Rajshekar Gupta
Analyst · Oppenheimer
Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Before I get into the quarter itself, I want to start with 2 developments that I believe matter most to the long-term value of this company because both of them happened in the last few weeks, and both of them will be instrumental to our future success. More broadly, I would describe this as a strategic inflection quarter for Electrovaya. In the near term, what moved us -- moved on us was timing, and I will address that head on. But the developments that changed the trajectory of this company are structural and lasting. Our agreement with Amazon, the launch of the ElvaPulse energy storage systems, Jamestown nearing operation and the strongest margins in our history. First, our agreement with Amazon. On July 14, we announced a new commercial agreement with Amazon, together with an associated warrant transaction designed to support the long-term relationship. Amazon is one of the world's most sophisticated technology companies and one of the most demanding operators of material handling and logistics automation systems. Its decision to formalize and expand its relationship with Electrovaya represents, in my view, the strongest external validation our technology has received to date. The agreement also establishes a framework for broader collaboration, including potential applications in robotics and stationary energy storage, where advanced discussions are already underway. The most important aspect of this agreement is the strategic alignment it creates between the 2 companies. It provides a long-term framework through which Electrovaya can support Amazon's evolving requirements across multiple applications while giving both organizations a shared interest in expanding the relationship over time. Future orders will continue to be placed through the normal commercial process, but the structure reflects a mutual commitment to pursuing a significantly broader and deeper commercial relationship. For context, Amazon was already Electrovaya's largest end customer in fiscal 2025. This agreement formalizes and expands the relationship that is already material to our business, which is why we regard the purchase levels underlying the warrant structure as via a realistic path rather than an aspirational one, particularly as the relationship broadens beyond material handling into robotics and stationary energy storage. We believe that this relationship has the potential to accelerate the adoption of Electrovaya's technology across a wider range of advanced applications than we could otherwise pursue on our own. It also provides an important avenue for expanding our existing material handling business while accelerating opportunities in newer markets such as robotics and stationary energy storage. The second major development was the launch of the ElvaPulse energy storage solution. Very recently, we launched the ElvaPulse 1500, the first product in a new stationary energy storage portfolio and the culmination of energy storage development program I have discussed over the last several calls. The ElvaPulse 1500 is built around a modular 20-foot container and a 1,500-volt DC architecture. It provides up to 2.88 megawatt hours of nominal energy and can be configured to deliver up to approximately 9 megawatts of power. That power-to-energy ratio allows it to discharge its full rated capacity in under 30 minutes compared with roughly 2- to 4-hour duration profiles of most utility-scale lithium-ion storage systems on the market today. We believe this makes the ElvaPulse one of the highest power density containerized stationary battery systems commercially available. That power density can translate to a smaller site footprint and potentially lower balance of system cost for the customer. The reason we designed the system this way is very specific. AI data centers can experience large and rapidly changing power demands, creating a growing requirement for storage systems capable of responding quickly and repeatedly. Much of the storage available today was optimized primarily for energy duration. The ElvaPulse 1500 was purpose-built for high-power applications. It also incorporates the same ceramic separator technology that underpins our Infinity platform, which has now been validated across more than 35,000 battery systems, operating in demanding industrial environments. In a data center environment, safety, reliability and rapid power response are not simply desirable attributes, they are fundamental requirements. The commercial interest we are seeing has been very encouraging. We are already in active discussions with hyperscale customers, data center developers and major power and energy developers regarding a range of potential projects. Based on the scale of the opportunities currently under discussion, successful conversion of even a portion of this pipeline could require substantial utilization of the planned production capacity at Jamestown. Importantly, this energy storage pipeline is broad-based across multiple hyperscalers and developers and end markets, and it is not dependent on any single customer relationship. Together with defense, robotics and high-voltage demand, it gives us confidence that the Jamestown capacity will be drawn from several sources as it comes online rather than from any one customer. We have initiated UL 1973 and UL 9540 certification activities with completion currently targeted for the first quarter of calendar 2027. We are accepting production reservations now with initial deliveries targeted to begin in the second quarter of calendar 2027 from Jamestown. The platform has been designed to support eligibility for the Section 48E investment tax credit, including the domestic content bonus and foreign entity of concern material assistance requirements subject, of course, to project-specific structuring and each customer's individual tax position. We believe ElvaPulse can become an important new growth platform for Electrovaya. It takes the safety and durability advantages we have demonstrated in material handling and applies them to a very large, rapidly developing market where power density, reliability and domestic supply are becoming increasingly important. We will be presenting the ElvaPulse to customers and industry participants at ACP RECHARGE and Yotta in September, followed by RE+ in November. Now for the quarter itself. Revenue for the third quarter was $17.7 million compared with $17.1 million in the same period last year. We exceeded our targets across several key profitability metrics, achieving gross margins of 34.9% compared to 30.8% a year ago, and adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 20% for the first time and record quarterly adjusted EBITDA. Our revenue performance during the quarter as well as our revised expectations for the full year primarily reflects the timing of several customer programs. Approximately $5 million of high-voltage battery system deliveries originally anticipated during fiscal 2026 have shifted into the first quarter of fiscal 2027 due to supply chain constraints affecting the completion and delivery schedule of these new products. We have also experienced delays in the implementation of certain material handling projects, which affected order and delivery timing during the third quarter and are expected to have some impact on the fourth quarter. Importantly, these are timing shifts, not lost business. The high-voltage systems, our first in the 800-volt class remain committed for delivery and the delayed material handling projects remain active. Based on our current visibility, we expect order and delivery activity to normalize as the supply chain constraints are resolved and customer implementation schedules progress. Accordingly, the change in our fiscal year outlook reflects the timing of revenue recognition rather than a change in the underlying demand environment. Based on the order and delivery timing we currently see through the fourth quarter, we now expect full year normalized revenue of approximately $70 million to $73 million. We expect approximately $5 million of deferred high-voltage system revenue together with a portion of delayed material handling activity to be recognized early in fiscal 2027 with high-voltage battery systems becoming an increasingly significant part of our product mix. While quarterly timing can vary, we remain confident in the strength of our underlying order pipeline and the long-term demand across our principal markets. We also believe our expanded relationship with Amazon has the potential to support increased demand for existing material handling products during fiscal 2027 and beyond. What did not change during the quarter was the quality and profitability of the underlying business. We remain profitable as we have every quarter of the fiscal year, and we believe that the combination of record gross margins and record adjusted EBITDA demonstrates the increasing earnings power of the business, which is still at its relative infancy. Turning to diversification beyond material handling. While material handling remains the foundation of our business and continues to represent significant growth opportunities, at the same time, we have accelerated the application of our Infinity technology across additional markets. Importantly, several of these initiatives are now progressing beyond development and qualification into a recurring commercial activity. In defense, we continued shipments to a major defense contractor and specialty defense platforms are becoming an increasingly recurring part of our order book. We recently developed our first 800-volt 100-kilowatt hour hybrid drive battery for a major defense contractor. Overall, we believe these types of products have significant long-term potential and also provide validation of Electrovaya's latest generation of battery systems technology. In robotics and autonomous vehicles, commercial deliveries that began earlier in the fiscal year continued through the quarter. We also see potential to expand our participation in this market through the broader Amazon relationship. In stationary energy storage for data centers and other forms of critical infrastructure, we are participating in a U.S. Department of Energy-funded project led by the University of -- Binghamton University and supported by a $5 million DoE award. This project provides an important applied research and demonstration platform that complements the commercial developments of the ElvaPulse. We also completed UL 2580 safety certification for 6 models of our next-generation high-voltage battery systems. These products are designed for integrated material handling vehicles operating in demanding all-season outdoor environments. We continue to expect high-voltage platforms to become a meaningful revenue contributor beginning in fiscal 2027 and completion of the certification removes an important prerequisite to commercialization. In Japan, our partnership with Sumitomo Corporation is helping us develop opportunities in construction equipment and other heavy-duty industrial applications. We are seeing increasing demand from a large Japan-based OEM partner. And based on the current program trajectory, we believe this opportunity could begin contributing material deliveries from fiscal 2027 onward. Turning to technology and product development. We have made renewed progress in solid-state battery development following additional investment in our facilities and research capabilities. We are currently producing approximately 1 amp-hour solid-state cells and are working towards increasing cell capacity to approximately 5 amp-hours. Early results have been encouraging with strong performance in energy density. Based on our current development work, we believe that this technology has potential to achieve volumetric energy density of approximately 700 watt hours per liter, which would represent a highly competitive level of performance. Considerable development and scale-up work remains, but we are pleased with the progress to date. Our work with the next generation of Electrovaya's ceramic separator technology is also advancing well. At the lab scale, we are currently producing separator material that demonstrates performance comparable to our existing product while reducing thickness by approximately 25%. Over time, a thinner separator could enable improvements in cell-level energy density and potentially reduce material and manufacturing costs. The next phase of the program will focus on further testing and scale up. With respect to new product applications, we recently shipped prototype battery systems to a leading North American fuel cell manufacturer. Fuel cell systems frequently require batteries capable of delivering high power while maintaining long cycle life. These requirements align well with the core performance characteristics of our Infinity technology. The prototype will now proceed through the customer's normal testing and evaluation process. We are also beginning initial shipments of our 800-volt battery systems for specialized trucking and defense applications. Although these early deliveries are modest in quantities, they provide important validation of our high-voltage system design and manufacturing capabilities. The 800-volt architecture will also be an important component of our stationary energy storage portfolio. To support these opportunities, we are equipping both our Jamestown and Mississauga facilities to manufacture this class of high-voltage battery system. Finally, we are continuing to make brisk progress with the initial feasibility phase of our niobium-oxide battery development program. We are now commissioning a 24-volt module designed to support charge and discharge rates of up to 20C, and that would be under 3 minutes charge and discharge rates. At those rates, the technology has potential to support charging in rapid rates, subject to final system configuration and operating conditions. The next stage will involve module level performance, cycle life and safety testing as we evaluate the most suitable commercial applications for the technology. On the Jamestown expansion, we've seen significant steady progress in the Jamestown manufacturing build-out. Dry-room construction is fully completed, site electrical and HVAC infrastructure upgrades are ongoing and construction of the major manufacturing equipment, most importantly, has been completed. The most significant milestone and the one I'd like to draw your attention to is that in approximately 7 to 10 days, we will begin an extended 8-week factory acceptance test program at our equipment supplier in Korea. This is not a component level check. The full cell assembly line will be connected and set up to replicate the planned operation in Jamestown and run at the supplier's facility so that we can validate and complete process before anything is shipped. We are sending approximately 10 people from our Jamestown operations teams to Korea to participate in that testing directly, which means that people who will run this line in New York will have run it already at speed before it arrives. In parallel, logistics and shipping planning for the equipment is underway now. Overall, I'm very pleased with the progress at the site. As I mentioned previously, the start-up of this facility will represent a step change for the company and will not only provide us expanded capacity to execute our plans for energy storage, robotics and other segments, but more importantly, will position us as one of very few advanced lithium-ion battery manufacturers with domestic manufacturing capabilities. Electrovaya's technology, I believe, serves the trajectory of high utilization and sensitive applications that data centers, Physical AI and other industrial applications require better than any other available battery technology, a fact that I don't think is well understood. On closing, let me end where I started. I would characterize this as a strategic inflection quarter. Third quarter revenue was not what we wanted, and we are not going to dress that up. But what moved on us was timing, not lost business, and that revenue remains committed. Meanwhile, in the span of a few weeks, the developments that define this company's trajectory are all advanced. We signed a long-term commercial agreement with Amazon, already our largest customer. We launched the ElvaPulse into the fastest-growing power market in the world. We moved Jamestown to the cusp of production, and we posted the best gross margin in our history while staying profitable. From here, 4 pillars frame the story: Amazon, ElvaPulse, Jamestown and margins. Fiscal 2027 is when they converge as Jamestown capacity comes online and our newer verticals begin to scale. Our job over the next 4 quarters is to convert that position into profitable revenue growth, and that is exactly how we are measuring ourselves. With that, I will turn the call over to John for a detailed review of the financial results.