Eastern Railroad Discussion > OH: Workhorse electric truck looking at Lordstown plant

NY Times reported last week that struggling electric truck maker Workhorse is considering buying the (former) GM Lordstown OH plant.  The truck maker recently received a cash infusion, which allowed it to avoid a shut down.

The article has a description of how UPS and others fit into the picture.  If this happens, it should mean an increase in business for CSX and NS.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/10/business/workhorse-investor-fund-raising.html

 

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NY Times reported last week that struggling
> electric truck maker Workhorse is considering
> buying the (former) GM Lordstown OH plant.  The
> truck maker recently received a cash infusion,
> which allowed it to avoid a shut down.
>
> The article has a description of how UPS and
> others fit into the picture.  If this happens, it
> should mean an increase in business for CSX and
> NS.
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/10/business/workho
> rse-investor-fund-raising.html
>
>  

This deal has been on and off - back and forth - for over a month. Not looking likely at the moment.

Posted from Android

NYSWSD70M Wrote:


>
> This deal has been on and off - back and forth -
> for over a month. Not looking likely at the
> moment.
>
> Posted from Android

I saw a note today that GM is apparently looking at an electric version of its Hummer vehicle.  I wonder if they would consider licensing / buying Workhorse to get at the technology and interested buyers?

Much as Ford did with Rivian, good idea, should improve both entities.

Out

I leased and drove a brand new Workhorse delivery vehicle for Fedex Ground for 8 months in 2005.  What a piece of junk!!!  Under dash electrical connectors coming apart while driving down the road and killing the engine and 'unfixable' rattles in the rear bumper assembly.  I was overjoyed to sell the unprofitable route along with the truck lease to another Fedex Ground driver.

After reading the suggested article, and several others regarding this matter, I'm very skeptical of the entire deal.  Workhorse needs to raise an estimated $300 million to move forward at Lordstown.  Quite a challenge for a company that has lost $150 million since it was founded.  In order for this deal to go through, they will probably need a major financial backer(s) willing to take the risk in providing funds up front.  Perhaps GM might be willing to participate, given their desire to get rid of the Lordstown facility. 

If the Workhorse deal at Lordstown goes through, I would also be skeptical there would be much rail business, or even any at all.  The product that Workhorse would build does not fit into a bi-level rail car, and inbound parts would probably move by truck.  Workhorse currently has a production plant at Union City, IN (I believe it was a former GM parts plant) that is not rail served.  

I'd love to see it happen, but will remain skeptical pending further developments.  

They are only talking 200-300 jobs at Lordstown, if the deal goes through.  They will start very small.

13ABC out of Toledo had a story on it a few weeks ago and mentioned it was in doubt  mainly because of funding and how reliable the truck would actually be in service.

From day one I said this story was lock, stock and barrel BS.
Rich S

It’s not necessarily Workhorse buying the plant, its a new company started by the former ceo. Workhorse will be a minority partner and the plan is to build Workhorse W-15 electric pickups at the lords town plant. I wouldn’t be surprised if GM also has their hand in the new company, the cab of the W-15 looks like the cab of the old style GM truck. As of now, the union does not support the plan.

Posted from iPhone

dreese_us Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It’s not necessarily Workhorse buying the plant,
> its a new company started by the former ceo.
> Workhorse will be a minority partner and the plan
> is to build Workhorse W-15 electric pickups at the
> lords town plant. I wouldn’t be surprised if GM
> also has their hand in the new company, the cab of
> the W-15 looks like the cab of the old style GM
> truck. As of now, the union does not support the
> plan.
>
> Posted from iPhone

Interesting.   There's a lot of infrastructure investment money looking at electric trucks, storage battery systems, inverters, etc.

Chinese investment in their own electric car business is arguably ahead of US at this point.  Berkshire Hathaway has a piece of several Chinese ventures, for example.

As of last week, WorkHorse has committed about $15 million of the $300 million needed for the plant to reopen and begin producing electric trucks.  The identity of other investors seems to be hidden at this point.

While GM was viewed as likely to invest in the WorkHorse deal, that may not happen right away.   The Detroit Free Press says GM is waiting for a "proof of concept" that the truck can be manufacturerd at industrial scale, within the estimates.  WorkHorse sales have been anemic, with total sales under 50 units, I believe.

A summary from the local paper which takes an optimistic view of the situation.

https://businessjournaldaily.com/pence-workhorse-secures-funds-to-buy-gm-lordstown/