Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com
Mullen announced on Monday April 18 that plans to begin EV battery pack production out of its high voltage battery R&D facility located in Monrovia, California. Mullen is retrofitting its Monrovia facility to accommodate the production of EV battery packs destined for Mullen’s EV vehicle lineup, including the ONE EV Cargo Van, FIVE EV Crossover, and DragonFLY EV Sportscar programs. As of 05:09 EST, Mullen shares are currently trading 6.50% higher at $2.30 during Pre-Market.
“The company is undertaking this effort to reduce dependency on third-party suppliers and reduce the risk associated with material and supply shortages, which currently plague the automotive industry. By taking battery pack production in-house, Mullen will also lower costs and increase overall quality control in battery pack development.” — Mullen said.
Previously CODA Automotive utilized the Monrovia facility (CODA Energy) for battery pack research, development and production of its U.S. homologated EV sedan, sold in the U.S. from 2012-18. Mullen purchased the assets from CODA in 2014 and took over the Monrovia high voltage facility in 2017, renaming it Mullen Energy.
“Building our own battery packs makes sense as it reduces our reliance on third-party suppliers and lessens our risk of being subjected to the waves of supply and critical component shortages,” says David Michery, CEO and chairman of Mullen Automotive. “The entire industry is struggling with supply chain issues and the more control we have in-house, the better off our vehicle programs will be. Our Monrovia facility is already established for high voltage applications so retrofitting it for our battery pack development makes good sense for our company and shareholders.”
According to a SEC filing revealed last week, Mullen‘s President of Automotive Division accquired 100,000 shares on April 8. Mullen’s President Calin Popa owns now a total of 159,729 Mullen shares. Popa’s transaction nature was Type A — Grant, award or other under Rule 16b-3(d) and represents a direct ownership.
On April 1, Mullen’s CEO David Michery, filed a SEC form announcing changes in beneficial ownership with transactions made betwen March 22 and March 28, 2022. Michery sold 300,000 shares at an average price of $2.495 ($748,500 USD), disposed of 428,382 contracts and acquired 1,198,328 contracts. Last December, Michery had filed a form disclosing ownership of 22,174,720 shares of Mullen — 62.5% ownership.
On April 8, The host of Risk on Show Podcast interviewed Tom Gage, the engineer who tested Mullen’s batteries confirming its results. The episode came one the day after Hindenburg Research Firm claimed that the electric vehicle maker “apparently misrepresented the test results, according to the CEO of the company that performed the tests”.
After the initial disclosure revealing the short position taken on Mullen shares, the research firm enumerates several reasons to justify its position on Mullen. Nate Anderson, founder of Hindenburg Research, is known for targeting companies that he thinks are overvalued and have suspect financials. The CEO had also other electric vehicle makers as a target like Nikola Corp. and Lordstown Motors.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com
