Workhorse Group

Workhorse Group Incorporated is an American manufacturing company based in Cincinnati, Ohio, currently focused on manufacturing electrically powered delivery and utility vehicles.

Workhorse Group
TypePublic
NASDAQ: WKHS
IndustryTransportation
Founded1998 (1998), Union City, Indiana
FounderStephen Burns
HeadquartersCincinnati, Ohio,
United States
Number of locations
2
Area served
North America
Key people
Duane Hughes (CEO)
Number of employees
118
Websiteworkhorse.com

History

The company was founded in 1998 by investors who took over the production of General Motors' P30/P32 series stepvan and motorhome chassis.[1]

By 2005, they were taken over by Navistar International, which had been selling them diesel engines.[2] Navistar then shuttered the plant in 2012 to cut costs after having suffered heavy losses.[1]

In March 2015, a company called AMP Electric Vehicles took over Workhorse Custom Chassis, changing the company name to Workhorse Group Incorporated, and began offering a range of electric vehicles.[3]

In February 2019, Steve Burns, co-founder and CEO of Workhorse decided to resign from the company. President and COO Duane Hughes became the new CEO of Workhorse.[4]

Lordstown Plant
Main article: Lordstown Assembly

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.[5][6] On November 7, 2019, the newly constituted Lordstown Motors, of which Workhorse Group has a 10% stake, purchased the shuttered Lordstown Assembly Plant from General Motors. Lordstown Motors is led by former Workhorse CEO, Steve Burns, who has assumed the role of co-founder and CEO of Lordstown Motors.[7] Later that day, Workhorse Group issued a press release detailing a licensing agreement with Lordstown Motors for their W-15 pickup truck.[8][9][10]

Workhorse P42 purposed as a food truck

Products
A 2002 Workhorse P32 with ElDorado Escort bus bodywork

Discontinued vehicles
A Workhorse LF72 bus chassis with Startrans President LF (low-floor) bodywork

Workhorse's first product was the P-series, based on the Chevrolet/GMC P30-series stepvan/mobile home chassis.

Workhorse briefly offered an integrated chassis/body model called the MetroStar, hearkening back to the long-lived International Harvester Metro Van line. This product was led by then parent company Navistar.[11]

Workhorse was also involved with the construction of Navistar's eStar electric van, until that product was cancelled in early 2013.[2]

Until 2015, the company offered the familiar W62 chassis and a newer, narrow-tracked version called the W88. Workhorse had originally manufactured an earlier version, the W42 chassis.

W-15 pickup truck

In November 2016, Workhorse announced that they were working on an electrically powered pickup truck, called the W-15. North Carolina's Duke Energy has stated that it will buy 500 of the vehicles, and the city of Orlando is also interested.[12] It is scheduled to have 460 horsepower and a battery range of 80 miles. A gasoline range extender supplies further range.[13][14] 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.[15]

Octocopter

In December 2018, Workhorse announced that they were debuting 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.[16] In December 2019, aerospace company Moog Inc. bought the SureFly program for $5 million. Moog plans on using the SureFly as a demonstrator for autonomous delivery vehicles.[17]

Delivery van

In 2018, UPS announced that it would partner with Workhorse to develop and manufacture a fleet of 50 plug-in electric trucks. The trucks were expected to have a 100 mile range on electric power.[18] Workhorse has since obtained a preliminary agreement with UPS to produce 950 vans.[19] In June 2019, Workhorse obtained $25 million USD for the continued development of the N-GEN delivery van. By November 2019, Workhorse changed the name of the delivery van from N-GEN to C-Series. In November 2019, battery supplier EnerDel was chosen by Workhorse to provide up to 5,200 battery packs for C-Series delivery vans.[20][21][22] Workhorse is currently in talks with the United States Postal Service for the development of a next generation mail delivery van to replace the Grumman LLV that has been in use with USPS since 1987.[23]

Horsefly drone

Workhorse began the development of a truck-mounted drone called HorseFly in 2016. The HorseFly drone has been developed in collaboration with defense contractor Moog (NYSE:MOG.A).[24] In addition, Workhorse is developing the unmanned medical delivery capabilities of the HorseFly in partnership with San Diego-based Unmanned Systems Operations Group Inc.[25]

See also

References
  1. "Navistar Closing Down Workhorse to Cut Costs". RV Business. 2012-08-12. Archived from the original on 2013-11-05.
  2. Billings, Randy (2013-05-16). "Navistar sells RV Business, drops eStar Van as Part of its Turnaround Plan". News. Trucking Info. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
  3. Kiley, David. "GM In Talks To Sell Ohio Plant To EV Truck Venture Workhorse". www.forbes.com. Forbes. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  4. Bates, Michael. "Steve Burns Steps Down as Workhorse CEO". www.ngtnews.com. NGTNews. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  5. Assis, Claudia. "GM plans to sell Ohio plant to electric truck company Workhorse Group". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  6. O'Kane, Sean (2019-05-08). "GM is trying to sell a closed factory to troubled EV startup Workhorse". The Verge. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  7. Selak, Jr, Ron (June 22, 2019). "Workhorse secures $25 million in financing". Tribune Chronicle. Ogden Newspapers. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  8. "GM sells Ohio-based Lordstown Assembly plant to electric truck start-up". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  9. Inc, Workhorse Group. "Workhorse Group Signs Intellectual Property Licensing Agreement with Lordstown Motors Corp". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  10. "We Drove the Predecessor to LMC Motors' Endurance Electric Pickup". Trucks.com. 21 November 2019. Archived from the original on 26 September 2019.
  11. Berg, Tom (12 September 2012). "Navistar Shutting Down Workhorse as Part of Cost-Cutting". Heavy Duty Trucking. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  12. Hsu, Tiffany (2016-11-07). "Workhorse Group to Make Electric Pickup Trucks". Trucks.com. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
  13. "Workhorse unveils pictures, specs of W-15 electric work pickup". Roadshow. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  14. ZumMallen, Ryan (3 May 2017). "First Drive: Workhorse W-15 Electric Pickup Truck Offers Speed and Utility". Trucks.com. Archived from the original on 2019-09-26.
  15. Randall, Chris. "Workhorse puts electric pickup development on hold". www.electrive.com. Electrive. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  16. PRNewswire (December 18, 2018). "Workhorse Group to Exhibit SureFly Electric Octocopter at 2019 Detroit Auto Show". AviationPros. Archived from the original on 2018-12-19. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  17. Dominic Perry (12 February 2020). "Moog builds on benefits of SureFly acquisition". Flightglobal.
  18. Etherington, Darrell. "UPS is working on a fleet of 50 custom-built electric delivery trucks". www.techcrunch.com. Verizon Media. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  19. Adler, Alan. "Workhorse gets $200 million to advance electric van production (Update)". www.freightwaves.com. Freightwaves. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  20. Korosec, Kristen. "Workhorse gets $25 million needed to finish electric delivery van". www,techcrunch.com. Verizon Media. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  21. Bates, Michael. "EnerDel to Supply Batteries for Workhorse C-Series". www.ngtnews.com. NGTNews. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  22. Adler, Alan. "GM sells shuttered Lordstown plant to Workhorse founder (update)". www.freightwaves.com. Freightwaves. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  23. Adler, Alan. "Workhorse scrutinized as Postal Service again delays contract". www.freighwaves.com. Freighwaves. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  24. Adler, Alan. "Workhorse perfecting HorseFly truck-based drone delivery". www.freightwaves.com. Freightwaves. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  25. Caproni, Erin. "Cincinnati firm partners on drone delivery tests". www.bizjournals.com. Cincinnati Business Courier. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
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