Formerly | AMP Electric Vehicles (2007–2015) |
---|---|
Company type | Public |
Nasdaq: WKHS | |
Industry | Transportation, automotive, aerospace |
Founded | 2007 |
Founder | Stephen Burns |
Headquarters | Sharonville, Ohio, United States |
Number of locations | 4 |
Area served | North America |
Key people | Richard Dauch (CEO) |
Number of employees | 331 |
Website | workhorse |
Workhorse Group Incorporated, originally AMP Electric Vehicles, is an original equipment manufacturer and technology company headquartered in Sharonville, Ohio, U.S. [1] Workhorse makes commercial electric vehicles and telematics software designed for last-mile delivery. Their products include commercial electric vehicles and the Metron telematics software system.
AMP Electric Vehicles, was founded in 2007 by Steve Burns, former CEO of Lordstown Motors. AMP Electric Vehicles was founded on the idea of converting passenger vehicles – originally designed with an internal combustion engine, gas tank, and related components – to electric drive. The company's goal was to design an electric powertrain around a popular vehicle model, then convince the OEM that was already mass-producing that vehicle to sell it to AMP as a “glider” – a version without a drivetrain. Over the years, however, two problems became apparent. First, the major automakers were hesitant to cooperate. Second, the passenger EV market didn't materialize quite as fast as AMP, and other manufacturers, had hoped it would. [2]
In 2012, The commercial vehicle powerhouse Navistar decided to sell off its Workhorse subsidiary, a step van chassis manufacturer, including the Workhorse factory in Indiana. [3] In March 2013, AMP Electric Vehicles took over Workhorse Custom Chassis, LLC's assets and began offering a range of electric vehicles. [4] [5] [6]
On April 16, 2015, AMP Electric Vehicles changed its company name to Workhorse Group Incorporated. [7] On January 4, 2016, the company was approved by Nasdaq Capital Market and its common stock started being quoted on Nasdaq under the symbol “WKHS” (NASDAQ: WKHS). [8]
In February 2019, Steve Burns, co-founder of AMP Electric Vehicles and CEO of Workhorse resigned from the company. President and COO Duane Hughes became the new CEO of Workhorse. [9] [10]
In November 2021 it was reported that Workhorse faced a Department of Justice investigation as well as a SEC investigation that was first reported in a September 2021 report by shortselling research firm Fuzzy Panda who accused the company of fraud which was followed up by a Cincinnati Enquirer report which found that top Workhorse executives and board members sold off $60 million worth of stock and that part of the selling occurred following interactions with postal officials which signaled their USPS bid was in trouble. The report also stated that Workhorse was being sued by some shareholders in the company, which accuses them orchestrating its USPS as part of an insider trading scheme. [11] [12] [13] On November 9, 2021, Workhorse confirmed its SEC and Department of Justice investigations in a regulatory filling which stated that the investigations were related to the trade of securities in the company leading up to the award of the USPS contract to Oshkosh. [14]
In August 2021 Richard Dauch was appointed CEO, [15] with the mission of resolving difficult issues Workhorse was facing and to transition Workhorse from a start-up to a leading manufacturer. [16] By the end of 2022 all the legacy issues had been resolved, such as the securities class action lawsuit, [17] the SEC investigation, [18] and got Workhorse debt free. [19] To prevent the factory being idle while the W56 was being developed, Workhorse entered into a 3-year contract manufacturing agreement with Tropos Technologies [20] and a supply agreement with GreenPower Motor Company where Workhorse will complete the manufacturing process and sell those vehicles as W4 CC's and W750's. [21]
On May 8, 2019, General Motors confirmed that it was in talks to potentially sell Lordstown Assembly, its idle 6.2 million square foot manufacturing plant in Lordstown, Ohio, to Workhorse Group. [22] [23] On November 7, 2019, the newly constituted Lordstown Motors, of which Workhorse Group had a 10% stake, purchased the shuttered Lordstown Assembly Plant from General Motors. Workhorse CEO Steve Burns assumed the role of co-founder and CEO of Lordstown Motors. [24] Later that day, Workhorse Group issued a press release detailing a licensing agreement with Lordstown Motors for their W-15 pickup truck. [25] [26] [27] Burns resigned as CEO of Lordstown Motors on June 14, 2021. [28]
On June 12, 2024, Workhorse announced the divestiture of the Aero division. [29] Workhorse had developed and patented various drone technologies, focused on autonomous last mile delivery. [30]
A class 4 cab chassis battery electric commercial vehicle. [31]
A class 4 step van battery electric commercial vehicle, with 750 cubic feet of storage space intended for last mile delivery. [32]
A class 5 and 6 battery electric commercial vehicle, with 1000 cubic feet of storage space intended for last mile delivery [33] but also available as a strip chassis and cab and chassis. [34] The beam axle is provided by Linamar's eAxle system, stated to have superior performance and efficiency. [35] The W56 was unveiled at the 2023 NTEA Work Truck Show. Production began in September 2023. [36]
In November 2016, Workhorse announced that they were working on an electrically powered pickup truck, called the W-15. North Carolina's Duke Energy stated that it would buy 500 of the vehicles, and the city of Orlando also reported interested. [37] It was planned to have 460 horsepower and a battery range of 80 miles. A gasoline range extender was to supply further range. [38] [39] In March 2020, Workhorse confirmed that it had transferred the W-15 pickup truck project to Lordstown Motors through a licensing agreement. Lordstown Motors paid a licensing fee to Workhorse, and the truck will be produced in the future without the gasoline range extender. [40] The W-15 became the basis of the Lordstown Endurance pickup truck. [41]
Workhorse was one of the finalists for the 10-year United States Postal Service contract for the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) to replace 165,000 [42] aging and outdated Grumman LLVs that had been used by USPS since 1987. [43] In February 2021, the contract was awarded to Oshkosh Defense. [44] [45] Workhorse announced what Bloomberg News described as a "long-shot bid" to overturn the loss of the award. [46] On June 16, 2021, Workhorse filed a formal complaint with the United States Court of Federal Claims protesting the award of the United States Postal Service Next Generation Delivery Vehicle ("USPS NGDV") contract to Oshkosh Defense. However this complaint was dropped in September 2021. [13] [47] [48] [49]
The prototype NGDV candidate chassis was modified and reused for both the W-15 pickup and the N-GEN delivery van for commercial fleets. [50] [51] In June 2019, Workhorse obtained US$25 million to continue the delivery van project, which had a temporary name of N-GEN. [52] By November 2019, Workhorse changed the name of the delivery van from N-GEN to C-Series. In November 2019, Workhorse chose battery supplier EnerDel to provide up to 5,200 battery packs for C-Series delivery vans. [53] The C-series was intended to be built at a former General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio. [54]
Workhorse developed a flagship electric van model C-1000 and started shipping it in the summer of 2021. However, after the initial sales, the company announced the truck would be redesigned to increase payload capacity. In September 2021 Workhorse suspended all deliveries of the vehicle and recalled 41 vans that were already delivered to customers with the company stating that it needed to provide "additional testing and modifications" to comply with US safety standards. [55] [56] In November 2021 CEO Rick Dauch admitted during a conference call that he believed the C-1000 was unreliable. [57]
In December 2018, Workhorse announced that they would debut its SureFly, an electric vertical take off and landing octocopter at the 2019 North American International Auto Show. The SureFly would be built for air medical services, military organizations, agricultural customers, and for urban commuting. [58] In December 2019, aerospace company Moog Inc. bought the SureFly program for $5 million. Moog planned to use the SureFly as a demonstrator for autonomous delivery vehicles. [59]
Workhorse began the development of a truck-mounted drone called HorseFly in 2016. The HorseFly drone was developed in collaboration with defense contractor Moog (NYSE:MOG.A). [60] Unmanned medical delivery capabilities of the HorseFly was also developed in partnership with San Diego–based Unmanned Systems Operations Group Inc. [61]
Workhorse modified their HorseFly design to make a lighter but more rugged drone intended for making deliveries in hazardous environments like a conflict zone, or inaccessible areas like in a natural disaster. [62]
Current employees in management positions are as follows: [63]
Current members of the board of directors are as follows: [64]
The Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV) is an American light transport truck model designed as a mail truck for the United States Postal Service, which has been its primary user since it first entered service in 1986, 38 years ago. It was also used by Canada Post. The LLV uses a chassis built by General Motors based on its Chevrolet S-10 with an aluminum body built by Grumman.
Oshkosh Corporation, formerly Oshkosh Truck, is an American industrial company that designs and builds specialty trucks, military vehicles, truck bodies, airport fire apparatus, and access equipment. The corporation also owns Pierce Manufacturing, a fire apparatus manufacturer in Appleton, Wisconsin, and JLG Industries, a manufacturer of lift equipment, including aerial lifts, boom lifts, scissor lifts, telehandlers and low-level access lifts.
Navistar International Corporation is an American holding company created in 1986 as the successor to International Harvester. Navistar operates as the owner of International-branded trucks and diesel engines. The company also produces buses under the IC Bus brand. On July 1, 2021, Navistar became an independent subsidiary of Traton.
An electric truck is a battery electric vehicle (BEV) designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work.
The Lordstown Complex is a factory building and automotive manufacturing plant in Lordstown, Ohio, U.S. Lordstown is an industrial suburb of Youngstown, Ohio.
The Shyft Group, Inc., formerly known as Spartan Motors, is an American automobile design company that designs, engineers and manufactures specialty chassis, specialty vehicles, truck bodies and aftermarket parts for the recreational vehicle (RV), government services, and delivery and service markets. The company started in 1975 as a direct result of the bankruptcy of Diamond Reo. It is currently headquartered in Novi, Michigan and has 3,000 employees.
A multi-stop truck is a type of commercial vehicle designed to make multiple deliveries or stops, with easy access to the transported cargo held in the rear. They first appeared in the United States in the 1920s. They are usually vans or trucks designed to be used as fleet vehicles by businesses within local areas.
Rivian Automotive, Inc., is an American electric vehicle manufacturer and automotive technology and outdoor recreation company founded in 2009. Rivian produces an electric sport utility vehicle (SUV), a pickup truck on a "skateboard" platform that can support future vehicles or be adopted by other companies, and an electric delivery van, the Rivian EDV. Rivian started deliveries of its R1T pickup truck in late 2021. The company planned to build an exclusive charging network in the United States and Canada by the end of 2023.
VIA Motors is an American electric vehicle development and manufacturing company founded in 2010. VIA Motors started out converting GM vehicles into plug-in hybrids (PHEV), but now produces fully electric commercial vehicles for fleet managers. VIA is developing its own skateboard platform for Class 2-5 commercial vehicles, that will enter production in 2024.
Nikola Corporation is an American manufacturer of heavy-duty commercial battery-electric vehicles, fuel-cell electric vehicles, and energy solutions. It presented several concept vehicles from 2016 to 2020, the first of which was a natural gas fueled turbine-electric semi truck. The company went public on June 4, 2020. In February 2022, the company projected deliveries of between 300 and 500 of its first battery-electric semitrucks — known as the Nikola Tre — to customers. The company delivered its first two battery-electric trucks in December 2021. Like Tesla, Inc., the company is named in honor of Nikola Tesla, but these are not related to the inventor. Nikola Corporation is based in Phoenix, Arizona.
Fisker Inc. is an American automotive company founded by Danish automotive designer Henrik Fisker and his wife Geeta Gupta-Fisker.
Nu Ride Inc. is an American electric vehicle automaker located in Lordstown, Ohio. The company was based at the Lordstown Assembly plant, previously a General Motors factory. Lordstown Motors was known for its Lordstown Endurance electric pickup truck. In March 2024, the company emerged from its September 2023 bankruptcy restructuring as Nu Ride Inc., headquartered in New York City.
The Lordstown Endurance is a full-size battery electric pickup truck with wheel hub motors manufactured by Lordstown Motors in collaboration with Foxconn at its Ohio factory. The Endurance entered limited production in September 2022 with plans to manufacture no more than 500 vehicles through June of 2023. It is the company's first production automobile.
Canoo Inc. is an American automotive company based in Torrance, California, that develops and manufactures electric vehicles. Canoo's research & development team is based in Michigan, in the Detroit region, and production operations are in Justin, Texas. The company also plans to produce commercial electric vehicles such as vans for fleet, vehicle rental and ride sharing services.
Bollinger Motors is an American automobile manufacturer of electric vehicles based in Oak Park, Michigan.
The OshkoshNext Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) is a forthcoming mail truck for the United States Postal Service (USPS). The contract award, made to Oshkosh Defense, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oshkosh Corporation, in February 2021, is valued at $6 billion. Up to 160,000 vehicles will be built in a new facility. Four variants of the NGDV are expected to be in fleet use: both gasoline-powered and battery-electric, in either front wheel drive or all wheel drive. The USPS was scheduled to receive the vehicles in June 2024.
The Ford F-150 Lightning is a battery electric full-size light duty truck unveiled by Ford Motor Company in May 2021 as part of the fourteenth generation Ford F-Series. Four models have been announced, and all models initially will be dual-motor, four-wheel-drive, with EPA range estimates of 240–320 mi (390–510 km). A commercial-grade version of the all-wheel drive (AWD) truck is sold in the United States, with higher-power/trim/range models also sold. The F-150 Lightning began production on April 26, 2022.
Foxtron Inc. or Foxtron Vehicle Technologies is a Taiwanese manufacturer of electric cars and buses based in Taipei, operating since 2020 as a joint venture between the technology company Foxconn and the car company Yulon.
The Workhorse C-Series was an American line of battery electric medium-duty delivery vans built by Workhorse Group for commercial package delivery company fleets, which entered limited production in 2021, were recalled that September, and were discontinued in 2022 after fewer than fifty were built. The C-Series was originally named the N-GEN when the line was first announced in 2017. N-GEN prototypes began testing in 2018 and were renamed to the C-Series in 2019.
The Workhorse W56 is a line of class 5 and 6 commercial battery electric vehicles designed and built by Workhorse Group starting in 2023, succeeding the firm's earlier C-Series. It is available with a step van body with a nominal 1,000 cu ft (28 m3) of cargo volume, intended for last mile delivery, or as a stripped chassis or chassis cab configuration intended for completion by coachbuilders with custom bodies.
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has generic name (help)No, I mean... the W-15 [electric pickup truck] at Workhorse was born out of... we were making a new vehicle for the [United States] Post Office bid. And we thought, well, if we don't get the Post Office [contract], I had to be able to justify this risk. What else could we do with this technology? So that's where the pickup truck was born.
The N-Gen and Workhorse's W-15 pickup will share quite a lot, including their composite body construction. Burns told Car and Driver that they'll use the same batteries: Panasonic 18650-format cells, a "commodity" format that is roughly AA size and essentially the same as is used in the Tesla Model S and Model X, among other vehicles. But what's different is the range extender. While the production version of the W-15 will use a 1.5-liter three-cylinder BMW range extender, the N-Gen is going to use the 647-cc two-cylinder Kymco-built engine from the BMW i3, Burns said.