Texas-based Hyliion ($HYLN) hit public markets last week with a business model that CEO Thomas Healy said will speed up the trucking industry's transition to electric.
"Trucking is all about moving goods from point A to point B and doing it as economically as possible," Healy told Cheddar. "What we're able to do is take both the emission savings and the cost savings and bring those together and offer a solution that's actually net carbon-negative emissions."
Unlike competitors Nikola and Tesla, Hyliion is not offering a full-electric option. The company's hybrid trucks use natural gas to power electric powertrains. Healy said the advantage is that Hyliion can ramp up production faster and beat the economics of diesel.
"By leveraging natural gas and, more specifically, renewable natural gas, we actually have a much lower cost than a normal diesel truck," he said. "When you get into those sorts of economics, then fleets are actually buying based off of the cost-savings plus the emissions, as opposed to just the emissions and then needing government subsidies in order to be able to afford the vehicles."
Hyliion went public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Competing electric truck startup Nikola, which has taken a beating in recent weeks following a report accusing the company of massive fraud, took a similar route to public markets earlier this year. Healy, however, has stressed the difference between Hyliion and its competitors.
"This transaction really allows us to fully fund our business plan and move our technology into commercialization," he said. "We're able to take the capital we're bringing in from this transaction and move into volume production and continue to deploy more of our units out on the road."
The deal made the 28-year-old Healy the youngest CEO of a publicly traded company.
The stock started trading just above $40 per share and slid to $37 per share over the weekend.
So far, Healy said, the pandemic hasn't hampered the market's long-term prospects.
"All of our goods are still moving," he said. "Trucking hasn't stopped, even through this pandemic."
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
At the core of the ongoing government shutdown is a fight over the decision to end subsidies that let some 12 million Americans get health coverage.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
