Lordstown Motors Turns Over Factory to Foxconn
Lordstown Motors Corp. (Nasdaq: RIDE), (“Lordstown Motors” or “LMC”), an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of electric light duty trucks focused on the commercial fleet market, announced that it has closed the sale of its Lordstown facility and signed a contract manufacturing agreement and joint venture agreement for product development with affiliates of Hon Hai Technology Group (“Foxconn”) (TWSE: 2317).
As previously disclosed, on November 10, 2021, Lordstown Motors and Foxconn entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (“APA”) providing for the sale of LMC’s Lordstown, Ohio vehicle assembly plant to Foxconn for $230 million plus the reimbursement of certain operating and expansion costs from September 1, 2021 to the closing date. The transaction was subject to several conditions, including that the parties enter into a contract manufacturing agreement for LMC’s flagship vehicle, the Endurance, a full-size, all-electric pickup truck.
In connection with the closing of the APA, Foxconn and LMC also entered into a joint venture agreement to co-develop EV programs using Foxconn’s Mobility-in-Harmony (MIH) open-source EV platform. The new joint venture will be called MIH EV Design LLC and will be 55% owned by Foxconn and 45% by LMC. Foxconn is committing $100 million towards the new joint venture, including a loan to Lordstown for $45 million to support its initial capital commitment. The joint venture creates an innovative business model whereby LMC and Foxconn would jointly develop new electric vehicles, utilizing the MIH platform, for LMC in the North American commercial vehicle market and for other OEMs internationally.
Vehicles developed by MIH EV Design would be built for North America at the plant.
PUMA Ports Goods Electrically with Freightliner in LA
Sports company PUMA has started transferring goods from the port of Los Angeles to its warehouse in Torrance, CA, with a fully electric truck, an initiative, which is part of the company’s strategy to reduce carbon emissions throughout its business.
The Freightliner truck, which is operated by PUMA’s drayage partner NFI, is a first test vehicle. By the third quarter of 2022, the company expects to have five electric trucks in operation to carry goods from the port to the warehouse.
“For us this is a huge step towards cleaner logistics. Instead of using an LNG or a clean diesel truck, we can now shift goods from the port to the warehouse with no tailpipe emissions,” said Helmut Leibbrandt, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Management & Logistics – Americas.
The electric trucks delivering goods from the port to the Torrance distribution center are a further building block in PUMA’s strategy to reduce carbon emissions in its entire business. Last month the company announced that it had reduced its own carbon emissions and those from purchased energy by 88% between 2017 and 2021. CO2 emissions also fell in the company’s supply chain, the most carbon intensive part of its business, in spite of strong revenue growth in the same period.
“While electric vehicles are already quite common for passenger cars, electric trucking is only starting out,” said John Amato, Senior Vice President at NFI. “We are excited that PUMA has been willing to join us in this project and to use this new technology in the company’s day-to-day operations.”
StoreDot Charges 100 Miles in 5 Minutes
StoreDot, the pioneer of extreme fast charging (XFC) battery technology for electric vehicles, has successfully, publicly demonstrated its ability to charge a full-scale electric vehicle (EV) battery cell with the energy for 100 miles in just 5 minutes live on stage. A video of a live demo can be seen on StoreDot’s YouTube channel here: https://bit.ly/3ssMAki
Amerit Fleet Buys 10 BEVs from Workhorse Group
Amerit Fleet Solutions, a provider of customized fleet maintenance and repair programs nationwide, and Workhorse Group Inc. (Nasdaq: WKHS) (“Workhorse” or “the Company”), an American technology company focused on providing sustainable and cost-effective drone-integrated electric vehicles to the last mile delivery sector, announced that they have finalized a purchase order for 10 battery electric vehicles to add to Amerit’s fleet of EVolution Mobile Service Centers throughout California.
Fully electric and zero emissions, the EVolution Mobile Service Center (MSC) enables Amerit technicians to provide maintenance and repairs for electric vehicles, charging hardware and ICE vehicles side by side. The EVolution’s battery power is designed to support a full workday, powering all tools and equipment, and safely return the technician home at the end of the day.
Another capability of the EVolution MSC is its ability to perform rescue missions. Drawing from its own on-board battery packs, the EVolution can provide 5-10 miles of charge to a downed EV, enabling the vehicle to be driven to a charging station or back to the fleet location.
“We are very excited to have secured this purchase order with Workhorse,” said Amerit’s CEO Dan Williams. “Adding these units throughout California demonstrates our commitment to leading the industry in providing maintenance and support services for fleets adopting electric vehicles while also upholding our own GHG emission reduction goals in the years to come.”
“We are proud to have Amerit choose our class 4 W4 CC product as a foundation for their Evolution Service Centers in California,” said Workhorse CEO Rick Dauch. “Amerit has a clear vision of how they will attain their internal GHG goals, and how they will evolve into a premier EV service provider, and we appreciate having them as both a long-term customer as well as an EV maintenance partner as they pursue their impressive targets.”
Exro Provides Coil Drive for evTS
Exro Technologies Inc. (TSX: EXRO) (OTCQB: EXROF) (the “Company” or “Exro”), a leading clean technology company that has developed a new class of power electronics for electric motors and batteries, announced that it has signed an agreement with ev Transportation Services, Inc. (“evTS”), a Boston-based specialty electric vehicle manufacturer, to supply an initial quantity of 1,000 units of its 100V Coil Drive System beginning in 2023 for use in evTS model year 2023 FireFly vehicles.
This first order follows months of collaboration under a non-disclosure agreement (“NDA”) between the Exro and evTS engineering teams to demonstrate the improvement and optimization of FireFly powertrain performance enabled by Exro’s award-winning Coil Driver™ technology to improve the performance of evTS vehicles. The companies worked together to integrate Exro Coil Drive System technology into Firefly vehicles to optimize the performance of the powertrain. This agreement is the culmination of the cooperative efforts of the two companies to design and deploy high-performing purpose-built, commercial electric vehicles.
This collaboration follows previously stated plans for Exro to repurpose used evTS’ traction battery cells in second-life battery energy storage applications, which were made public in December 2021. These two projects with evTS demonstrate the full range of Exro’s capabilities in enabling the development of a circular economy utilizing second-life batteries for energy storage, while improving the performance of electric vehicles with its Coil Driver™ technology.
evTS’ flagship product, the FireFly ESV, is a lightweight e-mobility solution purpose-built to serve a range of essential urban functions, including parking control and curb management, security and perimeter control, last-mile delivery and corporate campus applications. The addition of the Coil Driver™ to FireFly vehicles will offer greater vehicle efficiencies by enabling intelligent electronic gear switching in real time, from a single motor. This capability will give FireFly ESV operators greater control over vehicle operation and deliver performance improvements, including extended range and enhanced torque when needed.
The agreement commences with an initial purchase order of 1,000 Coil Drive System units, which consists of a Coil Driver™ controller and an optimized electric motor. Over the 36-month term of the agreement, Exro will plan to deliver an increasing volume of its Coil Drive System with production beginning in 2023. With this agreement, evTS FireFly ESVs optimized with Exro’s Coil Driver™ will be used to execute essential services in leading sustainability-minded cities around the world.
Qmerit & BTR Partner
Qmerit, the leading provider of implementation solutions for EV charging and other electrification technologies, and BTR Energy (BTR), an advanced platform for measuring and reducing emissions and participating in low-carbon transportation programs, announced a partnership that will enable Qmerit’s commercial clients to monetize Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credits issued by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
This partnership combines Qmerit’s turnkey EV charging implementation solutions with BTR’s ability to measure greenhouse-gas reductions from electric vehicles. Commercial properties such as workplaces, certain multi-family complexes and hospitality venues will be able to seamlessly implement EV charging capabilities while also receiving revenue from LCFS credits, which are generated by matching the charging occurring at those properties with renewable energy generated by local sources.