Electric Last Mile: the plant builds again, briefly

2020 – 2022

The successor: Electric Last Mile Solutions was formed in 2020 by James Taylor — the former SF Motors chief executive — and Jason Luo, and carved its business out of the SF Motors/Sokon operation by agreements of September 2020. On 9 April 2021 ELMS agreed to buy the Mishawaka plant from SF Motors for $145 million, and in June 2021 the company went public through the Forum Merger III SPAC at a valuation carried at about $1.4 billion.

Accomplished production: Unlike its predecessor, ELMS did build vehicles in the building: the first Urban Delivery electric van came off the Mishawaka line on 28 September 2021, assembled from components built by Wuling in China, with a run of 1,000 planned for that year. The scale qualifier belongs in print: production was accomplished at start-up size only, and never at scale. One ownership wrinkle is printed at the strength of its dated statement: the Indianapolis Business Journal reported in June 2022 that SF Motors still owned the building at the time of the bankruptcy — against the April 2021 purchase agreement — and the two statements stand as they were made.

The collapse: On 1 February 2022 Taylor and Luo resigned after an internal investigation found they had purchased discounted equity before the merger without board approval or disclosure; the company's previously issued financial statements were declared unreliable; its auditor, BDO, resigned on 8 February; and an SEC investigation followed. ELMS filed Chapter 7 liquidation on 14 June 2022 — liquidation, not reorganization. The Mishawaka plant, which had now outlived the Hummer brand, a Mercedes contract, and two electric ventures, went to sale again.

Sources:

1. ELMS formation and transaction record, 2020–2021 — the Taylor/Luo founding, the Sokon/SF Motors carve-out, the 9 April 2021 plant purchase agreement at $145 million, the June 2021 SPAC listing and valuation.
2. Bloomberg, September 2021 — the first Urban Delivery van off the Mishawaka line, 28 September 2021, and the 1,000-van plan.
3. Indianapolis Business Journal, June 2022 — SF Motors' continued ownership of the building as reported at the bankruptcy.
4. Company filings and Delaware litigation record (C.A. No. 2022-0630-KSJM) — the 1 February 2022 resignations, the unreliable financial statements, the BDO resignation, the SEC investigation, the 14 June 2022 Chapter 7 filing.