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spk07: Until that time, your lines will again be placed on music hold. Thank you for your patience. Thank you. Thank you. Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Hyliion Holdings First Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After your speakers prepare remarks, there will be a question and answer session. I would now like to turn the conference over to Adam Bresser, Hyliion's Director of FP&A and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
spk04: Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Hyliion Holdings First Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. On the call today are Thomas Healy, our chief executive officer, and Sherry Baker, our chief financial officer. The slide presentation accompanies this conference call and is available on Hyliion's investor relations website at investors.hylion.com. Please note that during today's call, we will make certain forward-looking statements regarding the company's business outlook. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections, and other statements about anticipated events that are based on current expectations and assumptions, and as such, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements on this call. For more information about factors that may cause the company's results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, please refer to our earnings press release as well as our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. We are cautious not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and we undertake no duty to update this information unless required by applicable law. With that, I will turn the call over to Thomas.
spk06: Thank you, Adam, and hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. It's an exciting week for Hyliam. We are at the ACT Expo in Long Beach, California, one of the largest trade shows in the industry.
spk02: We have a number of hyper-truck ERX employees, suppliers, investors, and analysts can get a look at our technology. We are also hosting ride alerts. Now shifting into some updates on Hyliion.
spk06: The trucking industry is increasingly recognizing Hyliion's potential to revolutionize the market for Class 8 semi-trucks, as reflected in our initial sales and positive stakeholder feedback. Electrification is happening, but we are hearing from fleets about the challenges they encounter in the transition to plug-in technology. However, we are pleased to hear that the HyperTrust ERX relieves most of those concerns, specifically around range anxiety, infrastructure, and... ...order for Hyliion.
spk02: The recent expansion of our sales force has paid immediate dividends as we execute upon our plans.
spk06: In the first quarter, we secured 170 orders for production slots of our HyperTruck ERX, and have received nearly 2,000 orders.
spk02: We continued our deployment efforts for our hybrid powertrain system and our sales.
spk06: Shifting to some updates on the HyperTruck ERX development. First, we are happy to share that we are on track with our previously communicated time and electric solution into production in
spk02: late 2023.
spk06: We have the initial production slots already committed, and we continue to see strong interest from police.
spk02: They are seeing our location of up to 1,000 miles between refueling stops. That compares with current EV plug-in solutions that can only travel about 100 to 200 miles. We have an infrastructure of about 700 miles north of North America. Turning to slide five, you can see that we continue to make progress with our development milestones, vehicle build, and truck that we will use. This build leverages the performance data and invaluable stakeholder feedback from our initial demo units.
spk06: I am pleased to announce that we are developing more units. As previously discussed, we expect to build at least 10 more units to further test before we begin product validation.
spk02: Our multi-phase development program timeline includes design verification and product validation testing. The initial infield testing later this year, which will allow us to closely monitor truck performance. Looking ahead, in the first half of 2023, for the completion of product validation and for continuous lead time, we will seek final certification from CARB, EPA, and NHTSA. in late 2023.
spk06: As we head into production, one of the important factors we are focusing on is making sure our electric vehicle can assist with obtaining CARB-mandated credits for both the fleet and the OEMs. On previous earnings calls, we have mentioned how our launch hyper truck ERX will qualify for 75% of a ZEV credit under the CARB Advanced Clean Truck ruling. OEMs and what percentage of the vehicles they ship need to be ZEV qualifying. This past quarter, CARB released draft language for a new mandate for ACF with a goal of achieving a zero-emission truck and bus fleet in California.
spk02: This initiative actually puts requirements on what vehicles they can purchase. I am happy to share that as the mandate is currently written, we see this as an instrumental ...advantage for generating demand for our... ...mandated to adopt technology like ours.
spk06: As I mentioned earlier, we have secured orders for early production plots for a total of 170 units of the... ...of the 100 units we mentioned on our last earnings call. This reflects not only our R&D achievements, but also the success of our ongoing ride-and-drive events. In addition to the orders, we have received reservations for nearly 2,000 units to date. These orders and reservations remain subject to the finalization of commercial terms, but all of the orders are backed by deposits. In February, we secured a 50-unit order from Greenpath Logistics, one of our HyperTruck Innovation Council members and a customer of our hybrid product. As they only operate alternative fuel vehicles, and shipped for some of the largest logistics companies, including Amazon, UPS, and the United States Postal Service. First to deploy HyperTruck ERX units in controlled fleet trials later in March, Monet Transport joined in on placing orders to secure production slots. Monet, which currently is in their fleet, had also previously placed a 40-unit reservation for the HyperTruck ERX. After their ride and drive experience, though, they converted 20 of those 40 reservations into orders to secure production slots. Based in Laredo, Texas, Monet is a dedicated provider servicing the 48 contiguous states and an early adopter of green technology. We want to share some additional color on the feedback we received from police at our ride and drive events. Overall, need of a solution like the HyperTruck ERX that can offer a low cost of operation, leverage existing CNG stations, and ultimately offer a far superior emissions benefit. We expect to increase our order count as we near production, while at the same time building a backlog of reservations, which reflects how our customers recognize the capabilities and value proposition of our technology. Now shifting to some updates on our hybrid product. Hyliion's hybrid product provides a great, cost-effective entry solution for customers who want a greener alternative now but may not be ready to commit to a fully electric powertrain. Over the first quarter, we continued to ship more units to fleet and have booked additional revenue.
spk02: The target use cases would match performance needs to our hybrid solution.
spk06: Areas with hilly terrain that need additional power assist, we continue to see an influx of interest with fleets who want to embark on a greener path forward and see our hybrid solution as a positive step in their ESG efforts. We view these customers as a strong potential not only for our hybrid solution, but ultimately as long-term highlight on customers as they evolve and invest more meaningfully in electrification. On the manufacturing Supply disruptions are continuing to lengthen delivery times, but we continue to work closely with our partners to secure the parts we need to fulfill these orders. With our current order book and sales pipeline, we remain confident in achieving our sales targets for 2022. Looking ahead, we are continuously assessing opportunities to create shareholder value. While the majority of our organization is focused on commercializing our current product roadmap, we see opportunities to expand our offerings into new products and adjacencies. We have designed our HyperTruck product platform to be generator agnostic. Today, we utilize natural gas. When the time is right, we will transition into hydrogen. We've showcased a three-stage approach. It starts with our current natural gas engine, then shifts to a fuel agnostic generator that can run on both natural gas and hydrogen, and eventually a solution. Additionally, our proprietary software solutions are a primary competitive differentiator and have the potential to create new revenue streams. For now, of course, our primary focus continues to be getting our first hyper-truck ERX units on the road as quickly and safely as possible. We continue to move aggressively with our commercialization and business development plans to build on our recent run of success. Moreover, 2022 should be an instrumental year for our product development and continued product shipment as we evolve our technology solutions to address the transportation sector's environmental impact. With that, I will turn the call over to Sherry.
spk08: Thank you, Thomas, and good morning, everyone. I will now review our first quarter financial highlights. As Thomas mentioned, we continue to recognize revenue on our hybrid powertrain solution, which totals $340,000 in Q1 and represents a 70% increase in revenue versus prior quarter. At the same time, we are investing in R&D to support our product development roadmap. In Q1, R&D spend was $15.8 million, down $1.6 million sequentially, and up $6.5 million year-over-year. SG&A spend... which included the expansion of key infrastructure for our commercialization initiatives and operations, with $9.8 million in the first quarter, up $0.6 million sequentially, and up $2.4 million year-over-year. Operating expenses for Q1 totaled $25.6 million, compared with $16.7 million in the year-ago period, as our product development and company expansion gained momentum. Overall, Hylium reported a net loss from operations of $27.4 million for the first quarter, compared with a net loss from operations of $29.1 million in Q4, and a net loss from operations of $16.7 million in Q1 of 2021. Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the first quarter with over $527 million available to fund our commercialization plans for both the hybrid and the hyper truck ERX. This figure includes $227.1 million in cash and cash equivalents, $134.2 million in short-term investments, and $166 million in long-term investments. Our short-term and long-term investments are high-quality credit instruments with no maturities beyond 36 months and a weighted average maturity of 13 months across our portfolio. Our long-term investments are designed to preserve capital while providing liquidity to meet the company's operating requirements. Turning now to our outlook. As discussed on our last earnings call, for full year 2022, we reiterate our revenue guidance in the range of $2 million to $3 million in hybrid sales. The actual amount of revenue recognized will depend on the number of units we sell and the mix of retrofit versus new installations. we still expect full-year operating expenses to be between $135 million and $145 million, driven primarily by an increase in R&D costs to support commercialization of the hyper-truck ERX. Lastly, we expect an outline in today's presentation. With that, I'll turn it back to Thomas for AP's closing remarks.
spk02: Thanks, Sherry. To leave you with five key thoughts. First, the time for electrification is now. To transform the industry. Our market is large and growing.
spk06: Based on ACT's research estimates, there are 8 million Class 8 commercial vehicles currently in operation globally. That the active Class 8 commercial vehicles
spk02: Commercial vehicle population will grow by approximately 4.5% from 2022 to 2023. Third, our solution is to leverage existing infrastructure, offer a lower cost of operation, and qualify for credits today both for the OEMs and for the fleets.
spk06: And we do all this while bringing forward a net negative capable emission solution. Fourth, drivers and fleets want our solution. Feedback that can refuel in about 10 to 15 minutes.
spk02: And they have been impressed with how smooth and quiet our vehicle is. They have even expressed. Our long-term growth strategy is a logical approach on how to evolve into a hydrogen-based future.
spk06: We can leverage what is available today to deliver a superior powertrain solution and evolve that over time. Very bullish on our future.
spk02: Q&A. Operator? If you would like to ask a question during followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you press star one again, you will exit the queue.
spk07: Our first question comes from Bill Peterson with J.P. Morgan. Your line is open.
spk02: Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my questions.
spk01: I guess
spk02: and ample supply and so forth.
spk04: But I'm curious, on the fuel agnostic or fuel cell, do you anticipate at least beginning work on this before commercialization of the RX in the second half of 2023?
spk02: Thanks, Bill, and looking forward to seeing you.
spk06: at a back tomorrow and to answer the question about you know going into hydrogen future we've already actually begun development on those solutions specifically around the fueling urge differentiator for us now In terms of actually releasing both the fuel agnostic and the fuel cell solution to market, it will happen after the HyperTruck ERX, the natural gas ICE solution. So it will have a staged rollout, but it is something that we are already well under development with.
spk04: Okay. Thanks for that. And we'll look forward to hearing more here at the conference.
spk02: I guess on the hybrid,
spk04: I know you're reiterating the revenue targets for this year, but I think in the past you've mentioned that there is increased competition including from some natural gas powertrains. I'm wondering how we should think about that business in terms of repeat orders or how we should think about the growth of that as we look beyond this year.
spk06: So we have seen continued interest growing in it, but as we mentioned in the past earnings call, we do see the release of the 15-liter Cummins engine as a competitive threat. What we've seen is just an overall market shift to wanting to move to full electric vehicles, whereas the hybrid Hybrid is more of a step into electrification, but it doesn't give you quite the benefits of a full electric drive vehicle. Now, with that said, there are some pretty strong benefits that come from hybrid. It's an easy step into getting into electric and a relatively low-cost step into electric. And that's where we're seeing some fleets are willing to make the jump and say, yeah, I want to start this journey of electrification. Hybrid makes a lot of sense for me. I get some strong ESG benefits from it. I can get some fuel-saving benefits from it in the right terrain. And that's where we're seeing some of this early adoption. As you mentioned, we have seen some repeat orders of companies like Wegmans, Greenpath Logistics, Detmar have placed repeat orders, and some others on it. And so we continue to deliver the hybrid solution, but ultimately we do see the HyperTruck ERX as being the long-term backbone solution for Hylium.
spk04: Yeah, understood. Thanks. I'll jump back in the queue. Thank you. I look forward to seeing you in the coming days.
spk06: Yeah, it should be a fun show.
spk07: Our next question comes from Mark Delaney with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.
spk05: If you're seeing any added interest from fleets in the ERX given the CARB ruling that you spoke about, and especially being in California this week, again, wondering what you may be seeing from fleets based there.
spk06: Absolutely. So interest in the hyper truck is continuing to grow, and the ride-and-drive events for us have been extremely valuable. Fleets get to see the vehicle, experience it firsthand.
spk02: That's what's driving some of these orders coming in, as well as the reservations around the ruling. So just to add some more color. There's really two different mandates that are coming out right now.
spk06: We've previously spoken about ACT, which is a mandate on the OEMs. That we're going to qualify for 75% of a ZEV credit in. The new mandate is this ACF ruling, which is actually a mandate being put directly on the fleets themselves. And this is specifying what types of vehicles, what mix of vehicles they're going to need to adopt going forward. And we're going to be able to qualify for full credits under the ACF ruling as it's written today. So that's I definitely see this as something that's going to help with pulling customer interest. We've already seen, you know, the ACF side of things or the ACT side of things on the OEMs. That has been a strong pull for our product, and we envision ACF is going to do the exact same thing. So I think we see this as a very practical solution for the long-haul space to move into electrification, and the fact that we're able to get them the same credits as a BEV plug-in vehicle, that's a huge one for us.
spk05: That's helpful. And then a second question, hoping to understand how you're thinking about managing the supply chain related to the ERX. To what extent does Hyliion need to lock in parts supply for the ERX now, perhaps reflecting what current costs are, which maybe are somewhat elevated but would maybe give you some visibility and some supply assurances? Or do you have the opportunity of maybe waiting and hoping that cost for the supply chain goes down?
spk06: So we've more taken the approach at this stage of let's make sure we lock in supply that we need based on the timelines ahead of us. So for the 2022 milestones and going into 2023, we've already started locking down all the critical components, and I include the trucks that we're going to need, the electrification components we need, really all the key supply chain aspects. We've already placed those orders, and we have strong relationships with those suppliers, and we're working with them to make sure that it does not add any impact to the timeline that we've laid out, and we feel pretty confident on that end. And so the near term, you know, this year going into next year, we've really locked that in, and then obviously we're looking at how it doesn't add to further delays in this timeline. Understood. Thank you.
spk02: Our next question comes from Andre Shepard with Cantor Fitzgerald. Your line is open. Hi.
spk03: Good morning, Thomas. Good morning, Sherry. Congrats on the quarter, and thanks for taking our questions. Quick question for me. In terms of the revenue guidance, which remains unchanged, I'm wondering, Should we account for some seasonality throughout the next quarters, or should we kind of think of more as a ramping up and have Q4 a little bit more back-loaded?
spk08: Yeah, that's a great question, and thank you for that. So, yes, we fully expect that our revenue will be ramping up as we're moving throughout the year. Just keep in mind in Q4 you do have some holidays and some shutdown time that you'll have that will affect that a little bit differently in Q4 versus Q3. But based off of the full-year guidance, you should expect it to increase sequentially as we're moving throughout the year.
spk03: Got it. Thanks, Sherry. And maybe one quick follow-up. Following up in terms of the supply shortages, which, again, are affecting every industry, not just you guys, can you give us a little more granularity in terms of what that impact to delivery might look like? Is that based this year, next year? And which components specifically are the ones that are being mostly constrained? Thanks.
spk06: We see the supply chain hurdles as kind of twofold. One is actually getting delivery of the vehicles for the OEM. And so as we look at the hybrid system, we've actually experienced some of the truck deliveries from the various OEMs in the industry getting pushed out to the right. And then ultimately that's causing us to have to push out our delivery of our hybrid system to the right because we obviously need a truck to be able to install it on. Then the other aspect of this is actually getting some of the components that go in our system. So very similar to most supply chain hurdles, you can have 90% of your bill of material figured out or 95%, and it's that last 5% that is the long pole in the tent. And we're seeing various components, whether it be wiring harnesses down to connectors, electronic components that we've seen some pushouts of timing for. And ultimately, we're working through that. We have had to push some of our hybrid deliveries from one quarter to the next. But through all this, we're continuing to make deliveries of it. And we're working on it very closely to make sure that we have line of sight to supply in the quarters ahead.
spk03: Got it. Thanks very much, Thomas. I'll pass it on.
spk07: Again, if you would like to ask a question, press star 1. Our next question comes from Brian Johnson with Barclays. Your line is open.
spk04: Yeah, and I dialed in a little bit late. I apologize. So if I missed this, just I'll go back to the transcript. But, you know, it's not lost on – us, and I assume your fleet customers, that diesel's gone from $3 to $5, $5 to $6 a gallon, probably even more in California. So what has that meant for interest in the hybrid or in the hyper truck? And I guess question number one, natural gas prices have been volatile, but how is the TCO economics change between diesel and nat gas, either for the hybrid or actually for the hybrid? Change the economics between the hybrid and nat gas versus diesel fuel and the economics of the hyper truck?
spk06: Thanks, Brian. Really great question because obviously as diesel fuel prices increase, the demand for alternative fuel vehicles, for fuel-saving technologies greatly increases. And we're seeing that, right? Fleets are looking at, let's take the hyper truck first, for example. Natural gas prices, while the actual commodity price of natural gas has fluctuated, the actual pump prices have not fluctuated all that much. And the reason for this is The actual commodity of natural gas in like the dollar per gallon, the actual nat gas pricing is only about maybe 20 to 30% of that overall pricing. So while we do see some fluctuations in the actual commodity price, that's not seeing a big impact on the pump pricing, which is great for us, right? Because fleets are looking at this value proposition saying, okay, I can pull into a diesel station and pay $5 or $6 a gallon, or I can go to a natural gas station and pay around $1 per gallon. and that just helps drive the TCO economics of the hyper truck. So strong benefits there from having higher diesel pricing, and then that same thing goes true for the hybrid solution as well. In the right terrains, we're able to apply fuel-saving assist to the truck, and with higher diesel prices, that means there's greater savings for the fleet. So similarly, we see that strong pull through.
spk04: And kind of a follow-on question, maybe something that will be kicked around out in Long Beach where my colleague Jason will be out there with you. You know, California in some circles is getting some heat for the renewable fuel standard. That's pushing biodiesel and taking particular corn oil, palm oil, you name it, putting pressure on those pricing. You have similar pressures in Europe. So do you see any – sort of either whether it's going to be a regulatory change or fleet owners looking at this and say, look, I believe in cutting CO2, but taking cooking oil away from third world countries isn't the best way to do it, even if it helps me meet my carbon targets and therefore paying more interest in your solution, attention to your solutions.
spk06: Sure. I can't comment too much on the renewable fuel standards with biodiesel. It's just not something that we've spent a ton of time looking at, because obviously our focus has been more on the natural gas side. But the REN credits, the LCFS credits that are going towards nat gas and specifically renewable natural gas credits, are holding strong. And ultimately, there's some pretty interesting stats coming out around renewable natural gas and kind of the benefits ahead. This past year, we actually saw that over half of the fuel sold at natural gas stations already came from renewable natural gas. And probably one of the most exciting things is that there are just as many RNG capturing facilities in development as there already are in existence. And so that, you know, just conceptually we're going to see probably around a doubling of renewable natural gas available in the not-too-distant future. And so I think fleets are well aware of this. And one of the things that we've heard time and time again as we've met with these fleets is, They've all set, or many of them have set these, you know, going to net zero emissions profiles, and ultimately if we can deliver them a solution that actually is below zero emissions from their other parts of their business. So that's resonated very well with fleets, and they see this as a cost-effective, viable way to actually move to an electric solution that has net negative capable emissions profile.
spk04: Just as a follow-up, I might note that if a company is worried about the S part of ESG, social impact, using renewable gas, which takes methane from the food production system out of the atmosphere versus diverting foodstuffs into making biodiesel, would seem to be something they should think about on the S part of their ESG scores.
spk06: Yeah, the best way I can explain it is it's like you're taking what would have been pollution that would have gone off into the atmosphere, and we're now going to use that pollution in order to charge our battery packs. And so that's what, you know, as you're alluding to, it can drive that really positive emissions benefit.
spk04: Okay, thank you.
spk07: Our final question comes from the line of Avi Gerald-Fawzi with UBS. Your line is open.
spk06: Hey, good morning, guys. Good morning, Avi. I just wanted to hear you speak a little bit about the overall level of confidence in the timeline around the commercialization for the hyper truck.
spk04: You know, like LID 23 seems like it should be achievable given where you have trucks, but as we saw through this past winter,
spk06: When winter testing wasn't able to be completed, so it had to be pushed out to the end of this year, even some relatively small delays can be magnified at this stage. So just wondering how you're thinking about that. Yeah, thanks, Avi. And, you know, where we stand today, strong confidence in the timeline. And I think the fact that we've been able to reiterate this timeline over the last couple of earnings calls alludes to
spk02: to that. We've got a strong confidence in it.
spk06: As we mentioned on this call, we've completed the first of our design verification vehicle builds, which these are ultimately the ones that are going to be going through that winter testing. So we are in good shape on that end to make sure that these vehicles can go through the appropriate testing. We've already got them up on test tracks up in Michigan, which is great to see. And so strong confidence that we'll be able to hit the timing of both the design verification and product validation. And then ultimately that leaves us with the hurdles of getting through NHTSA, CARB, and EPA certification, which we're already working on. And then that puts us on track to launching production in late 2023. So right now, everything we can see, we are on track to be able to accomplish all that. Okay, great.
spk02: And just a follow-up on what kind of trend are you seeing in the availability or the ability to get trucks for the hyper truck? How are lead times changing?
spk06: There may be any chance for new partnerships or an update on the strategy there? Sure. And it's a great point because we actually expect that 23 is going to be another record year or close to record year for trucks. I mean, the demand is through the roof right now. Fleets are, when they're actually placing truck orders, they're having to wait over a year in order to get new trucks. So we do see this as something that's a big impact on the industry. Now, one of the things we've already done, as we mentioned earlier today, was we've placed all the trucks we need for 2022. And then similarly, going into 2023, we've been looking at the timelines and making sure that we place trucks on order to be at delivery times. And, you know, we see that we're going to be able to line up just fine for those late 2023 deliveries. Ultimately, you're in the nail on the head of truck delivery timing has been a hurdle for the industry. Police just can't get trucks right now. But we've been able to place these orders long enough in advance and, you know, working closely with Peterbilt on it in order to ensure the delivery timing.
spk00: Great.
spk06: Thanks, Colin.
spk07: We have reached the end of the question.
spk02: Thank you all for joining our earnings call. As I mentioned leading into this call, this week is the ACT Expo out in Long Beach, California. We'll be out there. We have trucks on display. We're offering ride-and-drive events for those who are interested.
spk06: And I want to thank some of those who are on the call today, Bill, Andreas, and Jason, who are going to be joining us out there at the conference today. And it's an exciting time for Hyliion, and we look forward to you joining us on our next earnings call. Thank you, everyone.
spk07: This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.
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