Lordstown Motors Corp.

Cash-starved Workhorse Group seeks to create new shares

With just $62.4 million in cash on its balance sheet, Workhorse Group desperately needs shareholders to agree to dilute their holdings by authorizing a near doubling of shares in the electric vehicle maker.

Workhorse is using a proxy solicitation firm to corral votes in favor of the measure. It needs 50% plus one of all outstanding shares to pass the measure. Workhorse is seeking to increase the number of authorized shares to 450 million from 250 million in a special shareholder meeting on Aug....

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/cash-starved-workhorse-group-seeks-to-create-new-shares

Carnage grows among transportation startups

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In the world of electric vehicle and autonomous trucking startups, the picture of winners and losers...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/carnage-grows-among-transportation-startups

Is Lordstown Motors giving up on Endurance electric pickup?

Lordstown Motors (LMC) issued its first recall, covering 19 Endurance commercial electric pickup trucks because they can stop running without warning. It plans a second recall to address issues resulting from its brake part supplier failing to source components to specifications.

“Our team has also worked closely with our supplier network to root-cause the other post-launch quality issues and develop and implement corrective actions, which have included part quality corrections, part design...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/is-lordstown-motors-giving-up-on-endurance-commercial-electric-pickup

Lordstown Motors gets OK to ship electric commercial pickup trucks

The Lordstown Motors Endurance has begun regular production.

Lordstown Motors Corp. is beginning to ship battery-powered electric pickup trucks to customers, an accomplishment that quiets doubters about the SPAC-backed startup’s viability even as it sells the trucks for less than they cost to build.

The company said Tuesday it received the final approvals from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board, allowing it to sell the trucks in all 50 states. With safety approvals already in hand, assembly of the trucks by...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/lordstown-motors-gets-ok-to-ship-electric-commercial-pickup-trucks

Commentary: After bagging Milton, who will feds go after next?

“It’s the lure of easy money, it’s got a very strong appeal.” — Smuggler’s’ Blues by Glenn Frey

After convicting SPAC-sponsored Nikola Corp. founder Trevor Milton of defrauding investors, who will federal prosecutors target next among transportation companies that took a similar path to public trading?

They have options. A statement by U.S. Attorney Damian Williams suggests some targets of Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department subpoenas may have cause for worry.

“Let this case...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/commentary-after-bagging-milton-who-will-feds-go-after-next

Truck Tech: Summer reading edition

Shareholder letters and earnings call transcripts don’t qualify as page-turning vacation reading. But they yield plenty of nuggets about the health of electric and autonomous startups.

A cure for insomnia, or …

Earnings reports and shareholder letters don’t make for scintillating reading. Some are better written than others. But even the best fall short of a page-turning novel.

Second-quarter reporting season is well underway. So, it’s a good time to see how electrification and autonomous startups...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-tech-summer-reading-edition

Truck Tech: Summer jobs edition

Truck Tech logo on blue background

Layoffs get the headlines but a surprising number of electrification startups are adding employees even as they try to raise more money. Volvo is using two dealerships and a five new charging points to create a corridor in California. And the Diesel Technology Forum graphically shows once again that fossil fuels are still king in commercial transportation.

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Electrification startups are hiring

Record-hig...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/transportation-startups-still-hiring-even-as-layoffs-get-the-attention

Truck Tech: Down Under charging edition

Blue graphic of Truck Tech newsletter logo

Electric vehicle fast chargers are  critical to keeping power-hungry commercial trucks that run on battery power moving. Australia’s Tritium built its first direct-current fast charger a decade ago. Now, it is growing its U.S. presence. Tesla is taking hefty deposits for its battery-powered Semi, and Volvo Truck is sharing a guidebook  from its LIGHTS electrification project in California.

An Aussie solution to electric truck charging

The success of electric trucks rides on the ability to avoid...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-tech-down-under-charging-edition

Lordstown Motors closes plant sale to Taiwan’s Foxconn

Front 3/4 view of silver Lordstown Endurance electric pickup truck on display at the Advanced Clean Technology Expo in Long Beach, California.

Lordstown Motors Corp. has sold a former General Motors plant it essentially got for free, netting about $257 million to keep its commercial electric pickup truck production on track. But the new plant owner — Taiwan electronics maker Foxconn — will build the trucks as part of the deal.

The clock was ticking against a Saturday deadline that would have forced LMC to forfeit most of its assets to repay $200 million Foxconn advanced on the plant purchase. 

The cash infusion clears some of the rocks...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/lordstown-motors-closes-plant-sale-to-taiwans-foxconn

Truck Tech: SPAC ‘stonks’ edition

Wanna buy SPAC-backed electrification and autonomous stocks? They are cheap, but have they hit bottom yet? A new Morning Consult poll shows autonomy has significant trust issues to overcome, and try as we might, we just can’t miss the bus when it comes to electrification.

Wanna buy my (SPAC) stonks?

It’s hard to find many stocks moving up against headwinds of rising inflation, war in Ukraine, and the coming and going — and coming again — of COVID variants.

But the beatdown of electric vehicle and...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-tech-spac-stonks-edition

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