E-Drives/Axles JV Announced

UQM Technologies, Inc., Longmont, Colo., said it has signed a joint venture agreement with China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co., Ltd. (CNHTC) and Sinotruk Global Village Investment Ltd., a Hong Kong-based limited liability company owned by CNHTC.

The joint venture will be named Sinotruk Qingdao Zhongqi New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. and will be headquartered in Qingdao, China. The purpose of the JV will be to serve the China market for commercial vehicle E-drives and the global market for E-axles. The annual production capacity of the JV is expected to be 50,000 systems, with commercial operations anticipated in 2019.

Under the agreement, UQM will acquire a 25% ownership share of the joint venture with CNHTC and its affiliate collectively acquiring a 75% share. UQM has the option to increase its ownership position to 33% in the next one to three years. The initial total capital of the joint venture will be $24 million, with UQM contributing $6 million in three installments during the next year. UQM’s funding requirement is contingent on the closing of the second stage investment with CNHTC.

 “We are very excited to have signed a joint venture agreement with CNHTC,” said Joe Mitchell, president and CEO of UQM. “Our strategy for many years has been to align ourselves with a Chinese partner that would enable us to have a local manufacturing presence in China. This JV agreement gives us the opportunity to manufacture and sell our electric propulsion systems to the largest market in the world for electric vehicles.”

UQM Technologies is a developer and manufacturer of power-dense, high-efficiency electric motors, generators, power electronic controllers and fuel cell compressors for the commercial truck, bus, automotive, marine, and industrial markets. A major emphasis for UQM is developing propulsion systems for electric, hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric and fuel cell electric vehicles. UQM is TS 16949 and ISO 14001 certified.

China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co., Ltd. is the parent company of Sinotruk (Hong Kong) Limited (“Sinotruk”), a heavy-duty commercial vehicle manufacturer in China.  Sinotruk has a history of international partnerships in developing new products and markets in China and elsewhere, including Steyr of Austria, MAN SE of Germany, and Cargotec of Finland.