Electric Last Mile Solutions announced plans to reveal its working prototype of the Urban Utility, an all-electric medium-duty cab forward truck, and begin taking orders at the Route Consultant Contractor Expo on July 30-31, according to a press release. Held in Nashville, Tenn., the annual Expo is the largest independent gathering of FedEx Ground contractors in the country, according to the announcement.
ELMS will be joined at the Route Consultant Contractor Expo by its distribution partner, Randy Marion Automotive Group, and will host test drives of both its Class 3 Urban Utility medium-duty EV as well as its all-electric Urban Delivery cargo van. ELMS expects to begin production of the Urban Delivery, the anticipated first Class 1 commercial EV in the U.S., later this year, company officials said.
With an estimated range of about 250 miles unloaded, the ability to support variable cargo box lengths and an expected payload of around 5,700 pounds, the Urban Utility is anticipated to be the second electric vehicle in ELMS’ last-mile portfolio. The Urban Utility’s start of production is expected in the second half of 2022, and its introduction would position ELMS to offer commercial electric vehicle solutions spanning the Class 1 to Class 3 last mile segment.
“We have seen strong early indications of interest in our Urban Utility from fleets seeking more efficient and sustainable last mile delivery solutions,” said James Taylor, co-founder and CEO of ELMS. “With our reveal, we are excited to show our full suite of last mile e-mobility solutions to some of the country’s largest delivery providers.”
The Urban Utility is also expected to come with a suite of connectivity solutions that would allow fleet operators full visibility of their vehicles in near real time, as well as the ability to turn each Urban Utility vehicle into a Wi-Fi hotspot, officials said. In addition, ELMS expects to include over-the-air software update capabilities aimed at reducing vehicle downtime. As part of its integrated business model, ELMS also plans to offer upfitting solutions to customize the Urban Utility to fleets’ individual end-use cases.
In December 2020, ELMS announced it entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Forum Merger III Corp., a special purpose acquisition company. Forum announced that it will hold a stockholder meeting to approve the transaction on June 24. The combined company will be named Electric Last Mile Solutions Inc. and the common stock of Electric Last Mile Solutions Inc. will continue to be listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the new ticker symbol “ELMS.” All stockholders of Forum as of May 20, 2021, are encouraged to vote their shares before June 24.
