Why the Strategic Elements (ASX:SOR) share price rocketed 9% higher today

The Strategic Elements share price soared more than 9% higher in afternoon trading. We take a look at what was behind the surge.

Bernd Struben

Author bio Bernd Struben earned his BA in economics from the University of Michigan in 1991, with post-graduate studies in environmental economics at the University of Connecticut. Over the years he’s written about and analysed the tourism industry in the Caribbean; Europe’s commercial real estate markets; and, since moving to Australia in 2010, global and Aussie share markets. Bernd studies geopolitical and macroeconomic trends, alongside sector and company specific data, to gauge what he believes could be tomorrow's best investments. In his free time, you might find Bernd at the beach with his family or working on his next science fiction novel. Areas of expertise Australian and global share markets Macroeconomic and geopolitical trends Real estate Education Economics, University of Michigan Favorite investment quote "The four most dangerous words in investing are: 'This time it's different." — Sir John Templeton

Published December 1, 2020 5:06 pm AEDT

The Strategic Elements Ltd (ASX: SOR) share price rocketed today, closing the day 9% higher at 18 cents per share. This comes following the company's announcement of a successful scale up of its self-charging battery technology.

Today's gains see Strategic Element's share price up 125% year-to-date, and up 500% from the post-COVID sell-off lows on 24 March.

By comparison the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is up 0.2% for the year, and up 43% since 24 March.

What does Strategic Elements do?

Strategic Elements is involved in numerous innovative projects, including the self-charging battery technology that led to today's share price leap. The company operates as a venture builder, generating projects by combining teams of leading scientists or innovators in the technology and resources sectors.

Strategic Elements operates as a registered Pooled Development Fund (PDF). Notably, investors in Strategic Elements do not pay capital gains taxes, as a compensation for the added risk of investing in small and medium sized companies under the Federal Government PDF program.

What moved the Strategic Elements share price today?

This morning Strategic Elements announced its self-charging battery technology project had achieved a critical milestone.

The company revealed it had manufactured a 1 litre batch size of Battery Ink – enough to produce 2,000 battery cells. The results reveal the potential to scale up the technology, with capacity having rapidly increased 10-fold from the previous 200 battery cells.

Strategic Elements reported 5 Battery Ink cells were fabricated from the scaled-up ink. Those cells successfully harvested energy from humidity in the air to generate at least 0.8 volts for a 2-hour testing period. Recharging time was just 3 minutes, and the battery cells were only 1 centimetre in size and thinner than a human hair. Additionally, the performance matched that of the smaller 200 millilitre batch size ink.

The battery technology is a liquid ink based on graphene oxide. It can generate energy from the humidity in the air or from your skin to self-charge. The technology is being developed together with the University of New South Wales and CSIRO.

Looking ahead, the company stated the next key milestone for the technology will be to fabricate a prototype battery pack with multiple connected Battery Ink cells producing 3.7 volts. It expects that stage to be complete in January 2021.

When those results are released, the Strategic Elements' share price will again be on watch.

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