EXCLUSIVE: Hyliion CEO Talks Accelerated EV Transition, What's Ahead For The Hypertruck

Hyliion Holdings Corp (NYSE: HYLN) entered the electric vehicle space with a hybrid product approach in order to help ease the transition from diesel to electric vehicles.

Market demand for pure electric vehicles has grown faster than anticipated, but the company is prepared to help drive the industry forward with its Hypertruck ERX, the company's CEO tells Benzinga. 

"We definitely have customers intersted in the [Hybrid] EX, but one of the things that we mentioned on the last earnings call is we've seen a market shift," Hyliion CEO Thomas Healy said on Benzinga's YouTube show "Money Mitch."

Hyliion initally thought hybrid would be the first step toward electrification, but fleets are showing a desire to skip the hybrid model and jump directly into fully electic solutions, he said. 

"There's so much market demand, there's so much of a tailwind going on right now in moving to full electric," the CEO said. "We're going to keep shipping the Hybrid, we have fleets that are interested in it, but more of our attention is going to be going to the Hypertruck."

What's Ahead For Hyliion: Hyliion is in the design verification phase, focused on building out more units and improving existing ones, Healy said.

Hyliion expects roughly $2 million in 2022 revenue from the Hybrid EX. The company expects to begin controlled fleet trials of the Hypertruck in early 2023 and anticipates production beginning sometime later in the year. Hyliion has close to 2,000 reservations for the Hypertruck, he said..

Healy told Benzinga the company is going to use a Peterbilt chassis for the Hypertruck launch. "But ultimately the long-term goal is this is an OEM-agnostic powertrain solution," he said.

The company has received a "really positive response" from customers who have test driven Hyliion trucks, the CEO said. 

Ultimately, Hyliion aims to offer a technology that can save fleets money and also have a drastic impact on emissions, Healy said: "If we can combine those two things together and deliver a rock solid solution, that's going to really have a big impact on this industry."

See the full interview here:

HYLN Price Action: Hyliion has traded between $3.33 and $13.58 over a 52-week period.

The stock was down 1.15% at $3.86 at press time, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Photo: courtesy of Hyliion.