A special meeting of the SPAC’s stockholders was held 25 July, where 98% of votes cast went in favour of the business combination and completion was announced yesterday (1 August).
Electriq Power makes battery energy storage systems (BESS) for the residential and small commercial market segments, designed to deliver benefits to the end customer as well as provide grid services – the company was one of the first to enrol in a California automated demand response programme.
The company exclusively uses lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells, with its flagship PowerPod 2 product starting off at 7.6kW inverter output and capacity from 10kWh to 20kWh. Unlike other manufacturers’ systems that ship fully assembled, PowerPod 2 is shipped as separate components on a single pallet to be assembled in the field.
It can be either AC-coupled or DC-coupled with solar PV. Electriq Power also makes a software suite for its equipment to make it part of a whole home (or building) energy management solution, including enabling the battery systems to be aggregated into virtual power plants (VPPs) and provide grid services.
The SPAC merger valued Electriq Power at around US$495 million pro-forma pre-money equity valuation, the company said back in November when it was announced. It had also said it would raise US$125 million in cash proceeds.
Yesterday, the company said the transaction raised US$45 million in equity through private placements, PIPEs, loan conversions and non-redemptions. Electriq Power also referred to its previously announced US$300 million deal with an unnamed “major US clean energy company” being a project equity financing transaction.
That US$300 million financing was enough to put Electriq Power in the top five rankings for VC funding into energy storage companies for the first half of this year, according to Mercom Capital Group’s reporting.
According to a Form S-4 filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company is aware that it operates in a competitive field with some big players as rivals. Naming the likes of Tesla, LG Energy Solution, Enphase, Generac, SolarEdge and SunPower, it also said the space is evolving and expanding rapidly due to drivers like the lower cost of renewable energy.
Electriq Power claimed its strengths include efficient installation, multiple modes of operation and adaptability and cost of its devices, but acknowledged that some of its competitors “have significantly greater financial capacity, product development, manufacturing capabilities, marketing resources and name recognition than we do”.
“However, while our competitors typically focus on the development and commercialisation of hardware offerings, our software-centric approach provides value throughout the value chain, from installers, fleet managers, consumers and utilities,” the company said in its Form S-4.
Read all Energy-Storage.news coverage of Electriq Power here.