Atlis Motor Vehicles is seeking shareholder approval to rebrand and restructure the business to focus more on electric vehicle batteries, with less emphasis on its EV pickup truck that it had been hyping to shareholders for several years.
Atlas plans to change its name to Nxu Inc. and trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “NXUI.”
The Mesa-based EV technology company plans to reorganize its corporate structure, through which Atlis (Nasdaq: AMV) will become a subsidiary of a newly formed Delaware corporation, Nxu Inc.
“Atlis Motor Vehicles is a brand and a name that has gotten us to where we are, but candidly, it doesn't quite serve us anymore,” Annie Pratt, president of Atlis Motor Vehicles, said during a webcast announcing the rebrand on Monday. “People hear Atlis Motor Vehicles and they think truck and they think vehicle, but that focus and that greater vision on energy abundance and making the technology to actually enable this transition is not supported by that name.”
In a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Atlis said the proposed holding company structure could facilitate future expansion of its business by providing a more flexible structure for acquisitions and joint ventures while "continuing to keep the operations and risks of our other businesses separate.”
Atlis said that its holding company structure would provide flexibility to obtain various types of financing available in capital markets.
The company's reorganization is subject to shareholder approval and is slated to close next month, if it is approved in a stockholder vote on May 9.
Upon completion of the reorganization, Nxu (pronounced as ‘new’) will replace Atlis as the publicly-listed company, and outstanding shares of Atlis Class A and Class D common stocks will automatically convert into shares of Nxu Class A and Nxu Class B common stocks, respectively.
Atlis: Renewed focus on batteries
While Atlis still says it plans to manufacture its XT pickup truck at some point in the future, the company is shifting its near-term focus to developing battery cells and packs, Mark Hanchett, Atlis Motor Vehicles' founder and CEO, said during the company's webcast.
In addition to the restructuring announcement, Atlis says it will begin shipping its first battery packs to an undisclosed off-highway equipment customer in the summer.
The company says its Nxu Qube and proprietary battery cells will have an extended lifespan and fast charging times. The battery packs can be used to power energy storage systems as well as trucks, light-to-heavy-duty equipment and RVs.
“Imagine not having to stop for hours to recharge during your family RV road trip or worrying about how to transition your business’s fleet from diesel to electric,” Hanchett said in a statement. “The path towards this future begins with a hard reboot to existing battery and charging solutions and Nxu will pave the way through development of electric battery cells, battery packs, energy storage solutions and the world’s first megawatt charging stations, starting with the delivery of the Qube battery pack.”
In February, Atlis demonstrated its capability to charge more than 1 megawatt via its charging handle and cable, marking a “critical step” toward establishing a 1.5 megawatt charging network, according to the company.
Atlis is in a mass pilot production of its multi-layer pouch cell, which will go into battery packs that the company is currently building and assembling, Hanchett said.
The company also said it will deploy its first 600 kilowatt electric vehicle charging system this summer.
Atlis will be showcasing its battery technology to the public on April 22 at its Mesa headquarters, 1828 N. Higley Rd., Suite 116.
"Nxu's vertically integrated approach is designed to generate value for our shareholders and our customers across all levels of the value chain,” Pratt said in a statement. “The company is committed to a milestone-driven strategy that prioritizes delivering the first battery packs and generating revenue this summer."
Atlis receives delisting notice from Nasdaq
Atlis’ reorganization announcement comes as the company received a delisting notice from Nasdaq earlier in the month stating it’s not in compliance with a $1 minimum bid price requirement. It has until Oct. 8 to regain compliance for continued listing on Nasdaq.
The delisting notice also triggered a default under Atlis’ convertible notes, which began accruing 10% in annual interest. The company is obligated to pay convertible note holders $3.3 million, representing the outstanding principal of the notes and accrued interest as of April 11, according to a regulatory filing.
Atlis has yet to generate a profit since the company launched in 2016, regulatory filings show.
The company incurred a net loss of $70.7 million in 2022 and $133.7 million in 2021. Atlis had $2.7 million in cash on hand and an accumulated deficit of $218.6 million as of Dec. 31, 2022, according to a regulatory filing.
Atlis indicated in the regulatory filing it requires additional rounds of funding to sustain operations that include completing development and marketing of its battery technology, electric XP platform and XT electric pickup truck.
“Our management projects that in order to effectively bring the products to market, that it will require significant funding over the next 12 months to cover costs involved in completing the prototype, getting the battery assembly line up and running, and beginning to develop a supply chain,” the company wrote in the regulatory filing.
Atlis said it does not anticipate making deliveries of its electric trucks for the next few years, citing supply chain impacts of the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine as reasons why the company has taken longer than expected to ramp up production.
Last July, Atlis inked an agreement with Australian Manufactured Vehicles to develop a right-hand drive version of the XT truck. At the time, Atlis agreed to supply XT prototype and test vehicles to AMV beginning in 2024, eventually ramping up production to 19,000 trucks by 2027, contigent upon funding and availability of materials. It's unclear if that commitment by AMV will still be honored if the company is delaying production of its trucks.
Atlis claims it has received “substantial interest” in the XT with more than 40,000 nonbinding reservations placed for the electric truck via its website.
Atlis shares closed at 55 cents Monday. Track the stock here.
