Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | Twitter
The EV maker Mullen Automotive announced Wednesday the opening of a new EV Technology team located in Pontiac (Michigan) to develop EV technologies for its commercial vans.
Mullen said the team “will be home to a new division of engineers and technology developers focused on Mullen’s Class 1 – 5 commercial vehicle development” expecting to have upwards of 50 employees by the end of 2022 after the first 20 new hires.
The Detroit Tech Center will be the fifth location opened by Mullen and follows the recently announced Irvine Automotive Center, located in Irvine, California. Other Mullen facilities include the Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Center based outside Tunica, Mississippi and Mullen’s High Voltage facility located in Monrovia, California. Mullen’s Corporate Headquarters is based in Brea, California, the company stated.
“Detroit is a natural spot for us for all the right and obvious reasons. A majority of our current partners are based in Detroit, so opening this center made perfect sense for our ongoing and future commercial van development,” said David Michery, CEO and chairman of Mullen Automotive. “It is great timing for us as many of the other EV companies are reducing their teams and we are growing at a rapid rate.”
Mullen CEO David Michery will be interviewed by Zunaid Sulemanat (from Benzinga) on Thursday, August 4 at 1:30 pm eastern time. The interview will be broadcasted live on Benzinga’s Youtube channel and the CEO said he has “some exciting developments to share”
“I look forward to connecting with Benzinga later this week, especially after a recent health event that kept me away from the office for a short while,” Michery said. “I have some exciting developments to share and look forward to connecting with Benzinga listeners.”
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On Monday, the company unveiled the opening of a new Automotive Development Center at 100 Technology Drive, Irvine to support Mullen’s expanding automotive team. The 16,000-square-foot facility is located “in the heart of Irvine’s technology corridor” and will receive part of the team that Mullen will divide between Monrovia and Irvine facilities.
The new plant will host Engineering Design and Development, Styling, Program Management, Marketing and Finance teams, whereas Battery, Powertrain, Thermal, and Infotainment teams will be located at the High-Voltage Facility in Monrovia, California, the company stated.
According to a 13F-HR form filed last week, the National Bank Of Canada initiated a position on the EV maker disclosing ownership of 536,500 shares valued at $547,000 at the end of the second quarter. Furthermore, the Bank also purchased 1,500 Call options ($153,000) and 6,865 Puts at ($700,000) during the second quarter of the year.
Earlier in the week, Mullen held its Annual Meeting of shareholders (Full Presentation here). A total of 302,018,291 votes were represented at the Annual Meeting and all the proposals were passed by the shareholders in the preliminary results. The final results of the proposal votes will be announced on or before August 1, Mullen said during the meeting.
The shareholders authorized the dilution voting yes to the proposal that represents an increase of the common shares outstanding to 1.75 billion and the preferred stock shares to 500 million, representing a total of 2.25 billion authorized shares.
On July 11, Mullen Automotive announced the sign of a binding agreement with the Amazon Delivery service partner DelPack Logistics to acquire up to 600 Mullen Class 2 EV cargo vans over the next 18 months — until January 2024.
The first 300 units “can be delivered to DPL by November. 30,2022, at the request of DPL,” and the electric van will be fully homologated for the United States carrying a minimum of an 80 kilowatt per hour battery pack, Mullen said in a statement.
At the meeting, Mullen’s VP of Marketing confirmed the EV maker is working on the vans and planning to deliver them again to the F500 company in August. When asked about the locations of the test drive tour and the timeline for the launch of the first model, Mullen’s VP of Marketing said the test drives will be in private locations regarding the missing certification for the public roads.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | Twitter