Cenntro Inc.
For the period ended Dec 31, 2024. Filed Apr 1, 2025.
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FY2024 · Filed Apr 1, 2025
Contents
Item 1. Business
| Item 1. | Business |
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Overview
We are an emerging designer, manufacturer, distributor, and service provider of commercial vehicles powered by either electricity or hydrogen energy sources. Our commercial vehicles are designed to serve a variety of fleet and municipal organizations in support of city services, last-mile delivery and other commercial applications. As of December 31, 2024, we have developed six series of commercial vehicle models, Metro®, Logistar™, Logimax™, Avantier™, Teemak™ and Antric One. We have successfully begun to produce and deliver these models into the global markets, apart from Logimax™.
We have also developed and introduced iChassis™ platform that consists of a programmable “smart” chassis that is currently used by third-party integrated it with their controlling software for various autonomous driving commercial vehicle applications. We are also working on developing hydrogen-powered heavy-duty vehicles to meet the market demand. We continue to leverage our technology, vehicle development, and vehicle distribution capabilities with a goal to become a leading provider in the electric commercial vehicle (“ECV”) market. Our greater mission is to provide commercial vehicles that may be powered by sustainable sources while building eco-chains to reduce carbon dioxide for a better environment and quality of life.
With the global trend toward reducing the number of internal combustion engine (“ICE”) vehicles, electric-battery and fuel cell technologies stand out as strong alternatives. Prior to COVID-19, battery costs significantly decreased over the past decade. We expect that over the long term, prices will continue to fall. According to research service Bloomberg NEF (“BNEF”), lithium-ion battery pack prices decreased from above $1,200 per kilowatt-hour in 2010 to $132/kWh in 2021. In real terms, this represented a decline of approximately 89%. We anticipate that battery prices will continue to decrease in the long-term. BNEF further forecasts that average prices are expected to fall by $3/kWh in 2025. Looking ahead, prices are expected to fall further over the next decade amid continued investment in R&D, manufacturing process improvements, and capacity expansion across the supply chain. Lithium prices are expected to ease as more extraction and refining capacity comes online. Based on the updated observed learning rate, BNEF’s 2022 Battery Price Survey predicts that average pack prices should fall below $100/kWh by 2026. By emphasizing investments in technology, supply-chains, vehicle distribution and aftermarket support, we have begun making our own battery packs, preparing battery cell production, by building up vehicle distribution and service networks, and introducing our cloud-based parts distribution systems. As investment in battery technology continues to increase, we believe these cost reductions outlined by BNEF will continue to improve the economics of battery-powered ECVs, like ours.
In addition to our investment in battery packing operations, we have established an asset-light, distributed manufacturing business model through which we may distribute our vehicles in unassembled semi-knockdown vehicle kits (“vehicle kits”) for local assembly in addition to fully assembled vehicles. Some of our vehicle models have a modular design that allows for local assembly in micro factory facilities that require less capital investment. We manufacture our own vehicle kits for the Metro® Teemak Series, and iChassis Series in our facilities in China and leverage the economies of scale of and the supply-chain availability in China to manufacture vehicle kits and fully assembled vehicles in our assembly plants in United States in United States. We also establish business relationships to assembly vehicles from vehicle kits in Europe with local vehicle assembly facilities. We believe our distributed manufacturing methodology allows us to execute our business plan with less capital than would be required by the traditional, vertically integrated automotive model and, in the long-term, drive higher profit margins.
Our distributed manufacturing model allows us to focus our efforts on the design of New Energy Vehicle (NEV) models and related technologies while outsourcing various portions of the manufacturing, assembly and marketing of our vehicles to qualified third parties, allowing the Company to operate with lower capital investment than traditional vertically integrated automotive companies. For the last several years, we relied substantially on private label channel partners to assemble and distribute the Metro® from vehicle kits that we manufactured in our facilities. Our vehicle kits and in some cases fully assembled vehicles are completed by third party Original Equipment Manufacturers (“OEMs”) manufacturing partners and, in the case of vehicle kits, assembled in our own facilities in North America and Europe. Our relationships with such third parties, our “manufacturing partners,” have allowed us to forego expensive capital investments in our own facilities and operate within our historic working capital limitations. Throughout 2022 we began to re-align our distribution and marketing strategy away from relying mainly on third-party channel partners to a distribution model that combines wholly-owned EV Centers with local distribution channels in order to improve overall operational efficiencies, product quality, brand value, market share, customer support and service. Throughout 2023 we have relied on our local EV Centers to develop local dealer networks that directly sell to local customers in order to improve overall operational efficiencies, product quality, brand value, market share, customer support and service.
Additionally, to meet our anticipated demand in the United States, we have established local assembly facilities in Northern America as we have launched assembly facilities in Ontario, California and Freehold, New Jersey. The Ontario facility, which became fully operational on July 9, 2024, will support our sales expansion in the US West Coast market.
Corporate Structure and History
Cenntro Inc. was incorporated in the State of Nevada on March 9, 2023, under The Nevada Revised Statutes (the “NRS”). Our principal executive offices are located at 501 Okerson Road, Freehold, New Jersey, 07728, and our telephone number is (732) 820-6757. Our current registered office and current principal place of business in Nevada are located at 701 S. Carson Street, Suite 200, Carson City, NV 89701. Our website address is www.cenntroauto.com.
Cenntro is a holding company incorporated in Nevada and headquartered in New Jersey. As a holding company with no material operations of its own, Cenntro Inc. conducts operations through its subsidiaries in the United States, Australia, Europe, Mexico, Hong Kong, the Dominican Republic, and in the People’s Republic of China, which we refer to as the PRC or China.
On November 5, 2021, our predecessor Naked Brand Group Limited (“NBG”) entered into an acquisition agreement with Cenntro Automotive Group Limited (“CAG”) to effect a combination through reverse merger which occurred on December 30, 2021 (the “Combination”), whereby NBG purchased ordinary shares of CAG to effect the Combination using 174,853,546 ordinary shares (the “Acquisition Shares”) serving as good and valuable consideration. Immediately after the closing of the Combination, we changed our name from “Naked Brand Group Limited” to “Cenntro Electric Group Limited” and the business conducted by Cenntro became the business conducted by the Company. The transaction was accounted for as a reverse recapitalization in which Cenntro was determined to be the accounting acquirer.
On February 27, 2024, our predecessor CEGL, a public company incorporated under the laws of Australia completed the Redomiciliation of CEGL. As a result of the Redomiciliation, the jurisdiction of incorporation of the ultimate parent company of the Cenntro group of companies was changed from Australia to Nevada, and as a result of CEGL becoming a subsidiary of the Company.
Prior to June 30, 2022, the Company historically qualified as a ‘foreign private issuer’ for purposes of reporting under the Exchange Act and filing registration statements under the Securities Act. As of June 30, 2022, or the end of the Company’s second fiscal quarter in 2022, the Company ceased to qualify as a “foreign private issuer” as defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act and Rule 3b-4 under the Exchange Act. Accordingly, effective as of January 1, 2023, the Company became obligated to file reports with the SEC as a “domestic issuer” under the Securities Act.
The following diagram illustrates our current corporate structure as of the date of this report:
On March 22, 2013, Cenntro Motor Corporation (“CMC”) was registered in the State of Delaware. Mr. Peter Wang was the founder and sole director of CMC. CMC conducted business to design and develop electric utility vehicles.
On January 28, 2014, Cenntro Automotives Group Limited (“CAG BVI”) was formed in British Virgin Islands to conduct electric vehicle (“EV”) related business worldwide outside of U.S.A. On January 29, 2014, CAG BVI acquired CMC. CMC changed its name from “Cenntro Motor Corporation” to “Cenntro Motors Corporation” on August 5, 2014, and further changed from “Cenntro Motors Corporation” to “Cenntro Automotive Corporation” on October 7, 2014.
On July 20, 2015, CAG BVI acquired Sinomachinery Equipment Limited, a Hong Kong corporation with its manufacturing subsidiary in PRC, Zhejiang Sinomachinery. Sinomachinery Equipment Limited was renamed Simachinery Equipment Limited on November 2, 2015. Zhejiang Sinomachinery registered Zhejiang Xbean Tech Co. Ltd. in PRC on December 28, 2016.
On August 22, 2014, Cenntro Motors Group Limited was formed in Cayman Islands, which was renamed as Cenntro Automotive Group Limited (“CAG Cayman”) on October 15, 2014.
On February 15, 2016, CAG Cayman formed its subsidiary, CAG HK (formerly Cenntro Automotive (Hong Kong) Limited), in Hong Kong. On March 2, 2016, CAG HK changed its name to “Cenntro Automotive Group Limited”. Subsequently CAG HK took over all Hong Kong and mainland China subsidiaries of CAG Cayman.
On May 6, 2015, CAG HK registered Autotech in PRC.
On May 26, 2016, CAG Cayman merged with CAG BVI and CAG Cayman being the surviving entity. After the merger, all shareholders of CAG BVI automatically became the shareholders of CAG Cayman and the percentage of ownership unchanged. CAG Cayman inherited and took over all existing rights, assets and liabilities of CAG BVI. Subsequently CAG BVI was closed and cancelled. CAG Cayman became the controlling parent company to continue carrying out the business plan and operations.
In August 2016, Autotech acquired 100% equity interest of Hengzhong Tech in PRC.
On June 5, 2017, CAG HK registered Ronda in PRC.
In January 2018, Autotech acquired 100% equity interest of Shengzhou Machinery in PRC.
On December 19, 2018, CAG HK registered Tooniu (formerly Zhejiang Tooniu Tech Co., Ltd.) in PRC, which was relocated and renamed Jiangsu Tooniu Tech Co., Ltd. on November 24, 2022.
On January 20, 2021, CAG HK registered Zhejiang Machinery in PRC to take over and replace Shengzhou Machinery, which is now dormant.
On March 3, 2022, CEGI acquired 100% shares of CEGE (formerly Blitz F22-1 GmbH), a shell company registered on January 13, 2022 in Germany. On November 24, 2023, CEGI transferred 100% shares of CEGE to CEBV.
On March 23, 2022, CEGI acquired 65% of equity interest in CAE (formerly Tropos Motors Europe GmbH), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mosolf SE & Co. KG, a limited liability partnership incorporated under the laws of Germany, (“Mosolf”). On January 31, 2023, CEGI further acquired from Mosolf the remaining 35% equity interest in CAE.
On May 23, 2022, we dissolved both of our previously dormant Nevada subsidiaries Naked Brand Group, Inc. and Naked Inc.
On June 8, 2022, Cennatic was incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware as a wholly-owned subsidiary of CAC. Cennatic in turn incorporated Cennatic MX in Mexico on August 24, 2022. CAC later transferred all shares in Cennatic Power to CEGI on September 30, 2022.
On November 30, 2022, CAC set up CEG DOM, a 99% owned subsidiary in Dominican Republic.
On December 12, 2022, CEGI incorporated its fully subsidiary CEBV in the Netherlands. CEBV further established CEA, a wholly-owned subsidiary in Turkey on February 21, 2023.
On December 16, 2022, CEGE invested in Antric GmbH (“Antric”) and became a 25% shareholder of Antric. On August 31, 2023, CAE acquired the other 75% shares of Antric from Eric Diederich and Moritz Heibrock, the original founders of Antric.
On January 16, 2023, CAC incorporated its wholly-owned subsidiary CA COL in Colombia.
On January 31, 2023, CEGI incorporated its wholly-owned subsidiary Teemak in the state of Delaware. On May 17, 2023, Teemak formed its wholly-owned subsidiary Teemak HK in Hong Kong. On March 6, 2025, Teemak changed its name to Bison Motors Inc.
On February 14, 2023, CEGI acquired all shares of Avantier, a company incorporated on November 17, 2017, in the state of Delaware. Avantier has not been operating since incorporation. On March 13, 2023, Avantier formed its wholly-owned subsidiary Avantier HK in Hong Kong.
On March 29, 2023, CAC incorporated its wholly-owned subsidiary, CE COL, in Colombia.
On May 8, 2023, CEBV established its wholly-owned subsidiary, CEV Italy, in Italy.
On May 19, 2023, CEBV acquired 100% of equity interest in CE Spain in Spain from an individual Don Yong Wang.
On August 3, 2023, CEGI incorporated its wholly-owned subsidiary, PEC, in the state of Delaware.
On August 24, 2023, CEGI incorporated its wholly-owned subsidiary, CTC, in the state of California.
On March 9, 2023, Cenntro Inc. was incorporated under the laws of the state of Nevada.
On February 27, 2024, pursuant to the Redomiciliation CEGL became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cenntro Inc. As a result of the Redomiciliation, the jurisdiction of incorporation of the ultimate parent company of the Cenntro group of companies was changed from Australia to Nevada, and as a result of CEGL becoming a subsidiary of the Company.
Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act
Pursuant to the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (the “HFCAA”), if the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “PCAOB”), is unable to inspect an issuer’s auditors for three consecutive years, the issuer’s securities are prohibited to trade on a U.S. stock exchange. The PCAOB issued a Determination Report on December 16, 2021 (the “Determination Report”) which found that the PCAOB was unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in: (1) mainland China of the People’s Republic of China because of a position taken by one or more authorities in mainland China; and (2) Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region and dependency of the PRC, because of a position taken by one or more authorities in Hong Kong. Furthermore, the Determination Report identified the specific registered public accounting firms which are subject to these determinations. On December 23, 2022, United States Senate passed the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (the “AHFCAA”), which amended the HFCA Act by requiring the SEC to prohibit an issuer’s securities from trading on any U.S. stock exchanges if its auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspections for two consecutive years instead of three. If trading of our shares of Common Stock is prohibited under the HFCA Act in the future because the PCAOB determines that it cannot inspect or fully investigate our auditor at such future time, Nasdaq may determine to delist our Common Stock.
On August 26, 2022, the PCAOB signed the SOP Agreements with the CSRC and China’s Ministry of Finance. The SOP Agreements established a specific, accountable framework to make possible complete inspections and investigations by the PCAOB of audit firms based in mainland China and Hong Kong, as required under U.S. law.
On December 15, 2022, the PCAOB announced its completion of inspections and investigations of PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong in 2022. Accordingly, the PCAOB vacated its Determination Report. As a result, we do not expect to be identified as a “Commission-Identified Issuer” under the HFCAA for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, after we file our annual report on Form 10-K for such fiscal year. However, whether the PCAOB will continue to conduct inspections and investigations of PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong completely to its satisfaction is subject to uncertainty and depends on several factors out of our, and our auditor’s, control. Such factors include positions taken by authorities of the PRC. We expect the PCAOB will continue to demand complete access to inspections and investigations to accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong in the future and the PCAOB has stated that it has made plans to resume regular inspections in early 2023 and beyond.
Under the HFCAA, the PCAOB is required to make its determination on an annual basis with regards to its ability to fully inspect and investigate accounting firms based in mainland China and Hong Kong. The possibility of being a “Commission-Identified Issuer” under the HFCAA and risk of delisting could continue to adversely affect the trading price of our securities. Should the PCAOB again encounter impediments to inspections and investigations in mainland China or Hong Kong as a result of positions taken by any authority in either jurisdiction, the PCAOB will issue new determinations under the HFCAA as and when appropriate.
Our current auditor, GGF CPA LTD (“GGF”), (fka Guangzhou Good Faith CPA LTD), the independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included in this annual report on Form 10-K, as a firm registered with the PCAOB (PCAOB ID:2729), is subject to laws in the U.S. pursuant to which the PCAOB conducts regular inspections to assess its compliance with the applicable professional standards. GGF, whose audit report is included in this report, is headquartered in Guangzhou, China. While our auditor is based in the PRC and is registered with PCAOB and subject to PCAOB inspection, in the event it is later determined that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely the Company’s auditor because of a position taken by an authority in a foreign jurisdiction, then such lack of inspection could cause trading of our securities to be prohibited under the HFCA Act, and ultimately result in a determination by a securities exchange to delist the Company’s securities. The PCAOB continues to demand complete access in mainland China and Hong Kong moving forward and resumed regular inspections in 2023 and beyond, as well as to continue pursuing ongoing investigations and initiate new investigations as needed. The PCAOB has also indicated that it will act immediately to consider the need to issue new determinations with the HFCA Act, if needed.
Transfers of Cash to and from Our Subsidiaries
Cash transfers through the Company since inception are primarily attributed to: 1) capital contribution from CEGL to its subsidiaries; 2) shareholder loans from CEGL to its subsidiaries; or 3) payment from one group company to another through intercompany transactions. During the year ended December 31, 2024, the total material cash transfer of other assets within the organization was approximately USD$17.1 million. An aggregate amount of USD 3.7 million was transferred from operating subsidiaries to the holding companies as repayment to intercompany advances. As of the date of this report, none of our operating subsidiaries have made any dividend or distributions to the holding company or through the intermediate holding companies, or to investors including U.S. investors.
Our subsidiaries are permitted to pay dividends to us only out of their accumulated profits. Additionally, each of our subsidiaries in the PRC must make appropriations from after-tax profit to a statutory surplus reserve fund. The reserve fund requires an annual appropriation of 10% of after-tax profit (determined under accounting principles generally accepted in the PRC at each year-end) after offsetting accumulated losses from prior years until such reserve reaches 50% of the subsidiary’s registered capital. The reserve fund can only be used to increase the registered capital and eliminate further losses of the respective companies under PRC regulations. These reserves are not distributable as cash dividends, loans or advances. A PRC company cannot distribute any profits until any losses from the prior fiscal years have been offset. Profits retained from prior fiscal years may be distributed together with distributable profits from the current fiscal year. Total restrictions placed on the distribution of the Company’s PRC subsidiaries’ net assets were approximately $53.3 million, or 68.4% of the Company’s total consolidated net assets as of December 31, 2024.
In addition, under the regulations of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange of the PRC (“SAFE”), Renminbi is not convertible into foreign currencies for capital account items, such as loans, repatriation of investments, and investments outside of China, unless the prior approval of the SAFE is obtained and prior registration with the SAFE is made.
Our Industry
The ECV Market
According to a March 2025 report by Virtue Market Research, the global EV market was valued at approximately $561.3 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach approximately $1.58 trillion by 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate of 19% from 2023 to 2030. Factors such as increases in demand for fuel-efficient, high-performance and low-emission vehicles, along with stringent government rules and regulations toward vehicle emissions are expected to drive the growth of the electric vehicle market. In comparison, Statista projects the global electric commercial vehicle (ECV) market to reach revenues of $623.3 billion in 2024, with a steady annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2028) of 9.82%, reaching $906.7 billion by 2028.
Many governments around the world, including the United States, China, Germany, and various other European countries, are regulating vehicle emissions and fuel economy standards and offering incentives to commercial and government operators to purchase more energy efficient vehicles. The mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from internal combustion engine (“ICE”) vehicles is an integral part of various nations’ strategies to meet the objectives of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which the United States rejoined in February 2021. As of the date of this report, over 25 countries have made announcements regarding their intention to phase out ICE vehicles include the following:
| • | China: Plans for battery-electric, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles to constitute 20% of new car sales by 2025 and a majority by 2035; |
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| • | France: Aims to phase out ICE vehicle sales by 2040; |
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| • | Germany: No registration of ICE vehicles by 2035 (aligns with the EU’s regulations); cities can ban diesel cars; |
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| • | India: 30% of vehicle sales to be electric by 2030, with incentive programs in place; |
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| • | Japan: Incentive program in place for EV and hybrids sales; and |
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| • | United Kingdom: Ban the sale of new ICE cars starting in 2035. |
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In the United States, the former Biden administration announced plans to achieve net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050. In 2021, President Biden signed an executive order to replace over 600,000 civilian federal vehicles with U.S.-made zero-emission models and set a target to make half of all new vehicles electric by 2030. The administration also aimed to install over 500,000 EV chargers nationwide and expand tax credits and incentives for EVs and related manufacturing. In November 2021, President Biden signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which included $7.5 billion for EV charging infrastructure and $6 billion for domestic battery production and recycling. In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act was enacted, offering a 30% tax credit for commercial ECVs and allocating additional funds under the Diesel Emission Reduction Act to support the commercial EV market. While federal policy support varies, many states are independently driving EV adoption through financial incentives, emissions regulations, and infrastructure investments. Several states in the United States have also announced the ban ofnew ICE vehicles including California and New York by 2035. The state of California is leading the nation with stringent emission standards and a target to phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. The California Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP) offers rebates of up to $7,500 for EV purchases.
Incentive programs and new regulations affecting passenger and commercial vehicles vary by country. However, there is strong sentiment to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions from leading governments. For heavy-duty vehicles, the European Union mandated a 15% reduction in CO2 emissions (from 2019 levels) by 2025 and a 30% reduction target (from 2019 levels) by 2030. Also, by 2025, manufacturers will be required to ensure that at least a 2% market share of the sales of new vehicles is made up of zero-and-low-emission vehicles to counteract steadily increasing road traffic emissions. For light-duty vehicles, the European Union has mandated a 15% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2025 and a 31% reduction target by 2030. The European Union may impose financial penalties on vehicle manufacturers for failure to achieve certain CO2 emission targets imposed on such manufacturers, with such penalties scaling upward based on the level of CO2 emission exceedance for their vehicles. We believe that increasing government regulations and incentives, together with shifting consumer preferences, will encourage significant growth in the market for ECVs.
The Hydrogen Vehicle Market
The global hydrogen vehicle market is projected to experience significant growth over the next few decades, driven by government incentives, advancements in fuel cell technology, and increasing environmental regulations. As of 2024, the global hydrogen vehicle market is projected to experience substantial growth, driven by advancements in fuel cell technology and government incentives. According to Markets and Data, the market is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 31.94% from 2025 to 2032, reaching approximately $19.92 billion by 2032. According to Fortune Business Insights, the market is segmented by range, with long-range hydrogen vehicles (above 500 miles) expected to see the highest growth due to demand for commercial fleets, trucks, and intercity buses. The North American market, led by California, is also seeing growth due to strong policy support and investments in refueling infrastructure.
United States: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has allocated $9.5 billion for clean hydrogen development, with additional state-level incentives such as California’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project and the Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
European Union: The EU Hydrogen Strategy aims to install at least 40 GW of electrolyzer capacity by 2030. Countries like Germany, France, and the UK have introduced grants and tax incentives to promote hydrogen mobility.
China: The government offers subsidies of up to $19,000 per hydrogen vehicle and aims to deploy 1 million fuel cell vehicles by 2035.
Japan & South Korea: These nations provide heavy incentives for hydrogen infrastructure and have ambitious targets for fuel cell vehicle adoption and refueling stations expansion
Last-mile Delivery and City Services
The last-mile delivery market in the United States and the European Union is quickly expanding, driven by the rapid growth in the e-commerce industry resulting from consumer preference for faster deliveries, significant increases in online purchases after 2020 and governmental focus on low emission urban logistics models. We believe consumer behavior will accelerate the online transformation of retail businesses and the expected need for efficient last-mile delivery ECVs.
We believe there is a growing sustainability trend among companies to reduce their carbon footprint and incorporate ECVs into their commercial delivery fleets. A number of well-established companies, such as Amazon, FedEx, UPS and Walmart, have made announcements about their intentions to reduce CO2 emissions and/or become carbon-neutral by a specified future date. A number of these companies have committed to purchase large quantities of ECVs (some of which are not yet commercially available) to transition their fleets over the next several years, with a focus on enhancing their last-mile delivery services, as well as lowering their operating costs, all while reducing their carbon footprint.
Our Products
As an electric commercial vehicle (“ECV”) provider, we have developed a full line of vehicle models to meet the market demand and fit various commercial needs and applications. As of the date of this report, we offer five series of commercial vehicle models and some electric charged products that are ready to be sold on the global markets. We are also developing heavy duty trucks in US Class 6 and Class 8 categories.
The Metro®
The Metro® is a customizable ECV used in commercial applications such as city utility services (i.e., street cleaners, firetrucks and garbage trucks) and last-mile delivery. The Metro® was “born electric,” meaning that, unlike many other ECVs that are converted from existing ICE designs, the Metro® was purpose-built from inception to be highly energy efficient and providing for a greater range, implementing a number of proprietary design elements, including a lightweight structure and efficient power system.
The Metro® chassis is designed with a unique cab-forward feature. By moving the cab of the Metro® forward over the front wheels, we have been able to increase its cargo volume ratio and decrease the cost of materials used in its manufacturing. In addition, the chassis of the Metro® has been designed to support a variety of fittings, allowing the vehicle to be used for a number of different applications, which we believe is a feature rarely offered by other ECV manufacturers and gives us the opportunity to market the Metro® to a wider array of potential end-users. We believe our lightweight chassis structure and cab-forward design of the Metro® enable greater payload and cargo volume with lower vehicle weight and smaller vehicle size, compared to other like-size ECVs. Our modular vehicle design enables us to manufacture a wide range of variations of Metro® models around a uniform chassis structure.
The Metro® complies with all applicable vehicle safety standards related to light-duty commercial vehicles in North America and the Asian and European countries in which it is sold. The Metro® has passed N1 homologation requirements in Asia. We have obtained EU Small Series Type Approval for our new model of the Metro® under N1 vehicle classification, which includes an annual sales limitation of 1,500 units into the European Union market. In the United States, the Metro® qualifies as a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (an “NEV”) with low-speed modifications, and, as a result, is not required to pass the United States high speed front-end impact test. NEVs are built to have a top speed of 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) and have a maximum loaded weight of 3,000 lbs. (1,400 kgs) and are classified by the United States Department of Transportation as low-speed vehicles. This qualification generally limits the Metro® to roads with posted maximum speed limits of 35 miles per hour (56 km/h). Under the EU Small Series N1 Type Approval, the Metro® does not have comparable speed limitations in the European Union.
Logistar™ Series
Logistar™ Series are the vehicles for on-road applications with the gross vehicle weight rate (“GVWR”) under 19,500 lbs. It consists of Logistar 100 (LS100), Logistar 200 (LS200), Logistar 210 (LS210), Logistar 260 (LS260), Logistar 300 (LS300), Logistar 400 (LS400), and Logistar 450 (LS450). LS100, LS200, LS210, and LS260 meet with European Union regulatory requirement and are mainly targeted for European markets, and LS300, LS400 and LS450 meet with U.S. regulatory requirements and are mainly targeted for North American markets.
The Logistar™ 400 is a medium-duty electric commercial truck designed to meet the delivery requirements of tier 1 logistics companies as well as upfitters. The Logistar™ 400 is a U.S. Class 4 (over 14,000 lbs.) truck under U.S. truck classification. It can be configured as a delivery van or a shuttle bus or equipped with a cargo box or a truck bed. In addition, the Logistar™ 400 can be upfitted for different applications of city service, such as a vending truck, fire truck, garbage truck and repair truck. We expect that the most common use of the Logistar™ 400 will be for intra-city delivery. The Logistar™ 400 has a cargo volume that is over three times the cargo volume of the Metro® and a payload capacity more than seven times the payload capacity of the Metro®. As of the date of this report, the homologation status of the Logistar™ 400 has been completed. On June 23, we received certification for our LS400 by the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) as a zero-emission vehicle in the state of California. The certification is awarded to vehicle manufacturers who meet specific emissions standards in compliance with California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) regulations. In December 2022, the LS400 previously received its certificate of conformity from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”). Because we received credentials from both CARB and the EPA, we can now sell our LS400 in every state throughout the U.S.
In December 2023, the LS400 received approval from the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) to participate in California’s Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (“HVIP”) in the state of California, providing a $60,000 point-of-sale voucher for the Company’s customers. The LS400’s certification as a zero-emission vehicle cleared the way for the LS400 to be approved for participation in the HVIP.
The approval to participate in the HVIP program is awarded to vehicle manufacturers, like Cenntro, that meet specific on-road zero-emission powertrain standards in compliance with CARB regulations. California’s HVIP incentive program is intended to advance adoption and commercialization of fleet vehicles, helping to reduce the total cost of ownership of hybrid and zero-emission commercial vehicles in the state of California. On December 27, 2024, we received notice from California’s HVIP incentive program that our LS400 model has been removed from HVIP eligibility. We are actively working with HVIP to address vehicle eligibility.
We have also designed the Logistar™ 200, a multi-purpose vehicle customized for transporting light goods specifically for the EU market. The Logistar™ 200 is designed to qualify as an N1 category truck in the European Union and is available in three models: (i) as avan, (ii) as a flat-bed truck, and (iii) as a cargo truck. Each of the three models is specialized for last-mile delivery, city delivery and city services. We completed homologation of the Logistar™ 200 in the European Union in January 2022 and it is commercially available in the EU market, and countries that adopt EU vehicle homologations. We introduced the LS210 model in October 2024, following its successful homologation in the European Union on May 10, 2024. While the LS210 maintains similar specifications to the LS200, it features significant improvements and new capabilities. The LS210 will replace the LS200, and we plan to discontinue marketing and sales of the LS200 in 2025 once existing inventory is depleted.
The Logistar™ 260, or LS 260, is positioned above the Logistar 200 and defines a new size in the van segment. With dimensions of 5.50 meters long, 1.85 meters wide and a height of 2 meters, the LS 260 offers a cargo space of 7.5 cubic meters or 265 cubic feet, two side loading doors and convenient rear doors with a loading opening of up to 270°. The load volume, payload and range of the Logistar™ 260 will be targeted for a wide range of applications in the trades, couriers, express and parcel services, logistics solutions, and facility management. As of the date of this report, the LS 260 passed all homologation tests in accordance with European Union (EU) standards and requirements and receive EU type approval.
The Logistar™ 100, or LS 100, is a versatile, compact light cargo van purpose-built to serve diverse commercial applications, especially in population-dense urban areas. The vehicle has a range of 74 miles (118 kilometers) (WLTP), 1151 lbs. (525 kg) of payload, and a cargo capacity of 73.3 cubic feet (2 cubic meters). The combination of its cargo space and multiple entry points at the side and rear of the vehicle makes the LS100 ideal for multiple applications, including package delivery, trade and maintenance services, hospitality, and catering. The LS100 completed all homologation tests in compliance with the standards and requirements of the European Union (EU) in July and received type approval from the EU in August. As a result, and as of the date of this report, the LS100 is eligible for sale in all 27 EU member states and other countries that adopt EU vehicle homologation standards.
We have decided to discontinue marketing and selling the LS100 product line as part of our strategic shift toward heavier commercial vehicles. Once we complete selling our remaining LS100 inventory, we will focus on serving our commercial vehicle customers who require heavier-duty trucks.
In January 2023, we introduced the Logistar™ 300 (LS300) in a full-size van segment. The LS 300 sets a new benchmark for all electric commercial work trucks. This model boasts 370 cubic feet of storage space and a payload of 3307 lbs. along with a range of 270 miles. The vehicle can also be made available either as a van or as cab chassis that may be customized. On March 1 2024, we received EPA certification and on June 21 2024, we received California CARB certification for LS300. In July 2024, we assembled LS300DV (Delivery Van Version) and LS300C (Cargo version) in our Ontario Facility and introduced them in US West Coast markets.
We have introduced the Logistar™ 450 (LS450) both in US and Europe markets. It is classified as Class 4 truck in US and as M2 Type in Europe. LS400 has four different configurations (versions), Cab-chassis version, cargo truck version, delivery van version, and passenger van version. The cab-chassis version, cargo truck version, and delivery van version are targeting US markets and passenger van version is target Europe markets. We have completed compliances with DOT requirements by the end of 2023. We received certificate from EPA on September 14, 2023, CARB GHG certificate from CARB on December 14, 2023, and CARB ZEP certificate from CARB on May 24, 2024. Currently our LS450 passenger version are sold with an OEM arrangement with QEV. Our certificate of LS450 passenger van for European Union type approval is in process.
LogiMax Series
The LogiMax Series includes vehicle models of U.S. classification from Class 5 to Class 8 with GVWR over 26,000 lbs. There are two vehicle models within this series which include: the LogiMax 600 (LM600) and LogiMax 860H (LM860H). Currently, LM600 and LM860H are still under development, and we expect that those models shall be available for US market in the second half 2024.
The LM600 is a median-duty electric truck under US Class 6 classifications. LM600 will be used mainly for city goods transportation, such as transporting goods from local warehouses to local supermarkets. We expect LM600 will be available for the US market in the third quarter 2025.
The LogiMax 860M (LM860H), which was previously called LM864H in 2023, is a 6x4 semi-tractor hydrogen fuel cells. The LM860H has a total weight of 39 tons and is designed for short- and long-haul applications. The semi-tractor’s electric motors are fully powered by high-efficiency sustainable hydrogen fuel cells with eight 210-liter banks that convert hydrogen into electric power by combining it with oxygen, producing only water as byproduct. Additionally, the LM860H has an operational range and refueling time comparable to many diesel trucks making it suitable for longer distances and heavy, energy-intensive responsibilities in areas where battery charging is limited. The LM860H prototype model represents an additional zero emissions product choice from Cenntro that is performance-heavy despite also being a sustainable vehicle. We introduced our first-generation LM864H model in 2022. After years of continued development, we plan to launch our second-generation LM860H model in Q2 2025. We are currently completing DOT compliance requirements and obtaining EPA and CARB certifications.
Teemak™ Series
Our Teemak™ Series are off-road vehicle models for field utility applications, including The Teemak™ and Teemak™ TB. The Teemak™ is designed for off-road applications for utility or leisure use. The Teemak™ TB is designed for agricultural and forestry uses and currently meets all EU vehicle type regulatory requirements. To optimize our product portfolio, we have strategically realigned our resources to accelerate the development and launch of our heavy truck series. While we have temporarily paused the Teemak™ Series production, this strategic decision allows us to strengthen our position in the on-road ECV market. We anticipate exploring opportunities to reintroduce an enhanced Teemak™ Series in late 2025, leveraging our expanded capabilities and market insights.
Avantier™ Series
The Avantier™ Series are our micro ECV models. This series includes two vehicle models, the Avantier™c and the Avantier™α. They are smaller in size and are purpose-built for dense urban uses. The Avantier™c is a two-seater utility ECV while Avantier™αis a four-seater passenger EV. In 2024, we introduced two new models to the Avantier Series: the Avantier Ex and Avantier Commuter. The Avantier Ex is similar to the Avantierc but offers more competitive pricing. The Avantier Commuter, also a four-passenger EV, features a larger size. Both new models target markets outside the USA. We received European Union Type M1K approval for the Avantier Commuter on August 21, 2024, and European Union Type LS7e approval for the Avantier Ex on January 15, 2025.
Antric One
The Antic One is a cargo bike designed for last mile city logistics. It is especially designed for- and useful in-narrow city streets and pedestrian zones. One unique selling proposition for the Antic One compared to other vehicles is, that the Antic One is a cargo-bike. Thus, no driver’s license is required to operate it and the Antic One is permitted to use bike lanes, which makes the vehicle particularly agile in dense city centers. Another advantage includes the Antic One’s exchangeable batteries. A battery-swap for the Antic One takes less than a minute and each swap enables the driver to ride for approximately 50 km. Compared to other cargo bikes the Antric One has a robust construction, cargo volume and payload (>2m 3 volume, 270kg payload in the container). The production for Antic One began in November 2022. The production of our advanced version of the Antric One commenced in February 2024. We anticipate the advanced version of the Antric One to be less expensive to produce while maintaining its high quality. We intend to include new features to this second generation Antic One that will make riding easier and more comfortable.
Cenntro iChassis™
As a technology leader, we developed Cenntro iChassis™, which was previously referred to as the ePortee™, an open-platform and programmable (‘smart’) chassis product. The iChassis™ is designed to be a basic modular building block for use by automakers and special vehicle upfitters in the design of automated or autonomous driving vehicles.
Through our advancements in vehicle digitization and digital control (‘drive-by-wire’) capabilities, we commercially launched this product as an industry pioneer. The Cenntro iChassis™ allows third-party developers to integrate detection devices (i.e., lidar, radar, ultra-sound, infrared and other sensory devices) and third-party or proprietary decision-making software to permit vehicles based on the programmable chassis to be driven autonomously. We sold 911 iChassis in 2024.
Our Product Development and Manufacturing Process
Our capability of vehicle development is at the core of what we believe positions us to compete effectively in the ECV market. Since inception in 2013 through December 31, 2024, we have spent approximately USD94.4 million in research and development activities related to our operations, developing various technologies and products, including the following:
Vehicle Development
We have allocated resources and efforts for vehicles that we believe the market demands. We have developed ten vehicle models: Metro®, LS100, LS200, LS210, LS260, LS300, LS400, LS450, Teemak™, and Avantier™. In addition, we are in the process of developing our LM860H hydrogen fuel-cell powered semi-tractor, the LS600 (Class 6), and LM860B (Class 8), a hybrid powered vehicle model for the US market. We believe successful vehicle development will put us in a position to become a leading Greener Energy Commercial Vehicle provider who offers a full line of electric and hydrogen powered commercial vehicles.
Vehicle Charger Development
We have developed level 2 AC chargers (7kw/10kw) and level 3 DC chargers (120kw), which have received EU CE and US ETL certificates. These chargers will support the charge of the vehicles that we sell to our customers as well as the vehicles that are made by other auto manufacturers as long as they meet the EU (Mennekes/CCS2) and USA (J1772/CCS1) standards. In 2024, we added a new 60KWH mobile charger.
Electric vehicle chargers are essential for ECV users to charge their ECV for daily use. Many ECV users need to install their own charging stations instead of relying on public charge stations. It would be more convenient and more practical if our customers could purchase their vehicle chargers directly from us when they buy ECVs from us. It will be guaranteed that the charger will work with our vehicle seamlessly.
Manufacturing
We have established an asset-light manufacturing business model under both a distributed manufacturing model and original equipment manufacturing (“OEM”) model. Our distributed manufacturing model focuses on the production of semi-knock down vehicle kits from our centralized manufacturing facilities which are then distributed for local final assembly. Alternatively, we work with tier-one automakers under our OEM model who produce completed vehicles for us that meet our design and specifications.
Under our distributed manufacturing model, some of our vehicle models have a modular design that allows for local assembly in small factory facilities which require less capital investment. We manufacture our own vehicle kits in our facilities in China where we leverage the economies of scale coupled with our mature supply-chain to efficiently manufacture vehicle kits.
Under our OEM manufacturing model, we contracted well established third-party automobile manufacturers, such as Seres, Chery, and JMC, to manufacture vehicle kits and completed vehicles for us. In some cases, we provide technology and vehicle modules to the OEM contractors.
We believe our distributed manufacturing and OEM manufacturing methodologies allows us to execute our business plan with less capital than would be required by the traditional, vertically integrated automotive model and, in the long-term, drive higher profit margins.
As of the date of this report, we are operating four manufacturing and/or assembly facilities: two in the US (Ontario, California and Freehold, New Jersey) and two in China (Changxing and Yangzhong). In 2024, we terminated operation at our assembly facilities in Jacksonville, Florida, and Herne in Germany. We are also closing battery manufacturing facility in Monterrey in Mexico and considering relocating the operations to the United States, which will help us navigate geopolitical changes, access specialized talent in battery technology, and improve operational efficiency through closer integration with our existing US facilities.
Our Distribution and Service Infrastructure
We have established our distribution and service infrastructure, which consists of our wholly owned local Electric Vehicle Centers (“EV Centers”), local dealer networks, parts fulfillment centers, and local service providers. We continuously develop, expand, and improve our distribution and service infrastructure. We believe that having a good and capable distribution and service infrastructure is essential for our business. We have invested many resources to build this distribution and service infrastructure. We believe a wholly owned distribution and service infrastructure is important to an automobile manufacturer like us. To that end, we have decided to build our own distribution and service infrastructure after we secured sufficient capital to do so.
We distribute and sell our products directly by our corporate sales department or by our local EV Centers. We also distribute and sell our products through our local dealer networks in Europe and in the United States, which are developed by our local EV Centers.
We provide our services through our local EV centers, our local dealers, or our local service providers. To support our local service providers or dealers, our local EV centers provide training and support to our local dealers and local service providers.
To improve efficiency in distribution, sales, and services, we have begun introducing local distribution channels alongside our existing EV Centers. As these new distribution channels are gradually replacing our local EV Centers, we are considering closing some EV Center locations. This shift toward distribution channels will improve service quality, enhance cash flow, reduce inventory burden, and significantly lower our operational costs.
Our Parts Distribution System (“PARDISYS”)
We have invested resources into our cloud-based parts distribution system because we believe an effective and efficient parts distribution system is important for vehicle after-market support and customer satisfaction. Through our cloud-based parts distribution system we globally provide and timely deliver spare-parts to our service providers and customers. The cloud-based system also keeps our parts inventory leaner and more responsive to better manage our working capital more efficiently.
In order to satisfy that goal, we established two production-side parts warehouses in Changxing, China and Yangzhong, China which store our produced parts that can be locally sourced on a global scale. Our warehouses can send the parts globally in response to orders from our website that customers can place. Based on the local demand data, our cloud-based parts distribution system will make determinations on when to send certain parts from production-site warehouses to remote warehouses for quicker local delivery. As of December 31, 2024, we have established two spare-parts fulfillment warehouses in Barcelona, Spain, and Freehold, New Jersey.
Sales and Marketing
We believe that the quality and reputation of our products and our distribution and service infrastructure will support the company’s goals to retain and attract new customers.
We distribute and sell our products to our end-customers through our wholly-owned EV Centers and through our network of Cenntro dealers and distributors. Previously, Cenntro sold its products through a channel partner network which enabled each partner to distribute products under respective private labels. While this model offered benefits of leveraging sales through each partners customer network; are partners ‘white labeled’ our vehicles which diluted our brand value and placed too much of Cenntro’s reliance in each channel partner’s ability to conduct marketing in order to drive sales. With the expansion of our product lines, our ECV distribution model required a shift from strict reliance on channel partners to a hybrid model that utilizes both select channel partners and combines direct sales with established regional dealers and branded EV Centers.
Under a strictly channel partner distribution model, we had little control over sales and quality. Through our EV Center model, we will have better assurance of our product quality, reduce our overhead, improve customer satisfaction and enhance our brand recognition. Furthermore, our EV Center model will allow us to distribute our products directly in US as well as through established dealers and resellers.
This hybrid model will enable the company to scale to meet demand, provide enhance control of the marketing and sales of its products, and parts support. Our EV Centers have become the hub for distribution and provide marketing, technical training, logistical, and after-market support to Cenntro’s regional dealers, strategic partners and customers. Further, Cenntro’s EV Centers work with well-established commercial vehicles dealers to build out and scale markets. We believe this hybrid model will serve us and our customers to improve customer satisfaction and enhance our brand recognition.
The Company’s distribution and service infrastructure also includes the development of a cloud-based parts distribution system as a global spare parts fulfillment system. This system will enhance the after-sales spare parts support for our appointed service providers as well as our enterprise customers in servicing our commercial electric vehicles.
In 2024, we began closing select EV centers while establishing local distribution channels.
In key strategic markets, including Japan, the Company has maintained channel partners relationships. For example, the company’s Japanese channel partner HW Electro, has established deep relationships with renowned companies in Japan’s transportation and logistics sector. This channel partner has in turn represented and sold our brand and the company’s product line allowing Cenntro’s EVCs to gain early market share.
Suppliers and Customers
Our Integrated Supply Chain
We have invested significant time and resources in developing a supply chain capable of providing all of the components and materials necessary to manufacture our ECVs. Our integrated supply chain is comprised of over 500 suppliers located in China and various other countries. Our vehicle designs share many of the same component parts, including the battery module, battery control, motor control and vehicle control, allowing us to achieve significant cost efficiencies in our supply chain. Generally, our suppliers undergo rigorous testing before we onboard them as a supplier, including quality and process auditing, product verification, regulatory compliance and reliability testing. Our suppliers must demonstrate that they can consistently deliver their specialized parts on time, while meeting our quality and product specifications. Many of our components are based on Cenntro-developed designs, and our suppliers are contractually restricted from selling our customized components to any third parties unless we discontinue our purchases from such suppliers.
Currently, materials and components for our Metro® are shipped to our Changxing facilities and for Teemak, LS300, and LS400 are shipped to our Yangzhong facilities, where we manufacture key components for and vehicle kits or completed vehicle of our Metro®, Teemak, LS300, and LS400 models for assembly and shipment. Components for our new ECV models are shipped directly to our assembly and manufacturing sites that fully assemble vehicles for their local markets. Since substantially all of our manufacturing to date has been conducted in China (through both our facilities and those of our manufacturing partners), sourcing our components in China has been more cost-effective than sourcing components outside of China, and we believe it has reduced risks arising from shipping delays and importing inefficiencies.
In the long-term, through our deep supply chain development know-how, we plan to geographically expand our supply chain to support our planned growth. More specifically, we intend to establish supply chain relationships in North America and the European Union to support our manufacturing and assembly needs in these markets, thereby reducing the time in transit and potentially the duties associated with importing our components and spare parts from China. We believe we can reduce the overall cost of ECV assembly by shifting to a “merge in transit” model, whereby component shipments from suppliers, including local market suppliers, are consolidated at our local assembly facilities for final ECV assembly.
Historically, we have generally obtained components from multiple sources whenever possible, similar to other automotive manufacturers. However, a small number of components used in our ECVs are purchased from a single-source, which we refer to as our single-source suppliers. For example, while several sources for the airbag module in the Metro® are available, we currently have only one supplier for this component. We generally do not maintain long-term agreements with our single-source suppliers. The vast majority of our components have alternative sources and we do not anticipate that finding qualified alternative sources for any particular component, including single-source supplier components, will be a material concern.
We use various raw materials in our business including aluminum, steel, carbon fiber, non-ferrous metals such as copper, lithium, nickel and cobalt, as well as key component inputs such as semiconductors. The prices for these raw materials and key components fluctuate depending on market conditions and global demand. We believe that we have adequate supplies or sources of availability of the raw materials necessary to meet our manufacturing and supply requirements. There are always risks and uncertainties, however, with respect to the supply of raw materials that could impact their availability in sufficient quantities or reasonable prices to meet our needs. For example, beginning in late 2020, the automotive industry has been subject to a shortage of semiconductors due to a spike in demand and a series of supply chain issues relating to COVID-19.
Our Growth Strategy
We intend to be a leading global designer, developer and manufacturer of a full range of ECVs from electric light models to and heavy-duty ECVs models. The key elements of our growth strategy include:
To Expand Our Cenntro Branded Global Marketing sales and after-sales support network (i.e. EV Centers) to Rebalance our Distribution Network in selected countries
Until the end of 2021, we outsourced the majority of distribution and marketing for our vehicles to third party “channel partners”. Similarly, we substantially relied on private label channel partners to assemble the Metro® from vehicle kits that we manufactured in our China-based facilities. While these relationships allowed the Company to forego expensive capital investments it significantly diluted our brand value and left the Company fully reliant on third parties to scale markets for our ECVs. To further expand our market presence and control our growth we shifted our distribution strategy to our wholly owned and operated EV Centers. In conjunction with the introduction of our new ECV models, we believe operating our own EV Centers will improve brand awareness, effectively scale market penetration and better align product supply to meet demand. Our EV Centers are established locally and provide for local marketing, sales, technical and after-market parts support. Our regional EV Centers will also recruit and develop local dealers and service providers to support expansion of their local networks. As a result of the implementation of this new go-to-market model, in the first quarter of 2022, we terminated two channel partners in the United States. In March 2022 and March 2023, we acquired 65% and further 35% equity interest of TME and gained complete control of our largest channel partner in Europe based in Germany. We rebranded TME to become Cenntro Automobile Europe (i.e. CAE).
During late 2021, Cenntro Automotive Corporation (“CAC”) began utilizing one of our two facilities in Freehold, New Jersey for the trial production of our Logistar™ 400 model. We also have established a European Operations Center in Dusseldorf, Germany, which provides marketing support, after-market support and spare-parts warehousing for the European market, as well as warehousing services with a logistics company in Budapest, Hungary to house spare parts for our ECVs. We established a local assembly facility in Jacksonville, Florida, where we plan to scale assembly of the Logistar™ 400, the Metro® and the Teemak™ for distribution in the North American market. We believe maintaining a local assembly facility in Germany will provide us with access to well-established hardware and logistics systems and trained personnel. We began trial assembly operations at the Jacksonville facility in March 2023 and the Onterio facility in September 2023. We expect that our full acquisition of CAE will allow us to expand local assembly capacity in the European Union for production some of our EU ECV models, including the Metro® series, Teemak® and Antric®.
During 2022, we began to establish a hybrid distribution model that combines our EV Centers, established dealers with select channel partners. Throughout 2023, we opened eleven EV centers mainly in the US and the EU and cooperate with few channel partners in selected strategic markets, such as Japan in east-Asia. We believe transitioning our third-party reliant distribution model to a hybrid model will provide economic advantages and reduce time to market for our ECVs. To further strengthen this hybrid model and improve operating efficiency, we began closing select EV Centers in 2024 while establishing local distribution channels. At date of this report, we maintained five operational EV centers in Germany, Spain, New Jersy and California in the US, and China.
To Brand our Global Market Sales and After Sales Support Network via our Distribution Channels
Our manufacturing model has traditionally relied on developing supply chain relationships with component vendors and specifically through a network of third-party supply partners. From 2022 onwards we shifted our focus from solely investing in our own manufacturing capabilities to a contract manufacturing strategy. To this end, we work closely with proven suppliers for components and parts in order for the Company to utilize a less capital-intensive path to product development. Correspondingly, we also re-aligned our distribution model from a majority of channel partners and country importers to a hybrid approach combining building our own branded local EV Centers with developing our distribution channels. Our regional EV Centers are wholly-owned subsidiaries that distribute, market, and sell parts in addition to providing after market support for Cenntro distribution channels and dealers. Our implementation strategy focuses on setting EV Centers in targeted local regions to distribute our ECVs mainly through local dealer distribution networks and value-added re-sellers.
We believe our strategy to manage and support our EV Centers and distribution network will distinguish Cenntro from other traditional EV automakers and build a solid distribution and service infrastructure in local markets. We believe this shift will enhance our market penetration, and ability to be more responsive to market feedback and customer input. Local EV Centers will bolster our local presence in sales markets to help Cenntro become perceived and associated with better products and while enhancing our ability to provide hands-on service. In the meantime, with the hybrid model, we also cooperate with large-scale distributors to improve market penetration and utilize local dealer networks with their existing sales and service capabilities for quicker market penetration and reduction on capital requirements. This two-tier approach will achieve our sales control and building our own sales capability but also benefit from distributor’s existing sales capabilities.
As of the date of this report, our distribution and service infrastructure consist of two EV Centers in Europe, two EV Centers in North America, and one EV Center in China. In addition to our own EV Centers, we also established many local distribution channels and local vehicle dealers through the regions.
To Regionalize Manufacturing and Supply Chain
We regionalize the manufacturing and supply chain relating to certain key components of our ECVs, such as vehicle upfitting and battery packs, in the geographic markets in which our ECVs are sold. In the long-term, through our deep supply chain development know-how, we plan to geographically expand our supply chain to support our planned growth. More specifically, we intend to establish supply chain relationships in North America and the European Union to support our manufacturing and assembly needs in these markets, thereby reducing the time in transit and potentially the duties associated with importing our components and spare parts from China. We believe we can reduce the overall cost of ECV assembly in certain geographical markets by shifting to a “merge in transit” model, whereby component shipments from suppliers, including local market suppliers, are consolidated at our local assembly facilities for final ECV assembly, in contrast with our current model which integrates all components into vehicle kits or fully assembled vehicles in our manufacturing facilities in China or our manufacturing partners’ facilities. We believe that investing in the regionalization of our manufacturing and supply chain can ultimately provide significant benefits to us and our channel partners. We believe sourcing our ECV components and manufacturing, assembling and selling our ECVs regionally can help us reduce costs associated with import/export taxes and shipping, further reducing vehicle production costs. In addition, we believe that regionalizing our manufacturing and supply chain will help support and strengthen our brand in the markets in which our ECVs are sold, as our operations become integrated into those markets. We believe that our deep supply chain development know-how will provide us significant advantages; however, currently, substantially all of our supply chain experience is limited to China. If we are unable to effectively manage the sourcing of our components and the responsiveness of our supply chain in areas outside of China, our business and results of operations may be harmed. It is also likely that in the early stages of our supply chain expansion, we can expect most component sources will be single-source suppliers in areas outside of China.
To Invest in our Enterprise Resource Planning and Parts Distribution Systems
To enhance vehicle after-market support and customer satisfaction, we believe an effective and efficient parts distribution system is important to develop. For this purpose, we have invested resources to build out a cloud-based automobile parts distribution system (“PARDISYS”). This cloud-based automobile parts distribution system allows us to more responsively provide and timely deliver spare parts to our service providers and global customers while maintaining a well-managed minimum parts inventory. To use PARDISYS, our customers log in the cloud-based system to enquire and order the required spare parts. The enquiry can be made by entering the name of the part, part number, VIN number of the whole vehicle, among other search functions. There are both fuzzy inquiries and precise inquiries for searching, which brings convenience to the customers. Currently, parts, accessories and special repair tools for all Cenntro vehicles can be ordered through the PARDISYS system, and the back-office will provide the optimal distribution plan according to the customer's delivery address and warehouse inventory. PARDISYS consists of two source warehouses - Changxing Warehouse and Zhenjiang Warehouse, and two fulfilment warehouses in New Jersey, United States and Barcelona, Spain. The source warehouses distribute frequently used parts to the fulfilment warehouses, which ship them to customers. When parts inventory falls below the safety stock level, the fulfilment warehouses submit replenishment requests to the source warehouses to replenish the inventory to ensure the supply of frequently used parts. Non-usable parts are stored in the fulfilment warehouse and shipped directly to the customer when a customer order is placed.
As of the date of this report, we established two production site parts warehouse in Changxing, Zhejiang province and Yangzhong, Jiangsu province in China. These warehouses store our parts that are produced or sourced locally. These warehouses can send the parts globally based on the orders from our website that customers can place globally. Based on the local demand data, the system is expected to source certain parts from production-site warehouses to a remote parts warehouse for quicker local delivery. As of December 31, 2024, we operates two remote parts warehouses in Barcelona, Spain and Freehold, New Jersey.
To Expand Our Product Offerings
We began pilot production of our first-generation, U.S. Class 1 (0 - 6,000 lbs.), light-duty commercial vehicle, the Metro®, in 2018, and, as of December 31, 2022, we have sold more than 4,090 Metro® units throughout Europe, North America and Asia. Utilizing our proprietary design and technology, we subsequently launched four ECV series, Avantier, Logimax, Logistar, and Teemak. By the end of 2023, we have seven ECV models available for commercial offering for European, America, and other countries. They are Metro MB, Avantier α andc, Logistar 100, Logistar 200, Logistar 260, Logistar 400, and Teemak. One of our strategies is trying to offer a full line of ECV products.
In 2024, we added five new EV models that are commercially available for our customers. They are Avantier Ex, Avantier Commuter, Logistar 210, Logistar 300, and Logistar 450. Avantier Ex has similar size and features compare it to Avantier α but offers more competitive pricing. Avantier Commuter as a new addition to Avantier Series is a four-seater entry-level electric passenger car that has a larger body than Avantier α and Avantier Ex. Logistar 210 is an improved version of Logistar 200, which has better performances and more useful new features. Both Avantier Ex and Avantier Commuter received European Union Type approval which can be commercially distributed in European Union countries and other countries adopted European Type approvals. Logistar 300 and Logistar 450 are US Class 3 and Class 4 trucks for city delivery and city services, they are more robust than Logistar 400. Both Logistar 300 and Logistar 450 are compliant to US DOT requirements and have been certified by US EPA and California CARB for distribution in US markets. These new EV models significantly improved our vehicle lines and gave our customers more choices to meet their demands.
We plan to add more new vehicle models in 2025. Currently, we are working on two major vehicle developing projects developing a US Class 6 median-duty truck for city transport and a US Class 8 hydrogen powered heavy-duty semi tractor for short-haul container trucking and long-haul transportation. Both Class 6 and Class 8 trucks are waiting for the homologations and certificates before we can commercially offer these products on the US markets to our customers. We expect that Class 8 semi tractor will be available for delivery in third quarter 2025 and Class 6 truck will be available for delivery in fourth quarter 2025. We have introduced our first generation of hydrogen powered Class 8 semi tractor in 2022. Currently we are working on second generation hydrogen powered semi tractor. We have put emphasis on hydrogen powered heavy-duty trucks for long haul applications. We believe the market is ready for hydrogen powered heavy-duty trucks as hydrogen filling infrastructure is getting ready. We are adding median-duty trucks and heavy-duty trucks into our light-duty trucks lines to extend our vehicle offerings.
To Be a Leader in Hydrogen Powered Heavy-Duty Vehicle
We are introducing hydrogen-powered vehicles alongside our electric vehicle lines. Hydrogen power offers certain advantages over pure electric power for heavy-duty or long-haul applications. Our first-generation hydrogen-powered US Class 8 heavy-duty truck was introduced in early 2022. Due to infrastructure and technology limitations, we delayed the commercial launch of hydrogen-powered vehicles until now. We believe the conditions are now suitable for the commercial launch of our hydrogen-powered vehicles in the United States. Given the challenges faced by others in this field, we anticipate having several competitive advantages.
Hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks offer several compelling advantages. Hydrogen powered trucks produce zero harmful emissions, emitting only water vapor. This significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution compared to diesel-powered vehicles. Hydrogen powered trucks have a higher energy density than battery-electric vehicles, allowing for greater fuel efficiency and longer ranges. This makes them particularly suitable for long-haul transportation. Unlike electric trucks that require lengthy charging times, hydrogen trucks can be refueled in a matter of minutes, like traditional diesel vehicles.
Hydrogen trucks operate more quietly than their diesel counterparts, reducing noise pollution in urban areas and improving the quality of life for residents. With lighter fuel systems compared to large batteries in electric trucks, hydrogen trucks can potentially offer more room for cargo. These advantages make hydrogen trucks a promising solution for sustainable and efficient freight transportation.
To Expand Market Breadth and Depth
We expect to increase our market share in the current markets where our ECVs are sold, while simultaneously penetrating new markets worldwide. Aside from the Europe and US market, we are expanding our operations to select markets, such as Morocco, the Dominican Republic, and Turkey.
The following table summarizes the breakdown of our revenues by region for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively:
| For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | |||
| $ | % | $ | % | |
| United States | $20,888,931 | 66.7% | $1,021,205 | 9.8% |
| Europe | $5,719,353 | 18.3% | $4,564,152 | 43.8% |
| Asia | $4,579,104 | 14.6% | $4,805,312 | 46.1% |
| Others | $110,004 | 0.4% | 34,990 | 0.3% |
We are currently targeting new markets where local governments have begun incentivizing a shift from ICEs to EVs. We intend to expand our reach in these markets with the efforts and market knowledge of our existing channel partners as well as by forming new partnerships and leveraging our increased brand recognition.
To Emerge as a Key Developer of Autonomous Driving Solutions
We intend to continue to invest in our smart driving technology to develop more applications using our iChassis platforms. We have developed Cenntro iChassis, an open-platform and programmable vehicle chassis with digital control capabilities. The Cenntro iChassis is designed to act as a basic and core execution unit of an automated or autonomous driving vehicle. It includes application programming and communication interfaces that enable third-party autonomous driving vehicle developers to use this programmable chassis to develop various autonomous driving applications and fittings. At the date of this report, we have delivered more than 1,500 iChassis products to the third-party OEMs in China. We will see more iChassis products be produced and delivered in the future. We may work with third-party autonomous driving software developers to develop complete autonomous drive delivery vehicles using our matured iChassis platform.
Competitive Strengths
We design, develop, manufacture, and distribute electric vehicles in a cost-effective manner to enable us to compete favorably in the whole range of commercial vehicle market. In a fast-growing industry, we believe our ability to adapt and evolve without jeopardizing the timing, quality, and quantity of the service through our agile and well-run structure has been proven through our forward-looking approach.
Unlike many of our competitors, our approach is future-focused while developing an asset-light, distributed manufacturing business model as opposed to generating short-term revenues and unsustainable growth. This approach, paired with our values, tools and teams, has put us in a position to operate in the ECV market in a way that we believe our competitors cannot. We believe our competitive strengths position us well to continue to grow our base of vehicles and capitalize on the expected growth in the light- and medium-duty ECV market.
Our Consistent Launch and Homologation of New and Innovative ECV Models
Over the past calendar year, we have introduced four new vehicle models, Avantier Ex, Avantier Commuter, Logistar 300 (LS300), and Logister 450 (LS450). Avantier Ex and Avantier Commuter are targeting European markets and other markets outside of US markets while LS300 and LS450 are mainly targeting the US markets.
Avantier Ex can be used for both urban commercial applications and city mobility. Avantier Ex can be configurated as a two-seater with a small cargo space in the back or as four-seater passenger vehicle for city mobility. Avantier Commuter is larger than Avantier Ex and serves as an entry-level passenger car for city mobility. It is our first passenger car in addition to our ECV product lines. Avantier Commuter is designed for young urban population as their “first car”.
LS300 and LS450 are electric commercial vehicles targeting the US city logistic applications. LS300 has two configurations, a delivery van (LS300DV) and cargo truck (LS300CT). LS300DV is a delivery van designed for last-mile package delivery similar as Rivian Commercial Van. It equipped many features specifically for the last-mile delivery fleets. LS300CT with a cargo box is designed for local transportation and local services. It can be also used for last-mile delivery, mostly for heavier package delivery. LS450 has four configurations, delivery van (LS450DV), cargo truck (LS450CT), passenger van (LS450BUS), and cab-chassis (LS450CC). LS450DV is similar to LS300DV but has a bigger cargo volume and heavier payload. It is used for last-mile package delivery. LS450CT is a cargo truck with a big cargo box and is used for city goods delivery. LS450BUS is a passenger van and it can equipped with 19 or 21 seats for short distant shuttle service or for public median bus transportation. LS450CC is a cab-chassis configuration and customers can add different upfits for different applications, such as upfit this cab-chassis into a food truck.
The electrification of the global automotive industry has been a major policy focus of governments worldwide. Certain countries, such as the United States, China, Canada, Germany, and various other European countries, have announced aggressive EV initiatives designed to reduce carbon emissions, through the replacement of fossil fuels, and have begun incentivizing the development and sale of ECVs through government subsidy programs.
Proven Record of Manufacturing and Distributing ECVs
We have manufactured light-duty ECVs since 2018. Our business has began to expand beyond Metro® into five other categories of ECV models to expand our reach in the global ECV market. We believe we are well positioned to take advantage of the growing global ECV market, which has few mature competitors capable of manufacturing and delivering cost-effective and financially viable ECVs today.
Distributed Manufacturing Methodology
Traditionally, automakers operate under a vertically integrated business model performing a variety of capital-intensive and time-consuming functions, including not only vehicle design, process setup, tooling, parts making, supply chain establishment, vehicle assembly and vehicle homologation, but also market promotion, sales and distribution, after-market support and vehicle servicing. This business model requires significant capital, is asset heavy and imposes significant barriers to entry for new players while impeding their ability to rapidly change their vehicle lineup or their operating model.
Based on our unique manufacturing and distribution model, we believe we are positioned to be an industry disruptor. Unlike many traditional, vertically integrated vehicle companies, which manufacture fully assembled vehicles for export, we use an innovative distributed manufacturing methodology in which our ECVs are designed to be manufactured and exported as vehicle kits for assembly in local markets. Our ECVs are designed using a “modular” method, allowing for simple final assembly and eliminating the need for acquiring and maintaining heavy and expensive assembly equipment at the local assembly stage. We or our manufacturing partners manufacture and integrate the materials and parts into vehicle kits, which we can then ship to one of our local assembly facilities for final assembly.
We believe that our distributed manufacturing methodology can provide us with competitive advantages compared to traditional vehicle manufacturers, as we are able to operate with lower capital investment requirements. In addition, we believe our distributed manufacturing methodology provides significant advantages for local homologation, local distribution, and local service. For example, we believe U.S. homologation certification requirements are less burdensome for vehicles that are assembled and manufactured in the United States rather than imported into the United States.
As of the date of this report, our distributed manufacturing methodology relied upon four Cenntro-owned assembly facilities, including our facility at Changxing and Yangzhong, which manufacture for international export, and our local assembly facility in Ontario, California and Freehold, New Jersey, which we utilize for local assembly of our Logistar™ 400, Logistar™ 300, and Logistar™ 450 models. Currently, Cenntro has four manufacturing and assembly plants including two in North America and two in China.
Our North American facilities provide vehicles to the local market and export ECVs to markets in Central and South America. The Freehold, New Jersey and Onterio, California facilities both assemble the Logistar™ 400/300/450, the Metro® and the Teemak™. We also work with third-party assembly facilities in the European Union for production of our European ECV models, including the Avantier, the Metro® and the Teemak™.
Prior to the regionalization of our supply chains, we plan to utilize these facilities to assemble vehicle kits that are manufactured by us in our facilities in Changxing, in the case of the Metro®, and by third parties in the case of our other new ECV models. We have subcontracted all manufacturing processes of the ECV components for our Logistar™ and Avantier models to our qualified suppliers, allowing us to further reduce our capital expenditure requirements and increase our focus on local assembly.
In the long-term, through our deep supply chain development know-how, we intend to establish supply chain relationships in North America and the European Union to support our manufacturing and assembly needs in these markets, thereby reducing the time in transit and potentially the duties associated with importing our components and spare parts.
Our Investment in Global Assembly and Manufacturing Facilities
We have established an asset-light, distributed manufacturing business model through which we can distribute our unique modular vehicles in vehicle kits for local assembly in addition to distributing fully assembled vehicles. Each of our vehicle models has a modular design that allows for local assembly in small factory facilities, which allows us to focus our efforts on the design of ECV models and related technologies while outsourcing various portions of the manufacturing, assembly and marketing of our vehicles to qualified third parties, allowing the Company to operate with lower capital investment than traditional vertically integrated automotive companies.
To support the expansion of our product line, in May 2022, we acquired a new manufacturing facility in Changxing, Huzhou City, China, for a purchase price of approximately $19.5 million. The new 474,000-square-foot facility will allow Cenntro to expand its production capacity. The facility, built in 2018, provides Cenntro with advanced manufacturing capabilities. In addition to expanding capacity, the new site is expected to enable Cenntro to obtain ISO 9000 certification. The new facility will support the production of a new Metro® series and have an expected capacity of 50,000 vehicles annually once fully operational.
To meet our anticipated demand in the United States, we have established a local assembly facility in Jacksonville, Florida and have expanded our capacity at our New Jersey-based assembly facility. We began trial assembly operations at the Jacksonville facility in March 2023. The New Jersey facility will support the Northeast region and will initially support assembly of the Logistar™ 400, Metro® and Teemak models. The Jacksonville facility will support our expansion throughout the U.S. market and will also supply vehicles to our electric vehicle centers (“EV Centers”) and customers in the Central American region.
Until approximately December 31, 2021, we outsourced the vast majority of the marketing of our vehicles to third party “channel partners” and relied substantially on private label channel partners to assemble the Metro® from vehicle kits that we manufactured in our China-based facilities. Our relationships with such third parties, our “channel partners,” have allowed us to forego expensive capital investments in our own facilities and operate within our historic working capital limitations. With the introduction of our new ECV models, however, we have shifted the manufacturing of our vehicle kits and in some cases fully assembled vehicles to third party OEM partners and, in the case of vehicle kits, assembling them in our own facilities in North America and Europe. We have established a European Operations Center in Dusseldorf, Germany, which provides marketing support, after-market support and spare-parts warehousing for the European market, as well as warehousing services with a logistics company in Budapest, Hungary to house spare parts for our ECVs. We believe that a reinvigorated and in-house managed distribution model that is founded on local and strategically placed EV Centers together with local dealers and service networks will enhance brand recognition, provide economic advantages and reduce time to market for our ECVs. We further believe a well-developed distribution and service infrastructure is important to our brand as an automobile manufacturer. For these reasons, we have made new and expanding investments in our own distribution and service infrastructure model.
Our Core Technology
Because we design, develop and manufacture our ECVs, our technology is at the core of what we believe positions us to effectively compete and become a technology leader in the ECV market. Since inception in 2013 through December 31, 2024, we have spent approximately $94.4 million in research and development activities related to our business. Specifically, we have developed new vehicle chassis structures and digital control, smart driving and network connectivity capabilities. In addition to our significant know-how, as of December 31, 2024, we had 125 discovery patents, 10 design patents and 86 innovation patents granted by the Chinese Patent Office, three design patent applications and three discovery patent applications pending in the Chinese Patent Office, covering our technological innovations relating to power systems, vehicle electronics, vehicle control and structure, production processes and other new technologies.
Our technological advantage begins with our chassis designs, which promote efficiencies in energy consumption as well as development and manufacturing processes. The Metro® and Neibor® Series utilize proprietary, lightweight chassis designs that reduce the overall weight of the vehicle and thus increase the battery efficiency of the vehicle. Our chassis designs also lend themselves to modification and flexibility to meet the needs of the specific customers in our local markets. For instance, our ECVs can be upfitted and customized to fill a variety of end-user roles, such as a small firetruck, street sweeper, vending truck, garbage truck, pickup truck or service truck.
We are focused on continuous improvement in our technology through continued investment in research and development. We believe our ECV expertise, market focus, installed base of vehicles and know-how (including our smart driving capabilities), coupled with our dedication to research and development, will enable us to continue advancing our business.
Low Upfront Cost and Operating Costs to End-Users
Through our modular ECV design and unique business model, we believe we are able to enter the ECV market with competitively priced products compared to our competitors in the ECV space. For instance, our Metro® and and some of our Logistar™ Series are designed with a proprietary, lightweight chassis structure, enabling us to use less steel and such ECVs to utilize less battery power than our competitors. Furthermore, because our ECVs have fewer components and moving parts than their ICE counterparts, we believe the ongoing maintenance costs of our vehicles is low. In addition, engines in traditional ICE commercial vehicles typically have a 10-year life, whereas the motor in our ECVs are designed to last, on average, for more than 20 years. The lithium-ion batteries used in our ECVs have a useful life of approximately 3,000 charge-cycles, with each charge providing for a range, in the case of the Metro®, of approximately 124 miles per charge for a total range of approximately 248,400 miles over a battery’s useful life. Additionally, based on our collected data, the Metro® has a miles per gallon of gasoline equivalent of approximately 156 (equivalent to 4.875 miles per KWh).
Our Integrated Supply Chain
We have invested significant time and resources in developing a supply chain capable of providing all of the components and materials necessary to manufacture our ECVs. Our integrated supply chain is comprised of over 500 suppliers located in China and various other countries. Generally, our suppliers undergo rigorous testing before we onboard them as a supplier, including quality and process auditing, product verification, regulatory compliance and reliability testing. Our suppliers must demonstrate that they can consistently deliver their specialized parts on time, while meeting our quality and product specifications. Many of our components are based on Cenntro-developed designs, and our suppliers are contractually restricted from selling our customized components to any third parties unless we discontinue our purchases from such suppliers.
We plan to expand our supply chain as necessary to support our planned growth, including localizing our supply chain for certain key components of our ECVs in North America and the European Union. We have subcontracted all manufacturing processes of the ECV components for our new ECV models to our qualified suppliers, allowing us to further reduce our capital expenditure requirements and increase our focus on local assembly.
Strategic Channel Partner Network
In selected markets, we continue to leverage our channel partner network to distribute our ECVs around the world. Through this network, we have engaged partners for local homologation, promotion, distribution, and service in the markets they serve, and, in a limited number of cases, assembly, upfitting and customization. All our channel partners sell fully assembled ECVs under private label to the local market and provide aftermarket service to end users. Our channel partners such as HW Electro in Japan, purchase our fully assembled ECVs with HW Electro’s brand and sell them in their respective local market.
As of December 31, 2024, we approach our market through a hybrid model combining distributors and established five EV Centers which are now the base of our distribution network, leading our local marketing and aftermarket service.
Our Highly Skilled and Experienced Management Team
Our management team is led by Peter Z. Wang, our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, who we refer to as our Chairman. Mr. Wang has extensive experience in the automotive and technology industries, having co-founded Sinomachinery Group (a diesel power system (engine and transmission) manufacturer) in 2006 and UTStarcom (a global telecom infrastructure provider), which went public in 2000. Mr. Wang was named as one of the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business by Asian American Business Development Center in 2004, one of China’s 100 Most Innovative Businessmen by Fast Company Magazine in 2017 and one of the Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs in 2019.
More specifically, our management team has significant experience in vehicle design, supply chain, logistics, quality control and process management. Our management is singularly focused on developing and manufacturing high quality, best-in-class, light- and medium-duty ECVs for the growing ECV marketplace and becoming a technology leader in the ECV market. Starting in 2013 with a simple idea, our management team has successfully designed energy efficient ECVs and associated technologies and established a broad supply chain to support our product growth.
Intellectual Property
Our success depends, at least in part, on our ability to protect our core technology and intellectual property. To accomplish this, we rely on a combination of patents, patent applications, trade secrets, including know-how, employee and third-party nondisclosure agreements, copyright laws, trademarks, intellectual property licenses and other contractual rights to establish and protect our proprietary rights in our technology. As of December 31, 2024, we had 125 discovery patents, 10 design patents and 86 innovation patents granted by the Chinese Patent Office, and three innovation patent applications and three discovery patent applications pending in the Chinese Patent Office, covering our technological innovations relating to power systems, vehicle electronics and structure, production processes and other new technologies. All of our patents are granted under PRC law and have not been given reciprocal treatment and protection under the laws of either the United States or the European Union. Our issued patents will begin to expire in August 2026. We intend to continue to file additional patent applications with respect to our innovation and know-how.
Our Employees
As of the date hereof, we have 260 full-time employees. The following table sets forth the number of our employees by function:
| Functional Area | Number of Employees |
|---|---|
| Senior management | 5 |
| Research and Development | 64 |
| Supply Chain Operations | 30 |
| Marketing | 29 |
| Manufacturing | 58 |
| Quality Assurance | 20 |
| Finance | 25 |
| Corporate Affairs | 29 |
| Total | 260 |
We provide social insurance for each employee in accordance with Chinese law, including pension insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, work injury insurance and maternity insurance and housing provident fund.
The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.