelly. One thing I would just add, too, is I think we're fortunate to benefit from really strong relationships with our existing investors who have stayed in. I don't know if it's well-known, but we don't have an investor that has sold a single share that's currently on the cap table, but it also raises a bit of a challenge in that our cap table is comprised significantly of those investors, which at times can impact our volumes. So to the extent we can bring in additional investors and round that out, that's certainly something of interest and part of the discussions that we've been having.

這是凱利。我還要補充一點，我認為我們很幸運能夠與現有的投資者建立非常牢固的關係。我不知道這是否眾所周知，但我們沒有一個投資者出售過目前在股權結構表上的一股股票，但這也帶來了一些挑戰，因為我們的股權結構表很大程度上由這些投資者組成，有時這可能會影響我們的交易量。因此，在某種程度上，我們可以引入更多投資者並實現這一目標，這當然是一件有趣的事情，也是我們一直在討論的事情的一部分。

And just a follow-up just because of the tariffs and uncertainty with IRA that you guys called out, have you seen that change your inquiry level from prospective customers, just meaning like as an alternative to lithium-ion battery?

再問一下，由於你們提到的關稅和 IRA 的不確定性，您是否發現潛在客戶的詢價水平發生了變化，這是否意味著它是鋰離子電池的替代品？

Yes, I would say, to the positive. I think there's two things happening. I think there's the tariff impact and uncertainty around the availability of imported batteries. I think the other thing is the significant drive in electrification growth that people are seeing. There's really kind of a space for all.

是的，我想說，是正面的。我認為有兩件事正在發生。我認為存在關稅影響和進口電池供應的不確定性。我認為另一件事是人們看到的電氣化成長的顯著動力。這裡確實有適合所有人的空間。

So I think between hyperscalers and then parties looking to lithium-ion alternatives, either in the near term or the short term -- sorry, near term or long term, that has definitely driven inquiries in recent weeks.

因此，我認為，超大規模企業和尋求鋰離子替代品的各方之間，無論是在短期內還是短期內——抱歉，是短期內還是長期內，這肯定推動了最近幾週的問詢。

There are no more questions. So that concludes the conference call. Thank you for your participation. Enjoy the rest of your day.

沒有其他問題了。電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。享受剩餘的一天。