Zero Electric Vehicles to open new HQ, production facility in Gilbert
Zero Electric Vehicles, a company that builds car electrification kits, has unveiled plans to build out a new head office and production center in Gilbert.
The new 103,000-square foot space will allow the company to produce EV conversion kits for light and medium duty fleet vehicles that currently run on gasoline. The company also plans to build an electric vehicle chassis and full electric car of its own in the future.
Zero Electric Vehicles Inc. (ZEV) said the new facility would bring 300 EV jobs to the Valley. The company, now based in Tempe, plans to move into the new facility by Dec. 1 and it projects it will be able to convert up to 40 gasoline-powered vehicles to EVs per day by spring of next year.
The company said it chose the Gilbert Crossroads Business Park location because of its proximity to Grand Canyon University, Maricopa Community Colleges and Arizona State University, with which it already has a partnership.
Jim Maury, ZEV president, said these schools produce excellent talent that are already helping to innovate at the company.
”ZEV values the incredible talent coming through these college programs,” he said in a statement. “We have over four graduates with patent filings in less than six months of development – that is rapid innovation.”
EastGroup Properties, the owner and developer of the Gilbert Crossroads Business Park, worked with ZEV to design the new facility.
EV proponents in the area, including Maury, hope that the Phoenix metro can become a hub for electric vehicle production, even dubbing the area the “electric valley.”
Legacy car production hubs like Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee still hold sway as the car world goes electric, but Arizona has recently reeled in several EV businesses.
Nikola Corp. and Lucid Motors, two fellow EV makers, are building out their factory capacity in Pinal County, south of Phoenix and ElectraMeccanica has begun construction at its forthcoming Mesa factory.
The battery is, unsurprisingly, the key piece of technology that enables an electric vehicle future. The vast majority of the world’s EV batteries are produced in Asia, but some EV battery and parts makers have also come to Arizona.
In July, KORE Power, a lithium-ion battery producer, announced that it would build a 1 million-square-foot factory in Buckeye. Battery recycler Li-Cycle and EV parts maker UACJ Whitehall have also announced plans to set up shop in the state.
Atlis Motors raises $2M
ZEV isn’t the only EV maker in the East Valley making waves this week. Atlis Motors, an EV startup with plans to build an electric pickup truck, opened up a new round of crowdfunding on Aug. 30 and investors responded quickly.
Atlis, based in Mesa, opened the campaign under Regulation CF with the Securities and Exchange Commission with the goal of selling company shares and raising $5 million, according to the company and filings with the SEC.
The company said that it had raised $2.2 million in the first 24 hours of the offering opening and by Wednesday morning nearly half of the 392,462 available shares had been claimed.
In a fundraising email, Atlis said the money would be used to get the company’s energy and chassis technology into its final pre-production stages as well as to hire additional team members.
Atlis Motors currently produces a high-power, fast-charging battery and has said it plans to produce an electric vehicle chassis and a complete EV truck in the future.