James Taylor, the former CEO of Electric Last Mile Solutions, kept a low profile following the bankruptcy sale of the company’s assets to Mullen Automotive. This week, he resurfaced as CEO of Mullen-controlled Bollinger Motors, a maker of electric trucks.
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Long executive resume
Taylor has a long resume of executive positions in the automotive and more recently the commercial vehicle industry. Success has proved elusive.
He was a vehicle line executive and president of Cadillac and later CEO of Hummer at General Motors. GM unsuccessfully tried to sell Hummer in 2010 after the brand became a byword for gas-guzzling SUVs. Taylor landed at AMP Electric Vehicles, the founding name of what eventually became Workhorse Group.
Next he split time between a failed Canadian technology startup called Axios – unrelated to the online news outlet of the same name. Simultaneously, he served as chief sales and marketing officer at electric sports car maker Karma.
Another startup, Chinese-backed Seres, followed before Taylor founded ELMS, a Class 1 electric truck maker. Jason Luo, a former chairman and CEO of Ford China, was his partner. Luo was executive chair of ELMS. Taylor served as CEO and president. He also was a board member.
Troubled tenure at ELMS
ELMS was a SPAC-backed startup. Like many young companies that aligned with special purpose acquisition companies, it ran through most of $379 million of proceeds from its reverse merger with Forum Merger III Corp. During the SPAC frenzy of 2020 and 2021, ELMS had a $1.4 billion valuation.
Along the way, a board-initiated investigation found that Luo and Taylor had purchased equity in the company at substantial discounts to market price without getting an independent valuation. Both resigned with a shove. The Securities and Exchange Commission investigated but lost interest after ELMS filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in June 2022.
Other than legally dense language in SEC filings, ELMS did not make a big deal about its demise. It hinted Luo and Taylor contributed. It’s unclear how much restitution Taylor and Luo made to ELMS. In February 2022, the company terminated Taylor’s two-year deal to serve as a consultant after four months.
Mullen picks up the pieces
Mullen Automotive purchased the Mishawaka, Indiana, plant and other ELMS intellectual property and assets for $240 million in October 2022. The plant coincidentally once built the hulking Hummer H2 that Taylor oversaw for GM. ELMS assembled small electric delivery trucks there with cabs imported from China.
Taylor made no mention of an association with Mullen on his LinkedIn profile until a brief post this week. By virtue of its 60% ownership, Mullen exerts tight control over Bollinger.
“I am grateful and excited for this opportunity to continue moving Bollinger Motors toward a leadership role in the electric vehicle industry,” Taylor said in a news release on Tuesday.
A familiar-looking Class 1 entry
Mullen showed a Class 1 delivery vehicle at the NTEA Work Truck Show in March that appears to be a carbon copy of the ELMS delivery vehicle. The $34,000 vehicle qualifies for a $3,500 incentive in Massachusetts and for a $7,500 federal tax credit. Taylor is not working in that part of the Mullen business.
Founder Robert Bollinger remains on the company board and is a major investor. He has stepped away from active management of the company he founded in 2015 in Oak Park, Michigan.
A day before the announcement of C-suite changes, Bollinger said it had reached an agreement to sell 70 all-electric Class 4 Bollinger B4 commercial trucks to Doering Fleet Management, a turnkey fleet management company based in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
“The Bollinger B4 is an innovative, world-class electric truck with outstanding performance and capability, and Bollinger Motors shares our commitment to outstanding customer service,” Adam Berger, Doering president, said in a news release on Monday. “For our customers seeking a medium duty electric truck the Bollinger B4 will be a great option to meet their needs.”
NACFE findings reinforce where commercial EVs make sense
The final report from the North American Council on Freight Efficiency’s Run on Less – Electric Depot reinforces where electrified commercial vehicles shine and where gaps to adoption remain. Following a data workshop in March, NACFE locked in a consensus of facts about electric trucks:
- Electric vans, trucks and heavy-duty tractors are on the road today and are performing well in many duty cycles.
- Infrastructure, both at the depots and strategically placed along freight corridors, is needed now.
- Heavy-duty tractor OEMs should make cost and weight improvements a priority.
- More realistic data on all key performance metrics is needed.
“Moving to a cleaner freight future is going to take a collaborative effort and we appreciate all the groups that have been willing to work collaboratively for the betterment of trucking,” Mike Roeth, NACFE executive director, wrote in a recent newsletter.
Briefly noted …
California is getting $1.2 billion from the Department of Energy for its hydrogen hub known as ARCHES – the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems.
It took an override of the governor’s veto, but Kentucky now allows autonomous cars on its roads and will allow driverless trucks in 2026.
Eight Mack LR Electric refuse haulers – the company’s largest electric refuse truck order to date – are headed to Vancouver Island in Canada.
Cummins reports that testing of the Jacobs cylinder deactivation technology it purchased as part of a takeover of Jacobs showed a 2.76% improvement in fuel efficiency.
Ford is adding capacity for up to 100,000 additional F-Series SuperDuty pickups at a plant in Oakville, Ontario. The expansion adds 150 jobs at an engine plant in Windsor and preserves 1,800 positions in Oakville.
Truck Tech Episode No. 74: Going electric and driverless in the distribution yard
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That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading and watching. Send your feedback on Truck Tech to Alan Adler at aadler@firecrown.com.