Hyliion Holdings Corp. has secured an order for 50 units of its Hypertruck ERX electric powertrain, which extends Class 8 trucks’ range using natural gas.
The commitment from Dallas-based GreenPath Logistics grows to 150 total Hypertruck ERXs ordered and backed by deposits. Austin-headquartered Hyliion last November rolled out the product, which generates its own electricity from compressed natural gas to give trucks a range of nearly 1,000 miles. GreenPath, which uses only vehicles powered by alternative fuels, will be among the carriers to partner with Hyliion on controlled fleet trials later this year.
Founder and CEO Thomas Healy and his team, who have nearly 2,000 (more tentative) reservations for the Hypertruck ERX, plan to start on-road testing of design verification vehicles by mid-year and are targeting late 2023 for the start of production. As they work toward that target, they also are selling the Hybrid eX systems they unveiled last September. (GreenPath in December placed an order for 20 units and Werner Enterprises also has committed to buying some.)
Word of GreenPath’s ERX order came a few days after Healy and his lieutenants delivered Hyliion’s fourth-quarter results and their outlook for 2022. The company recorded about $200,000 in revenues and reported a net loss of nearly $30 million while ending the year with nearly $560 million in available liquidity. For this year, sales of eX systems are expected to grow to between $2 million and $3 million – which will include some orders pushed into Q1 from late last year due to supply chain issues – and operating costs are forecast to be in a range of $135 million to $145 million versus $94 million in 2021.
“We will move forward aggressively with our commercialization and business development plans, building on the momentum we have established,” Healy said in a statement. “We expect that 2022 will be an exciting year for Hyliion in terms of R&D and product development milestones as we broaden our technology solutions to address the transportation sector’s environmental impact.”
On a conference call with analysts and investors, CFO Sherri Baker said Hyliion expects to spend $10 million to $20 million on capital projects focused on facility expansion and the buildout of its technology lab. The company recently also hired Cheri Lantz to be chief strategy officer and oversee its work on fuel technologies and software solutions. Lantz is a former chief strategy officer at Meritor and, most recently, vice president of strategy and transportation solutions at TE Connectivity.
Shares of Hyliion (Ticker: HYLN) rose nearly 3% to $4.32 on Feb. 28. They have lost about half of their value over the past six months, lowering the company’s market capitalization to about $750 million.
