Tevva, an Electric Truck Developer, Aims for US Expansion Following Agreement with ElectraMeccanica

Image Credit: Tevva Motors

An agreement to merge with an American electric vehicle producer, ElectraMeccanica, has been made, and a start-up is planning to keep its truck factory in Essex while their headquarters will be relocated to the United States.

Tevva Motors, a company that designs electric and hydrogen-powered trucks, has announced a merger with ElectraMeccanica, a Nasdaq-listed electric car maker, and will relocate its headquarters from the UK to the USA.

The board of directors of Tevva Motors has given a unanimous vote of confidence, which will result in the company registering in Canada while transferring its primary operations to Delaware in the US and unifying its manufacturing with ElectraMeccanica in Arizona.

Both companies, apparently experiencing financial hardship, claimed that the transaction would allow them to capitalize on the "collective ability to capture the expanding chance in commercial electric trucks".

Tevva announced that their 110,000-square-foot facility in Tilbury, Essex, would still provide services to their UK and European customers. They will also be working with ElectraMeccanica to increase the production of their electric trucks at their recently-established plant in Mesa, Arizona, by 2026. This collaboration will help in the global expansion of the start-up.

In 2013, Tevva Motors was formed by Asher Bennet - who happens to be the brother of ex-Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. The company received a grant from the UK government to boost its growth. Now, the firm seeks to sell around a thousand electric trucks this year in the UK and other European countries, having secured the regulatory approvals in January.

In preparation for its initial delivery to Royal Mail, the company has been constructing its 7.5-tonne trucks, which they advertise as being able to travel 140 miles on a single charge. These vehicles have been purchased by customers such as Kinaxia, Travis Perkins, and TG Lyons.

The company anticipates distributing a battery-powered truck, including an extra 'range extender' hydrogen fuel cell, providing a longer driving distance of 280 miles without recharging.

Reports suggest that the company had been suffering financially, leading to a reduction in personnel and legal action from vendors due to a depletion of funds after the stock price dropped following its initial public offering in 2018.

David Roberts, set to assume the role of executive chairman following the merger, expressed his enthusiasm at merging with ElectraMeccanica, citing that the combination of the two companies would "accelerate the growth of the combined company" and "bolster our competitive edge in the expansive and rapidly expanding market".

At Tevva, since we were founded over a decade ago, our engineering and product development teams have been working hard to create a range of zero-emission commercial vehicles, attracting a lot of customer attention. Our vehicles have been tested for over 300,000 miles in actual conditions by fleet operators who have high standards.

Roberts declared to The Telegraph that the relocation to the US had nothing to do with the incentives of the Inflation Reduction Act for clean technology but still maintained that the UK has to "awaken as a nation" to draw in electric vehicle investment.

Under the merger agreement, the Tevva shareholders will possess 76.5 per cent of the combined entity, which is to be called Tevva Inc. Unfortunately, Tevva Motors' founder Asher Bennett was not included on the board of the new company, with director Roberts taking on the role of executive chairman and maintaining a concentration on "innovation-focused" duties, as the companies stated.

The companies declared that the joint entity anticipates having a cash store of between $70m and $80m, with a debt of approximately $26m, with the transaction estimated to bring about around $5m in yearly cost savings by the finish of 2024.

Susan Docherty, CEO of ElectraMeccanica, declared that Tevva possessed "exceptional engineering skills" in the realm of electric trucks, a market that she believes is rapidly expanding.

According to her, it is our opinion that now is the ideal time to move from personal to commercial vehicles and meet the requirements of commercial fleets for reliable, cost-effective trucks. Our equivalent values, goals and operations make me utterly confident that we can bring considerable shareholder value together.

Tevva has a prominent position in the British and European markets. Our state-of-the-art production facilities, knowledgeable senior management team, and financial stability will enable the joint venture to reach new heights.