Workhorse Group Profile
Workhorse Group Inc. (Workhorse), a technology company, focuses on providing solutions to the commercial transportation sector. The company designs and manufactures all-electric delivery trucks and drone systems, including the technology that optimizes the way these vehicles operate. The company focuses on its core competency of bringing its electric delivery vehicle platforms to serve the last mile delivery market.
Commercial Vehicles
The company is an American-based Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), and its products are marketed under the Workhorse brand. All Workhorse last-mile delivery trucks are assembled in the company’s Union City, Indiana production facility.
Electric Delivery Truck Platforms
Product Roadmap
Workhorse has made significant progress executing on its revised strategic product roadmap for the company’s electric vehicle delivery offerings. The foundation of this plan is the development of two new truck chassis platforms, the W56 and what it calls the WNext. The W56, based on long-standing Company know-how in the Class 5 and 6 truck chassis market, is a fully capable medium duty chassis, designed for last-mile delivery and high payload applications and is expected to begin production in 2023. The WNext platform will be the company’s second generation, low floor, advanced content offering for the truck chassis market and is expected to begin production in 2025.
In order to accelerate time-to-market for customers seeking delivery of electric vehicles during 2022, the company entered into a strategic supply agreement (the Supply Agreement) with GreenPower Motor Company Inc. (GreenPower). Under the agreement, the company has exclusive rights to sell Class 4 step vans based on the GreenPower supplied base vehicle. The company’s Class 4 vehicles are a zero-emission chassis designed to be sold in either a cab chassis version (W4 CC) or a step van version (W750) made to haul various cargo and take on both mid and last-mile routes. The W4 CC became available for sale in 2022 while the company expects the W750 will be available for sale in the United States and Canada in 2023. Both are sold under the Workhorse brand and with Workhorse after sales and support service.
C-Series Electric Delivery Truck
The company announced the development of the C-Series electric delivery truck in 2017, a vehicle aimed at the Class 3 truck market which leveraged an ultra-low floor delivery vehicle platform. The company utilized its extensive customer experience gained from working with its E-Series customers to design this product. In December 2022, the company announced that it was discontinuing the C1000 program and it is transitioning its manufacturing focus from the C1000 to the Class 4 - 6 vehicles, W4 CC, W750, W56 and WNext platforms.
E-Series Electric Delivery Vans
Workhorse E-100 battery-electric and E-GEN range-extended delivery vans are used by the company’s customers on daily routes across the United States. The company has built and delivered approximately 360 electric and range-extended medium-duty delivery trucks, many of which remain in active service, to its customers with a combined mileage total of more than 9 million miles. The company’s customers include companies such as FedEx Ground and United Parcel Service.
Stables and Stalls
In 2022, Workhorse purchased ESG Logistics Corp., a provider of package pickup and delivery services, and began operating a series of FedEx Ground delivery routes in the greater Cincinnati area under an initiative known as Stables & Stalls. Stables & Stalls provides the company with firsthand experiences of the challenges and benefits independent fleet operators experience while executing last-mile delivery operations and making the transition to electric vehicles. This opportunity also provides the company unique and valuable research and data into how its customers access reliable vehicles, plan for and manage adequate charging infrastructure, as well as training and maintenance services, which is critical for small fleet operators that choose to make the electric vehicle (EV) transition.
Aero
HorseFly
As part of the company’s growing technology portfolio, the company has been developing small Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for several years. The company has 2 product lines in the UAS space. One is a package delivery drone known as Horsefly. The other is a product designed and developed for use in more austere operating environments for humanitarian assistance and logistical operations (HALO). All Workhorse drone systems are designed and built in the company’s Mason, Ohio facility.
The company’s HorseFly UAS includes a custom-designed, purpose-built, all-electric Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), a proprietary Ground Control Station (GCS), and equipment that supports integrating the UAS with its delivery trucks and other applications. The HorseFly UAV is an airborne work truck, that can carry a significant payload for 10 miles. The company’s rugged components are designed to support the high volumes, long duty days and ease of maintenance demanded by the commercial package delivery industry.
In 2020, Workhorse began the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Type Certification (TC) process for the company’s Horsefly UAS. Compliance with FAA regulations governing TC helps set a very high bar for system performance and it is important to have a TC system in its product offerings.
The company has developed subsystems and many discrete functions to improve the safety, reliability and performance of its systems. One subsystem is a proprietary winch that can lower and raise significant payloads from safe altitudes. Another is a truck integration system that allows continuous operations from a truck in the field. The company’s Ground Control Software software allows remote pilots in command to control more than one aircraft simultaneously.
Workhorse was granted a patent on the company’s UAS, and though initially designed as a complimentary system delivering packages from its electric trucks, the latest iteration of its UAS supports package delivery point-to-point, enabling deliveries to and from anywhere, allowing it to serve a broader customer base.
In tests and demonstrations, Workhorse has flown thousands of missions in the National Airspace System, demonstrating package deliveries for large multi-national companies in Ohio, Michigan, Florida and California. The company’s aircraft has proven to be safe, reliable, and capable. In addition, the company has successfully demonstrated the drone’s enhanced functionality working with local, state and federal government agencies to validate other, new cases. For example, in January 2022, the company received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in support of enhanced mapping and data analysis of farmland in underserved communities in the States of Mississippi and Arkansas.
Strategic Relationships
GreenPower Motor Company Inc.: On February 28, 2022, Workhorse entered into a strategic vehicle purchase and supply agreement with GreenPower Motor Company, Inc. to purchase base vehicles in the Class 4, medium-duty vehicle class. Under the agreement, GreenPower provides Workhorse with base vehicles for completion at the company’s Union City, Indiana manufacturing facility. Workhorse began accepting deliveries of the base vehicles in July of 2022 and began executing on the exclusive rights to sell the vehicles under the Workhorse brand and with Workhorse after sales and support service in the United States and Canada.
Tropos Technologies, Inc. (Tropos): On August 8, 2022, the company entered into an Assembly Services Agreement (the Assembly Agreement) with Tropos. The Assembly Agreement provides for assembly services at its Union City, Indiana manufacturing facility to assemble an annual quantity of 2,000 vehicles in 2023, 2,000 vehicles in 2024, and 250 vehicles in 2025 for a total of 4,250 vehicles. Workhorse began accepting deliveries of the vehicle kits to be assembled in December of 2022.
Mitsubishi HC Capital Inc (Mitsubishi): Mitsubishi continues to be the company’s primary financing partner to market and distribute its electric vehicles through an existing and well-established commercial vehicle dealer network throughout North America. Mitsubishi enables Workhorse to have the company’s vehicles sold and financed from the moment they roll off the production line, into a shared pool of vehicles, where they become visible and available to every Mitsubishi connected dealer. The dealer can configure additional equipment, schedule upfit integration and delivery in a seamless manner.
Amerit Fleet Solutions (Amerit): Workhorse has signed a strategic agreement with Amerit to provide maintenance and repair services for Workhorse vehicles, utilizing their mobile maintenance units and technicians. This provides Workhorse with on ground maintenance and warranty service capabilities in a great majority of locations across the United States.
Technology, Research and Development
Metron
The company continues to develop and maintain its Metron remote data management system that tracks the performance of all the vehicles it deploys, providing a service management system and the communication channel between its customers and partners. The company focuses on adding the ability to integrate Metron Telematics with the internal telematics and data management systems of its clients, as well as expanding its ability to present and analyze data within a proprietary Workhorse interface. In 2022 the company began development of Metron 2.0, a brand new software architecture that will be the base for Workhorse telematics and a suite of business applications, such as fleet management and service and repair, which is expected to launch in 2023.
Regulation
The Clean Air Act requires that the company obtains a Certificate of Conformity (CoC) issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a California Executive Order issued by the California Air Resource Board (CARB) requires the company to obtain a CoC with respect to emissions and mileage requirements for its vehicles. The CoC is required for vehicles sold in states covered by the Clean Air Act’s standards and the Executive Order is required for vehicles sold in states that have sought and received a waiver from the EPA to utilize California standards. Workhorse received Executive Order A-445-0003 for MY2020 vehicles and Executive Order A-445-0004 for MY2021 vehicles.
History
The company was founded in 2007. It was formerly known as AMP Holding Inc. and changed its name to Workhorse Group Inc. in 2015.
