Electric Last Mile Solutions, Inc. (ELMS) 2021 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day. Welcome to Electric Last Mile Solutions Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded.

再會。歡迎參加電動最後一哩解決方案 2021 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）提醒一下，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Sam Lee, Director of Investor Relations and Finance. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給投資者關係和財務總監 Sam Lee。請繼續。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for Electric Last Mile Solutions' Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Call.

下午好，感謝您參加 Electric Last Mile Solutions 的 2021 年第三季財報電話會議。

Before we begin, we'd like to remind you that remarks made on today's call may include forward-looking statements. These are based on our predictions and expectations as of today. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed today. For a more detailed discussion of the factors that may affect the company's results, please refer to our earnings release for this quarter and for our most recent SEC filings.

在開始之前，我們想提醒您，今天電話會議的言論可能包含前瞻性陳述。這些是基於我們今天的預測和期望。前瞻性陳述存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與今天討論的結果有重大差異。有關可能影響公司業績的因素的更詳細討論，請參閱我們本季的收益發布以及我們最近向 SEC 提交的文件。

Joining me on the call today are James Taylor, CEO of ELMS; Jason Luo, Executive Chairman; Rob Song, CFO and Treasurer; and Jonathan Ballon, Chief Strategy and Digital Officer. Management will deliver prepared remarks, and then we will open the line for your questions.

今天和我一起參加電話會議的是 ELMS 執行長 James Taylor；羅傑森，執行主席； Rob Song，財務長暨財務長；首席策略和數位長 Jonathan Ballon。管理層將發表準備好的發言，然後我們將開通您的提問熱線。

Now I'll turn the call over to James.

現在我將把電話轉給詹姆斯。

Thank you, Sam. And thanks, everyone, for joining us today. I'm so proud of the team we've assembled at ELMS. Despite all the challenges in the auto industry this year, we delivered on our commitments. We posted a historic third quarter in which we began production at our Mishawaka, Indiana plant and posted revenue as we shipped our Class 1 Urban Delivery vehicles. And we intend to continue delivering on our commitments by maintaining discipline in our goal-setting, our follow-through and our transparency going forward.

謝謝你，山姆。感謝大家今天加入我們。我為我們在 ELMS 組建的團隊感到非常自豪。儘管今年汽車產業面臨諸多挑戰，但我們還是兌現了承諾。我們公佈了歷史性的第三季業績，我們在印第安納州米沙沃卡工廠開始生產，並在運輸 1 級城市送貨車輛時公佈了收入。我們打算透過在目標設定、後續行動和未來透明度方面保持紀律，繼續履行我們的承諾。

Today, I'll provide a business update with detail about our Urban Delivery launch, plans for the addition of our Class 3 Urban Utility vehicle, our recently announced battery agreement and plans to explore localization of battery assembly in the U.S. and additional insights into our digital strategy development. Lastly, I'll turn it over to our CFO, Rob Song, to discuss our third quarter financials and outlook.

今天，我將提供業務更新，詳細介紹我們的 Urban Delivery 推出、增加 3 級城市公用事業車輛的計劃、我們最近宣布的電池協議以及探索美國電池組裝本地化的計劃，以及對我們的數位化戰略發展。最後，我將把它交給我們的財務長 Rob Song，討論我們第三季的財務狀況和前景。

Rob joined the company in April and has worked closely with the company's former Chief Financial Officer, Albert Li, as part of an intended succession plan. Rob brings nearly 20 years of diverse finance and capital markets experience, including extensive work with Morgan Stanley, Alphabet and CorePoint Lodging. We're pleased to welcome him officially to the call in his new role within the company. Albert was essential to ELMS becoming a publicly traded company and expanding its financial operations. We thank him for his important service and look forward to working with him as he transitions into a senior adviser role with the company.

Rob 於四月加入公司，並與公司前財務長 Albert Li 密切合作，作為繼任計畫的一部分。Rob 擁有近 20 年的多元化金融和資本市場經驗，包括與摩根士丹利、Alphabet 和 CorePoint Lodging 的廣泛合作。我們很高興正式歡迎他在公司擔任新職務並參加電話會議。Albert 對於 ELMS 成為上市公司並擴大其金融業務至關重要。我們感謝他提供的重要服務，並期待在他過渡到公司高級顧問職位時與他合作。

Okay. Let's get started. As the first publicly listed electric vehicle company initially focused on the Class 1 to Class 3 commercial segments, we're redefining productivity for commercial vehicle customers in what the industry calls the last mile of delivery. We founded ELMS because we saw an opportunity to rapidly deliver sustainable and intelligent mobility solutions to businesses engaged in moving goods and services to their final destinations. We developed commercial solutions that are profit drivers, not cost centers.

好的。讓我們開始吧。作為第一家上市電動車公司，最初專注於 1 類至 3 類商業細分市場，我們正在重新定義商用車客戶在產業中所謂的最後一哩交付的生產力。我們創立 ELMS 是因為我們看到了一個機會，可以為從事將貨物和服務運送到最終目的地的企業快速提供可持續的智慧移動解決方案。我們開發的商業解決方案是利潤驅動因素，而不是成本中心。

We identified an unmet business need, the Class 1 to Class 3 commercial EV segments, where we expect to benefit from several major tailwinds. These tailwinds, by the way, seem to be blowing harder and harder these days, including: first, enormous demand for commercial vehicle solutions driven by the rapid increase in e-commerce; companies seeking to meet very aggressive ESG targets; governments at all levels that are driving and, in some cases, mandating the adoption of environmentally sustainable solutions; U.S. policy movement toward enhanced electric vehicle tax credits, including the recently passed U.S. Infrastructure Bill and the pending Build Back Better bill that includes an expansion of EV tax credits; and within the last 2 weeks, the new global sustainability commitments coming out of the UN COP26 meetings in Glasgow. This is the perfect storm of positive demand catalysts blowing all in our favor.

我們確定了一個未滿足的業務需求，即 1 級至 3 級商用電動車細分市場，我們預計將受益於幾個主要的推動因素。順便說一句，這些順風車現在似乎越來越猛烈，包括：首先，電子商務的快速成長帶動了對商用車解決方案的巨大需求；尋求實現非常激進的 ESG 目標的公司；各級政府正在推動並在某些情況下強制採用環境永續的解決方案；美國加強電動車稅收抵免的政策動向，包括最近通過的美國基礎設施法案和懸而未決的「重建更好」法案，其中包括擴大電動車稅收抵免；在過去兩週內，格拉斯哥舉行的聯合國 COP26 會議做出了新的全球永續發展承諾。這是積極需求催化劑的完美風暴，一切都對我們有利。

To date, there are a few EV options on the market to meet the sudden increase in demand. Our Urban Delivery van is the first in the Class 1 commercial vehicle segment. The response to its launch has been tremendous. Demand is strong for both the Urban Delivery vehicle already in production as well as our planned Urban Utility vehicle. The response has not only been strong here in the U.S. market but also in Canada. So we've added a regional headquarters in Montreal that materially increases ELMS' total addressable market.

迄今為止，市場上有一些電動車選擇可以滿足突然增加的需求。我們的城市送貨車是 1 級商用車領域的第一輛。它的推出引起了巨大的反響。已經投入生產的城市配送車輛以及我們計劃中的城市公用事業車輛的需求都很強勁。不僅在美國市場，在加拿大市場的反應也很強烈。因此，我們在蒙特婁設立了地區總部，這大大增加了 ELMS 的總目標市場。

We see great sales opportunity in Canada where federal and provincial governments have taken progressive actions to support electric vehicle adoption, including offering government incentives that total up to CAD 8,000 for the purchase or lease of an EV. Canada has mandated that 100% of car and light truck sales be zero-emission vehicles by 2035 and has experienced an e-commerce boom similar to that in the U.S. Our opportunity here is to move quickly to be the first-mover, and take advantage of all these tailwinds.

我們在加拿大看到了巨大的銷售機會，聯邦和省政府已採取積極行動支持電動車的採用，包括為購買或租賃電動車提供總計高達 8,000 加元的政府激勵措施。加拿大規定，到 2035 年，汽車和輕型卡車銷售必須 100% 為零排放汽車，並經歷了與美國類似的電子商務繁榮。我們在這裡的機會是迅速採取行動，成為先行者，並利用這一優勢所有這些順風車。

So that addresses demand, and now let me turn to supply. We don't see any other Class 1 commercial EV manufacturers getting an EV foothold as quickly as we will. While many new entrants and existing players have announced plans for commercial EV products, for most of them, they remain plans. Based on competitor manufacturers' announcements, we expect to be the only company selling commercial EVs in the Class 1 space for 2 to 3 years. We also expect to be one of the first EV movers in the Class 3 space with the launch of the Urban Utility next year. The traditional automakers in the Class 1 market have not made any announcements to electrify, and new EV entrants will launch first in other segments before entering the Class 1 segment. In addition, they will face regulatory approval hurdles and startup challenges before they reach the market.

這就解決了需求問題，現在讓我來談談供應問題。我們沒有看到任何其他 1 類商用電動車製造商能像我們一樣迅速獲得電動車立足點。雖然許多新進業者和現有參與者已經宣布了商業電動車產品的計劃，但對於大多數人來說，他們仍然是計劃。根據競爭對手製造商的公告，我們預計在 2 至 3 年內成為唯一一家在 1 級領域銷售商用電動車的公司。隨著明年 Urban Utility 的推出，我們也預計將成為 3 級領域的首批電動車推動者之一。1級市場的傳統汽車製造商尚未發布任何電氣化公告，新的電動車進入者將首先在其他細分市場推出，然後再進入1級細分市場。此外，它們在進入市場之前還將面臨監管審批障礙和啟動挑戰。

ELMS' key differentiator and enabler continues to be our unique business model. Our business model is built on capital efficiency and a customer focus. We're already achieving capital efficiency by leveraging our existing U.S. EV manufacturing plant and market-proven components. This allows us to deliver reliable products at an exceptional speed and at a fraction of the cost compared with the traditional automotive business model. We're also differentiated from other manufacturers by our singular focus on commercial customers' needs.

ELMS 的關鍵差異化因素和推動因素仍然是我們獨特的業務模式。我們的業務模式建立在資本效率和以客戶為中心的基礎上。透過利用現有的美國電動車製造工廠和經過市場驗證的組件，我們已經實現了資本效率。與傳統汽車業務模式相比，這使我們能夠以極快的速度和極低的成本提供可靠的產品。我們與其他製造商的差異還在於我們專注於商業客戶的需求。

This allows us to provide what we believe will be one of the lowest total cost of ownership, up to 35% less than internal combustion engine vehicles. And as a solutions provider, we're not just delivering the hardware, but also the customization and digital solutions that enable our customers to increase the productivity of their fleets.

這使我們能夠提供我們認為總擁有成本最低的產品之一，比內燃機汽車低 35%。作為解決方案提供商，我們不僅提供硬件，還提供客製化和數位解決方案，使我們的客戶能夠提高其車隊的生產力。

Our ELMS AIR data and connectivity solutions will help our customers optimize their fleet efficiency, resulting in reduced emissions, best use of EV charging infrastructures, lower vehicle maintenance costs and lessened unscheduled downtime. The result is significant differentiation and a competitive advantage for ELMS, and we intend to build on it.

我們的 ELMS AIR 數據和連接解決方案將幫助我們的客戶優化其車隊效率，從而減少排放、充分利用電動車充電基礎設施、降低車輛維護成本並減少非計劃性停機。結果是 ELMS 具有顯著的差異化和競爭優勢，我們打算在此基礎上再接再厲。

One example where we're building on our competitive edge is the launch of our EV campus program. We're engaging with colleges and universities to address their sustainability goals and on-campus clean transportation needs. We launched the EV Campus program in October to help U.S. universities forge an achievable pathway to a zero emissions future. We're introducing our EV solutions to a large and untapped market that is very supportive of a transition to a clean and sustainable transportation fleet. Already tested by half a dozen colleges and universities, the EV Campus program allows schools to test, recharge an Urban Delivery van and experience trial installations of ELMS' telematics devices in their existing fleets of also internal combustion engine vehicles.

我們增強競爭優勢的一個例子是推出電動車校園計畫。我們正在與學院和大學合作，以滿足他們的永續發展目標和校園清潔交通需求。我們在 10 月啟動了 EV Campus 計劃，幫助美國大學打造一條通往零排放未來的可行之路。我們正在向一個尚未開發的大型市場推出我們的電動車解決方案，該市場非常支持向清潔和永續運輸車隊的過渡。EV Campus 計劃已經經過六所學院和大學的測試，允許學校對城市送貨車進行測試、充電，並在現有的內燃機車輛車隊中體驗 ELMS 遠端資訊處理設備的試用安裝。

We see universities using the vans for on-campus transportation, landscaping, maintenance, moving and more. They're seeing opportunity to use our vehicles and data to achieve more sustainability and also their financial goals. And we're seeing opportunity to expand our outreach to other potential clients such as airports, corporate office complexes and industrial facilities as well as the future on-road needs of those organizations.

我們看到大學使用貨車進行校園交通、景觀美化、維護、搬家等。他們看到了使用我們的車輛和數據來實現更多可持續性以及他們的財務目標的機會。我們看到了將業務範圍擴大到其他潛在客戶的機會，例如機場、企業辦公大樓和工業設施以及這些組織未來的道路需求。

That's why we're really excited about this program. We estimate all of these campuses together could comprise a 0.5 million unit market segment, an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how transitioning fleets, large and small, to ELMS vehicles and data solutions can help organizations achieve their sustainability goals and lower fleet costs. It's also an excellent opportunity for ELMS to test our production systems and capabilities on smaller orders, refining our processes and protocols before we ramp up to full production capacity while allowing us to recoup these early-stage costs.

這就是為什麼我們對這個計劃感到非常興奮。我們估計所有這些園區加在一起可構成50 萬輛的細分市場，這是展示大型和小型車隊如何過渡到ELMS 車輛和數據解決方案如何幫助組織實現可持續發展目標並降低車隊成本的絕佳機會。對於 ELMS 來說，這也是一個絕佳的機會，可以在小訂單上測試我們的生產系統和能力，在我們達到全面生產能力之前完善我們的流程和協議，同時讓我們能夠收回這些早期成本。

We see our EV campus program affecting positive change on university campuses and producing direct sales for our currently available on-campus fleet vehicles. We also see it highlighting a variety of ways our vehicles can be put to use to radically improve business and environmental results.

我們看到我們的電動車校園計劃對大學校園產生了積極的變化，並為我們現有的校園車隊車輛帶來了直接銷售。我們還看到它強調了我們的車輛可以透過多種方式從根本上改善業務和環境成果。

As we've said previously, we expect to meet our commitment to launch our fully homologated Urban Delivery vehicles in December, certified for on-road use in the U.S. market, and begin delivering against the 6,000 vehicle firm order commitment we have signed. Engagement with our customers continues at a rapid pace, with customer demos targeting such end customers as FedEx and Amazon delivery service partners and on-demand cargo van rental companies. We expect to convert many of these product tests into future sales.

正如我們之前所說，我們預計將兌現承諾，於 12 月推出經過完全認證的城市配送車輛，並獲得美國市場道路使用認證，並根據我們已簽署的 6,000 輛車輛確定訂單承諾開始交付。我們與客戶的互動繼續快速進行，客戶演示針對的是聯邦快遞和亞馬遜送貨服務合作夥伴以及按需貨車租賃公司等最終客戶。我們希望將其中許多產品測試轉化為未來的銷售。

In addition to engaging customers directly, we also continue to work with numerous fleet management companies as an important go-to-market channel in the commercial vehicle industry. Unlike the relatively simple distribution model of retail sales, commercial fleets engage very differently. Relationships with large distributors and FMCs, as they're called, are what are required to be a player in the commercial vehicle business. The top 10 U.S. FMCs manage fleets of more than 1.9 million vehicles.

除了直接與客戶接觸外，我們還繼續與許多車隊管理公司合作，作為商用車行業的重要進入市場管道。與相對簡單的零售分銷模式不同，商業車隊的參與方式截然不同。要成為商用車產業的參與者，就必須與大型經銷商和 FMC 建立關係。美國排名前 10 名的 FMC 管理著超過 190 萬輛汽車的車隊。

Another essential requirement for success in the commercial vehicle market is establishing critical relationships with upfitting partners. We've executed more than 20 nondisclosure agreements and are working with them to develop specific upfits for our vehicles, covering a broad range of market use cases. We'll continue to provide updates on upfitting as we finalize arrangements with our partners.

在商用車市場上取得成功的另一個基本要求是與改裝夥伴建立重要的關係。我們已經簽署了 20 多項保密協議，並正在與他們合作，為我們的車輛開發特定的改裝，涵蓋廣泛的市場用例。當我們與合作夥伴敲定安排時，我們將繼續提供有關裝修的最新資訊。

Demand for our vehicles and solutions remains high, and production has so far launched very smoothly. We want to recognize at the same time that we had planned a slow controlled startup to manage normal issues that come up with any new model introduction. Our experienced team has hundreds of vehicle launches under its belt. Our slow ramp-up is intentional. When issues come up, our team is able to address them and solve them.

對我們的車輛和解決方案的需求仍然很高，到目前為止，生產啟動得非常順利。我們希望同時認識到，我們計劃進行緩慢受控的啟動，以管理任何新模型引入時出現的正常問題。我們經驗豐富的團隊已完成數百次車輛發射。我們的緩慢成長是有意為之的。當出現問題時，我們的團隊能夠解決它們。

However, as is happening globally throughout the industry and as we have discussed on our last call, our suppliers are experiencing challenges sourcing raw materials and managing COVID-19 disruptions, we are facing rising transportation and logistics costs. We ordered more than enough materials for our initial production targets this year and through actually early 2022, but the global shipping container shortage has significantly increased the cost of moving components to our manufacturing facility. Our spot rate shipping costs are running as high as $25,000 per container, which is over 5x higher than the traditional pre-COVID rates. These elevated shipping and logistics costs have cut our margins per vehicle from double digits to low single digits.

然而，正如全球整個產業正在發生的那樣，正如我們在上次電話會議中所討論的那樣，我們的供應商在採購原材料和管理COVID-19 中斷方面面臨著挑戰​​，我們也面臨著運輸和物流成本上升的問題。我們訂購了足夠的材料來滿足今年的初始生產目標，實際上一直到 2022 年初，但全球貨櫃短缺顯著增加了將零件運送到我們製造工廠的成本。我們的即期運費每個貨櫃高達 25,000 美元，比新冠疫情前的傳統運費高出 5 倍以上。運輸和物流成本的上升使我們每輛車的利潤從兩位數降至低個位數。

In light of these unprecedented global supply chain challenges, we made the decision to lower our production to 300 to 500 vehicles for the year, down from originally 1,000. We're confident our team of experienced and skilled professionals are well equipped to manage this short-term cost challenge. After all, this is a team of top supply chain and logistics managers, engineering and manufacturing professionals, sales and dealer network experts that worked with our global supply base to bring our Urban Delivery to fruition in a short amount of time at far lower cost than any competitor has achieved. This same team has the necessary skill to manage the current market issues with our short-term and long-term financial goals and to continually adjust and adapt to changing macroeconomic environment.

鑑於這些前所未有的全球供應鏈挑戰，我們決定將今年的產量從最初的 1,000 輛減少到 300 至 500 輛。我們相信，我們經驗豐富、技術精湛的專業團隊有能力應對這項短期成本挑戰。畢竟，這是一支由頂級供應鏈和物流經理、工程和製造專業人士、銷售和經銷商網路專家組成的團隊，他們與我們的全球供應基地合作，在短時間內以遠低於其他城市的成本實現了我們的城市配送。任何競爭對手都已經取得了成就。這個團隊擁有必要的技能來管理當前的市場問題與我們的短期和長期財務目標，並不斷調整和適應不斷變化的宏觀經濟環境。

We also are working closely with our suppliers to ensure timely delivery of parts and subsystems and to firm up our production estimate for 2022. More details will be provided on our next earnings call. Still, I can share that, one, we're finalizing long-term shipping and logistics contracts for 2022 to avoid paying at current spot rates. We expect to significantly lower our current shipping costs. Rob will expand on this later, and we aim to provide an update on this in early 2022.

我們也與供應商密切合作，確保及時交付零件和子系統，並確定 2022 年的產量預計。我們將在下次財報電話會議上提供更多詳細資訊。不過，我可以分享的是，第一，我們正在敲定 2022 年的長期運輸和物流合同，以避免按當前的即期匯率付款。我們預計將顯著降低當前的運輸成本。Rob 稍後將對此進行詳細闡述，我們的目標是在 2022 年初提供相關更新。

In addition, based on historical trends, shipping spot rates should soften after the holidays. Despite the macro headwinds, we're positive there's an end to these challenges in sight for ELMS. As we begin to capture market share in both the Class 1 and Class 3 commercial EV segments next year, something no competitor can yet claim, we expect our vehicles to generate meaningful gross profit by the second half of 2022.

此外，根據歷史趨勢，假期後航運現貨價格應會走軟。儘管存在宏觀阻力，但我們確信 ELMS 的這些挑戰即將結束。隨著我們明年開始在 1 級和 3 級商用電動車領域佔據市場份額（目前還沒有競爭對手能夠佔領），我們預計我們的車輛到 2022 年下半年將產生可觀的毛利。

Now back to product. In response to strong customer demand, our Board has formally approved production of our next vehicle, the Urban Utility vehicle. The Board has also directed us to explore opportunities to advance the Urban Utility's time to market. Our current timing is to launch the vehicle in the second half of next year. Like our Urban Delivery van, the Urban Utility vehicle will be assembled in Mishawaka, Indiana, and is highly customizable. We anticipate working with partners to upfit it with customized dry boxes and special-use flatbeds in many cases, and we expect to be a first-mover, if not the first-mover, in this category.

現在回到產品。為了滿足客戶的強烈需求，我們的董事會已正式批准生產我們的下一代車輛，即城市公用事業車輛。董事會也指示我們探索加快城市公用事業上市時間的機會。我們目前的時間是明年下半年推出該車。與我們的城市送貨車一樣，城市多用途車將在印第安納州米沙沃卡組裝，並且具有高度可自訂性。在許多情況下，我們預計會與合作夥伴合作，為其配備定制的乾燥箱和專用平板床，並且我們希望成為該類別的先行者（如果不是先行者的話）。

Now let me switch gears and talk about the battery agreement we signed and potential localization. In October, we announced the deal with CATL that secures the battery supply for the Urban Delivery through 2025. CATL is the leading and largest supplier of battery systems globally. Securing our battery cell and pack supply is an important milestone and a tremendous achievement for our company in an extremely challenging supply environment. The ELMS battery is a lithium-iron phosphate, or LFP, chemistry. This type of battery is rapidly gaining popularity because it's less costly than the other alternatives, is viewed as a more stable power source than the other chemistries and it doesn't use the scarce and price-volatile raw materials, nickel and cobalt.

現在讓我換個話題，談談我們簽署的電池協議和潛在的國產化。10 月，我們宣布與 CATL 達成協議，確保城市配送到 2025 年的電池供應。CATL是全球領先、最大的電池系統供應商。確保我們的電池和電池組供應是一個重要的里程碑，也是我們公司在極具挑戰性的供應環境中取得的巨大成就。ELMS 電池是磷酸鐵鋰（LFP）化學電池。這種類型的電池正在迅速普及，因為它比其他替代電池成本更低，被視為比其他化學電池更穩定的電源，而且它不使用稀缺且價格波動較大的原材料鎳和鈷。

Given these attractive qualities and growing demand for LFP batteries from competitors, we feel especially fortunate to have locked in our supply from a large and well-established battery maker. We're also collaborating with several potential partners to localize production of our battery packs in the U.S. We can envision several paths to success, including building the battery packs on a manufacturing line in our plant in Mishawaka.

鑑於這些有吸引力的品質以及競爭對手對磷酸鋰電池日益增長的需求，我們感到特別幸運的是，我們能夠鎖定大型且成熟的電池製造商的供應。我們還與幾個潛在合作夥伴合作，在美國本地化生產我們的電池組。我們可以設想多種成功途徑，包括在我們米沙瓦卡工廠的生產線上製造電池組。

In the future, we are planning for the localization of about half of our vehicle content, starting with the battery, which alone comprises 30% of the production costs. We expect globalization to significantly reduce our costs over time.

未來，我們計劃將約一半的車輛零件實現國產化，首先是電池，僅電池就佔生產成本的 30%。我們預期全球化將隨著時間的推移顯著降低我們的成本。

In other important milestones, we opened an Asia Pacific Operations Center, or APOC, in Shanghai, and an Urban Mobility Lab in San Francisco. Our APOC further expands ELMS' global footprint and will serve as a hub for engineering operations, project management and supply chain management. As you know, the EV industry in Asia has a several year head start from the U.S. industry. We will tap into that expertise in the OEMs, the suppliers and talent pool. The team in Shanghai will be fully integrated with the company's global headquarters and work to improve supplier engagement, increase our speed to market and efficiently execute our unique business plan. We expect APOC to exceed 100 employees by the end of the year.

在其他重要的里程碑中，我們在上海開設了亞太營運中心（APOC），並在舊金山開設了城市交通實驗室。我們的 APOC 進一步擴大了 ELMS 的全球足跡，並將成為工程營運、專案管理和供應鏈管理的中心。如您所知，亞洲電動汽車行業比美國行業領先幾年。我們將利用原始設備製造商、供應商和人才庫的專業知識。上海團隊將與公司的全球總部完全整合，致力於提高供應商參與度、加快我們的上市速度並高效執行我們獨特的業務計劃。我們預計到今年年底 APOC 員工人數將超過 100 名。

We anticipate the Urban Mobility Lab in San Francisco to benefit from the large pool of talented hardware and software engineers as well as application developers in the Bay Area. The lab will serve as our tech hub for exploring and developing innovative electric vehicle solutions that improve fleet productivity and lower total cost of ownership. The lab is building out our data services and working with technology partnerships that are crucial to expanding in-vehicle technology, data-intensive applications and machine learning capabilities.

我們預計舊金山的城市行動實驗室將受益於灣區大量有才華的硬體和軟體工程師以及應用程式開發人員。該實驗室將作為我們的技術中心，探索和開發創新的電動車解決方案，以提高車隊生產力並降低整體擁有成本。該實驗室正在建立我們的數據服務，並與技術合作夥伴合作，這對於擴展車載技術、數據密集型應用和機器學習能力至關重要。

To that end, we are taking a portfolio approach to building a charging ecosystem that serves ELMS customers' needs. One example is our partnership with EVgo. We're working with EVgo to develop a bundled turnkey fleet charging program for ELMS customers. We anticipate that our growing charging ecosystem will include additional partners to ease customers' transition to our EVs and speed their time to realizing improved productivity and lower fleet costs.

為此，我們正在採取組合方法來建立滿足 ELMS 客戶需求的充電生態系統。我們與 EVgo 的合作就是一個例子。我們正在與 EVgo 合作，為 ELMS 客戶開發捆綁式交鑰匙車隊充電計劃。我們預計，我們不斷發展的充電生態系統將包括更多合作夥伴，以方便客戶過渡到我們的電動車，並加快他們實現提高生產力和降低車隊成本的速度。

ELMS intends to continue to discover and develop applications, data analytics and telematics that speed our customers' achievement of sustainability and financial goals. Currently, ELMS vehicles launch with unit tracking, EV charging station locators and telematic capabilities. As we build out our ELMS AIR telematic solutions, we anticipate adding fleet utilization, predictive maintenance, delivery management and advanced driver safety applications to our vehicles.

ELMS 打算繼續發現和開發應用程式、數據分析和遠端資訊處理，以加速我們的客戶實現永續發展和財務目標。目前，ELMS 車輛推出了單位追蹤、電動車充電站定位器和遠端資訊處理功能。當我們建立 ELMS AIR 遠端資訊處理解決方案時，我們預計將為我們的車輛增加車隊利用率、預測性維護、交付管理和先進的駕駛員安全應用程式。

So in summary, we're very proud to see our unique business model come to fruition. Our EV-ready plant and the market-tested components enabled us to get far ahead of a crowded space full of new entrants while a need for Class 1 and Class 3 commercial EVs is at its greatest. As a result, we delivered our first Urban Delivery vans and are engaging potential customers in pilot programs all across the country. We expect fully certified Urban Delivery vehicles will be shipped in December. We've secured our battery supply for Urban Delivery through 2025 and are pursuing U.S. localization.

總而言之，我們非常自豪地看到我們獨特的商業模式取得了成果。我們的電動車就緒工廠和經過市場測試的組件使我們能夠在充滿新進入者的擁擠空間中遙遙領先，同時對 1 級和 3 級商用電動車的需求最大。因此，我們交付了第一輛城市送貨車，並正在全國各地吸引潛在客戶參與試點計畫。我們預計經過全面認證的城市配送車輛將於 12 月出貨。我們已確保在 2025 年為城市配送提供電池供應，並尋求美國本地化。

And we reported revenue in the third quarter as promised. I just want to repeat that: We are now a revenue-generating company, not a pre-revenue company, and we will continue to generate revenue. In response to strong customer demand, our Board firmly approved production of our second vehicle, Class 3 Urban Utility, and encouraging advancing the time to market. I look forward to continuing the conversation and updating you on our progress.

我們按照承諾報告了第三季的收入。我只想重複一遍：我們現在是一家創收公司，而不是一家尚未創造收入的公司，我們將繼續創造收入。為了滿足客戶的強烈需求，我們的董事會堅決批准了我們的第二款車輛（Class 3 Urban Utility）的生產，並鼓勵加快上市時間。我期待著繼續對話並向您通報我們的進展。

Now I'll turn it over to Rob to go through our financials. Rob?

現在我將把它交給羅布來檢查我們的財務狀況。搶？

Thank you, James. Having been part of the team over the last 6 months, I can tell you what we are doing in key Electric Last Mile is special. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redefine the commercial vehicle market. I'm very excited to be working with this talented team. To date, we have delivered on our commitments and are confident we will continue to execute against our business plan.

謝謝你，詹姆斯。在過去 6 個月裡，我一直是團隊的一員，我可以告訴您，我們在關鍵的「電動最後一英里」中所做的事情非常特別。這是重新定義商用車市場千載難逢的機會。我很高興能與這個才華橫溢的團隊合作。到目前為止，我們已經兌現了我們的承諾，並有信心繼續執行我們的業務計劃。

Moving forward to the third quarter results. As of September 30, the company reported its first revenue of approximately $136,000 on delivery of 5 Urban Delivery vehicles. We had a total cash balance, including restricted cash, of $170.9 million. For the quarter, we reported a net loss of $17.8 million or a loss of $0.15 per share.

展望第三季業績。截至 9 月 30 日，該公司報告其第一筆收入約為 136,000 美元，交付了 5 輛城市送貨車。我們的現金餘額總額（包括限制性現金）為 1.709 億美元。本季度，我們報告淨虧損 1,780 萬美元，即每股虧損 0.15 美元。

Operating expenses were $22.3 million, consisting of $5.6 million of research and development expenses in development services, testing and prototype expenses; and $16.7 million of general and administrative expenses for personnel, consulting services and marketing expenses. We are on track to beat our initial CapEx guidance for 2021 as well as our initial operating expenses guidance. This is primarily due to the close and efficient relationship we had with our key suppliers that enables us to reduce our engineering, design and testing expenditure as we remain on track to deliver the fully certified Urban Delivery vehicle on time and below budget.

營運費用為 2,230 萬美元，其中包括 560 萬美元的開發服務、測試和原型費用的研發費用； 1,670 萬美元的一般和行政費用，用於人員、諮詢服務和行銷費用。我們預計將超越 2021 年最初的資本支出指引以及最初的營運費用指引。這主要是由於我們與主要供應商建立了密切而高效的關係，這使我們能夠減少工程、設計和測試支出，同時我們仍有望按時並低於預算交付經過全面認證的城市交付車輛。

For the full year 2021, we are revising our projected total operating expense to be in the range of $60 million to $70 million. We estimate total CapEx for the full year 2021 to be in the range of $20 million to $25 million. We have a unique business model that allows us to hold our investment level lower than other EV companies by leveraging our EV-ready production plant and proven components.

對於 2021 年全年，我們將預計的總營運費用修改為 6,000 萬至 7,000 萬美元。我們預計 2021 年全年的資本支出總額將在 2,000 萬美元至 2,500 萬美元之間。我們擁有獨特的商業模式，透過利用我們的電動車就緒生產工廠和經過驗證的組件，我們能夠保持比其他電動車公司更低的投資水平。

Finally, we are pleased to deliver on our promise of revenue in the quarter. 2022 is going to be a very exciting year, and we look forward to delivering the next major revenue milestone for the company. We'll be providing production guidance on our next earnings call.

最後，我們很高興兌現本季的收入承諾。2022 年將是非常令人興奮的一年，我們期待為公司實現下一個重要的營收里程碑。我們將在下一次財報電話會議上提供生產指導。

This concludes our prepared remarks. We'll now open the line for questions. Operator?

我們準備好的演講到此結束。我們現在將開通提問熱線。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) We do have a question from the line of Dan Ives with Wedbush Securities.

（操作員說明）我們確實收到了來自 Wedbush Securities 的 Dan Ives 的問題。

So in terms of -- obviously, I understand why you're cutting production from a cost perspective, but there's been no changes in terms of like the factory build-out, like just getting everything assembled. I just want to -- that continues to be exactly on track, right?

因此，顯然，我理解為什麼從成本角度考慮要削減產量，但在工廠擴建、組裝所有東西等方面沒有任何變化。我只是想——這仍然完全步入正軌，對嗎？

That's correct. Yes, there's no restriction in, let's say, our production capabilities. Plant's staffed up. People have been hired. CapEx is finished. Installations, lines running. You're exactly right, Dan. The issue is getting parts to the backdoor, but no issue in the plant.

這是正確的。是的，我們的生產能力沒有受到限制。工廠已備齊人員。人已經被雇用了。資本支出已完成。安裝、線路運轉。你說得完全正確，丹。問題是將零件運到後門，但在工廠裡沒有問題。

Okay. So let's just walk through like a customer that was preordered expecting to get it later this year and obviously, you cut production. So like how do you think about this for like next year? Like is it just -- is it more this just pan up as we go into '22 in terms of just filling orders production?

好的。因此，讓我們像一位預訂的客戶一樣，希望在今年晚些時候收到它，顯然，你削減了產量。那麼明年你又如何看待這個問題呢？就像我們進入 22 世紀時，在滿足訂單生產方面，這是否更多？

I think if I got your question right, it's kind of, call it, a slide where the customers that were looking at them for late this quarter would -- were going to just slide those orders and honor them in the first quarter. And I think -- you're well aware that the backdrop of this is a lot of customers that have been expecting their other commercial vehicles from the traditional manufacturers have all been put in a spot where they've had to delay their orders, not receive their orders and push those back also well into next year, some of them into the summer. So from a customer standpoint, this is consistent with what's going on in the industry. But our particular case, we've just slid them into the first quarter.

我想，如果我正確地回答了你的問題，這就像一張幻燈片，本季末關注這些訂單的客戶將直接滑動這些訂單並在第一季兌現它們。我認為，您很清楚，這種情況的背景是許多客戶一直期待傳統製造商的其他商用車都被置於不得不推遲訂單的境地，而不是接收他們的訂單並將其推遲到明年，其中一些延後到夏季。因此，從客戶的角度來看，這與行業內正在發生的情況是一致的。但我們的特殊情況是，我們只是將它們滑入第一季。

Okay. And just final like follow-on. So just when we think about like a "pipeline" or just what you're seeing in terms of backlog and more and more orders, like, can you just compare qualitatively today versus, let's say, 3 months now that you've gotten through different safety -- you're much more advanced than where you were, especially 3 to 6 months out?

好的。就像後續一樣，只是最終的。因此，當我們考慮「管道」或您所看到的積壓訂單和越來越多的訂單時，例如，您能否將今天與您已經完成的 3 個月進行定性比較不同的安全性——你比原來先進很多，尤其是3 到6 個月後？

Well, I think I'll start anecdotally that -- Dan, that by now from 3 or 4 months ago, we've had so many more pilot drives, test drives, demo drives, face-to-face with customers, at the plant, in their locations in various different use cases, as you know. And some of those, both also the Urban Delivery as well as the Urban Utility, so they're seeing our portfolio come at them as well. So we decided to just cut off, let's say, the preorders when we're sitting at that 45,000 number and focus on moving our preorders to final orders going through the bottom of the funnel in execution of these drives, demos and pilots.

好吧，我想我會從軼事開始——丹，從三四個月前到現在，我們已經進行了更多的試點駕駛、試駕、演示駕駛，與客戶面對面，在如您所​​知，它們位於各種不同用例中的位置。其中一些，包括城市交付和城市公用事業，所以他們也看到我們的產品組合也出現在他們身上。因此，我們決定在數量達到 45,000 時停止預訂，並專注於將預訂單轉移到最終訂單，透過漏斗底部執行這些驅動、演示和試點。

So I'd say anecdotally, the demand is overwhelming. I was just at Randy Marion this week with Ron prior to sales and their quotes are all in a category of, "Look, just I'm going to sell everything you give me. Hurry up." So demand is as good as, I'd say, or better than we saw 6 months ago. But from an order standpoint, with the Marion Group already committing the 6,000 of our first 8,000 and then a firm purchase order of the first 1,000, we got our head down to just fulfill those and do conversions, let's say, from interest into full PRs. But we're not taking any new orders unless they're actual orders and POs.

所以我想說的是，需求是壓倒性的。這週在銷售之前我剛剛和羅恩在蘭迪·馬里昂，他們的報價都屬於這樣的類別：“看，我要賣掉你給我的所有東西。快點吧。我想說，需求與 6 個月前一樣好，甚至更好。但從訂單的角度來看，馬里恩集團已經承諾了我們前8,000 個中的6,000 個，然後是前1,000 個的確定採購訂單，我們埋頭苦幹，只完成這些並進行轉換，比方說，從興趣到完整的PR 。但我們不會接受任何新訂單，除非它們是實際訂單和採購訂單。

Our next question is from Mike Shlisky with D.A. Davidson.

我們的下一個問題來自 D.A. 的 Mike Shlisky。戴維森。

Can you give us like an overview of the types of customers that your dealer partners have marked down as the first takers of your vehicles? I mean you don't have to actually name any names, but what kinds of folks are they, large fleet, small fleet, delivery, vocational? And how confident are you that those -- that the first 1,000 will turn into the next 5,000 by the end of February?

您能否向我們概述一下您的經銷商合作夥伴將哪些客戶類型標記為您的車輛的首批購買者？我的意思是你不必真正說出任何名字，但他們是什麼樣的人，大型車隊，小型車隊，送貨，職業？您對 2 月底前 1,000 名員工將變成接下來的 5,000 名員工有多大信心？

Yes. So I think the actual customers I said, without putting in names, we can lead you to fill in the blanks pretty easily. But the most and biggest and obvious is the delivery companies, the package delivery companies. And I think as you're aware, Mike, a lot of that is in these private owners that have small fleets and are the individual service providers for the big package carrying companies. There's rental companies that you can, again, fill in the blank of the names that rent these box trucks and small vans at locations. The service industry is seeing really strong interest from, say, telephone companies, service companies that come to your house to do installations and repairs, in that kind of category.

是的。所以我認為我說的實際客戶，不用輸入名字，我們可以輕鬆地引導你填空。但最、最大、最明顯的是快遞公司，也就是包裹遞送公司。我想，麥克，你也知道，其中很大一部分是在這些擁有小型車隊的私人業主身上，他們是大型包裹運輸公司的個人服務提供者。您可以再次填寫一些租賃公司在地點租賃這些箱式卡車和小型貨車的名稱的空白。服務業正看到來自電話公司、上門安裝和維修等服務公司的強烈興趣。

And of course, this is obvious, but stated for the other listeners is where the range and the vehicle is less than sort of this 40 to 50 miles that we've talked about. We're seeing that reinforce that our range of 100, 110 is more than adequate for their usages. There's medical delivery companies who -- large medical supply companies that have headquarters in a zone like the Southeast and deliver products, whether it's drugs or their individual supplies, to large hospital groups.

當然，這是顯而易見的，但向其他聽眾說明的是，里程和車輛都小於我們討論過的 40 到 50 英里。我們看到這進一步證明我們的 100、110 範圍對於他們的用途來說綽綽有餘。有些醫療配送公司是大型醫療供應公司，其總部位於東南部等地區，向大型醫院集團運送產品，無論是藥品或個人用品。

We already mentioned, of course, with our Campus Program, these university complexes where it isn't just one campus, it can be part of 20 or 30 campuses inside their overall umbrella. Cities, just to throw out a city, Miami, that want very aggressive goals. Airport complexes that are trying to accommodate transformation in the mobility world.

當然，我們已經在校園計畫中提到過，這些大學綜合體不僅僅是一個校園，還可以是其整體範圍內 20 或 30 個校園的一部分。城市，只是為了拋棄邁阿密這個想要非常激進的目標的城市。機場綜合體試圖適應移動世界的變革。

So it's -- all of those are different industries that are taking us on. And just to reinforce it, I think the overall efforts that they're seeing out of Washington, the industry picking up volumes, of course, Tesla's success, all these things are contributing to the mindset of these fleet owners being more and more used to the idea that this is happening. It's only a matter of when, and that they got to get on with the program and get moving quickly and adopt these.

所以，所有這些都是不同的產業正在挑戰我們。為了強化這一點，我認為他們在華盛頓看到的整體努力，該行業的銷量不斷增加，當然，特斯拉的成功，所有這些都有助於這些車隊所有者的心態越來越習慣這種情況正在發生的想法。這只是時間問題，他們必須繼續實施該計劃並迅速採取行動並採用這些計劃。

On the other hand, there's a lot of education to be done with these owners. As we go to the fleets and do our demos for many of them, of course, this is the first time they've been in an electric vehicle. So bringing them to the charging solutions, bringing them the telematics solutions and bringing them our vehicles is all part of the final conversion to a sale.

另一方面，需要對這些業主進行大量教育。當我們前往車隊並為其中許多人進行演示時，當然，這是他們第一次乘坐電動車。因此，為他們提供充電解決方案、為他們提供遠端資訊處理解決方案以及為他們提供我們的車輛，都是最終轉化為銷售的一部分。

Got it. Then kind of moving on, a quick question about your operating costs or operating expenses, the R&D and SG&A. Is the run rate that we saw this quarter a relatively solid run rate going forward or were there any unusual, especially on the R&D side, onetime testing costs and things, to get things finalized here?

知道了。然後繼續問一個關於您的營運成本或營運費用、研發和銷售、一般管理費用的快速問題。我們本季看到的運行率是一個相對穩定的運行率，還是有任何不尋常的地方，特別是在研發方面，一次性測試成本和其他事情，以便在這裡最終確定事情？

Mike, this is Rob here. So the run rate that we should expect going forward is going to be lower than what you saw this quarter. And that's because, as you know, we are going through the development process of homologating and certifying the vehicle for on-road use. So going forward, a lot of the testing costs, engineering costs and prototype costs will not be in our financial statements.

麥克，這是羅布。因此，我們預計未來的運行率將低於您本季看到的水平。這是因為，如您所知，我們正在經歷道路使用車輛的認證和認證的開發過程。因此，展望未來，許多測試成本、工程成本和原型成本將不會出現在我們的財務報表中。

Okay. Maybe one last one from me on the supply chain challenges that you're seeing. Can you give us just a little bit more detail on that? Is it that you could get the chassis or the components from China but don't want to pay the freight? It just doesn't make the sense from a dollars and cents standpoint? Or is it just challenging to find those or any other components that are sent to Indiana? Like what are some of the details behind why you're seeing these challenges here?

好的。也許是我關於您所看到的供應鏈挑戰的最後一篇。您能給我們更多細節嗎？是不是你可以從中國拿到底盤或零件，但不想支付運費？從美元和美分的角度來看，這沒有意義嗎？或者只是尋找發送到印第安納州的這些或任何其他組件具有挑戰性？例如您在這裡看到這些挑戰背後的一些細節是什麼？

I think it's -- to put that more in the category of -- the one that you mentioned is more availability of containers and getting the parts here rather than the costs, even with the elevated costs were down to single-digit margins. So we're not losing money or negative cash flow. We're not paying money to produce those vehicles. But in reality, it's just the difficulty of them securing containers, us securing boats and then getting them across to our plants. And this is just one supplier. If you take that across our entire supply base and see that we have to solve that equation not just once or twice, but through all of that supply community, that's the challenge we run into.

我認為，更具體地說，您提到的問題是集裝箱的可用性更高，並且在這裡獲取零件而不是成本，即使成本上升已降至個位數的利潤率。所以我們沒有虧損，也沒有出現負現金流。我們不會花錢生產這些車輛。但實際上，困難在於他們保護貨櫃，我們保護船隻，然後將它們運送到我們的工廠。這只是一家供應商。如果你把這個問題放在我們整個供應基地中，你會發現我們不僅要解決這個方程式一兩次，而且要透過整個供應社區來解決，這就是我們遇到的挑戰。

Our next question is from Greg Lewis with BTIG.

我們的下一個問題來自 BTIG 的 Greg Lewis。

Congratulations. I mean it's been impressive what you guys have been able to do in a short term -- short time. I did want to talk a little bit more about how we should be thinking about your ASPs going forward. I mean you guys have done a lot over the last few quarters but a lot has changed in the market over the last few quarters, right? Inflation is becoming a household name. You touched on supply chain, steel prices. Is there any way to think about maybe like a melt-up in your ASPs in '22 and into '23?

恭喜。我的意思是，你們在短期內所做的事情令人印象深刻。我確實想多談談我們應該如何考慮您的 ASP 的發展。我的意思是你們在過去幾季做了很多事情，但市場在過去幾季發生了很多變化，對嗎？通貨膨脹正在成為一個家喻戶曉的名字。您談到了供應鏈、鋼材價格。有什麼辦法可以考慮 22 年到 23 年 ASP 的融化嗎？

Yes. Well, it's, I guess, a few moving parts. At the high level, Greg, you could say, look, we've got no other competition in the segment and appears to be demand way in excess of supply. And then if you switch over to the other traditional suppliers, they're very short. And just to throw more gas on the fire, we've got Nissan backing out of the market, leaving a big void. So all that traditional logic would say that there's plenty of upside pricing opportunities.

是的。嗯，我想，這是一些活動部件。在高層，格雷格，你可以說，看，我們在這個領域沒有其他競爭，而且似乎需求遠遠超過供應。然後，如果你轉向其他傳統供應商，他們就會非常短缺。為了火上澆油，日產汽車退出了市場，留下了巨大的空白。因此，所有傳統邏輯都會說存在大量上漲的定價機會。

So as we're finalizing the contracts with the current conversions of these early customers, one, we don't want to be too greedy. We would still want to stick to our principles of making it for the fleets, total cost of ownership savings, 35%, but also landing kind of on the traditional ICE vehicles after incentives. So assuming that these bills go through and some of those incentives get increased, that's certainly going to give us upside pricing opportunity to still land at par with a gas vehicle.

因此，當我們根據這些早期客戶的當前轉換情況敲定合約時，第一，我們不想太貪婪。我們仍然希望堅持為車隊製造的原則，總擁有成本節省 35%，但在激勵措施後也轉向傳統的 ICE 車輛。因此，假設這些法案獲得通過並且其中一些激勵措施增加，這肯定會給我們帶來上行定價機會，使其仍能與燃氣汽車保持同等水平。

And also, just from pure supply and demand, we've been testing that water. We've put a couple of thousand more on our first shipments of these first 1,000 vehicles. So far had no pushback. So yes, we are testing the waters. We just don't want to, again, get too crazy here and push for too much upside and push ourselves out, where when the fleet owners do the math that we're out of whack on the TCO.

而且，僅從純粹的供給和需求來看，我們一直在測試這種水。我們在首批 1,000 輛汽車中又投入了數千輛。到目前為止還沒有出現任何阻力。所以是的，我們正在試水溫。我們只是不想再一次變得太瘋狂，追求太多的上升空間，把自己推出去，而當車隊所有者計算出我們的總體擁有成本時，我們已經不正常了。

Understood. That's good to hear. And then, I mean, clearly, it looks like you guys really hit a sweet spot here with the Class 1 delivery van. As we think about the utility vehicle the company is planning to roll out, I guess, late next year, early 2023, is there -- is the company kind of expecting a similar dynamic? Or is that space maybe a little bit more crowded? I'm kind of curious on your thoughts about that.

明白了。聽起來還不錯。然後，我的意思是，顯然，看起來你們真的很喜歡 1 級送貨車。當我們考慮該公司計劃在明年年底、2023 年初推出的多用途車時，該公司是否期待類似的動態？或者那個空間可能有點擁擠？我很好奇你對此的想法。

Yes. Well, if you look at -- first, just to make a minor correction, we're not putting out an exact date yet, but we had said second half of '22. And as I said in my comments, now, based on these early exposures we've had when we announced the vehicle and then have gone around with the early test drives, we have a lot of pressure from the customers and large fleets to move that Urban Utility as early as possible because they'd like to get their hands also on that. So it will definitely be in 2022, not '23, as you mentioned.

是的。好吧，如果你看一下——首先，做一個小小的修正，我們還沒有給出確切的日期，但我們說過 22 年下半年。正如我在評論中所說，現在，根據我們在宣布該車輛時所獲得的這些早期曝光，然後進行了早期試駕，我們面臨著來自客戶和大型車隊的巨大壓力，要求我們移動該車輛城市公用事業公司要儘早參與，因為他們也想參與其中。所以肯定是在 2022 年，而不是你提到的 23 年。

But as it regards to that vehicle, if you see the configuration, Greg, if you go online and look at it, it's kind of a unique configuration, so-called low cab forward. And that -- there is no other announcements. Again, just like the Class 1 of vehicles coming similar to that, you've got Ford and GM coming out with BrightDrop and E-Transit that are talking about moving kind of up into that space as they do today with their cab chassis but with significantly large engines and then dual wheels and axles and things like that to try to get into the Class 3 and 4 space.

但就那輛車而言，如果你看到配置，格雷格，如果你上網看看，這是一種獨特的配置，所謂的低駕駛室前移。而且——沒有其他公告。再說一遍，就像 1 類車輛一樣，福特和通用汽車也推出了 BrightDrop 和 E-Transit，他們正在談論將其移動到這個空間，就像他們今天的駕駛室底盤所做的那樣，但非常大的發動機，然後是雙輪和車軸之類的東西，試圖進入3 級和4 級空間。

So right now, again, I didn't say we will be the only one to be that definitive. But from what we can see so far, there's no like-to-like products that are coming in, in that segment. We've got potentially Arrival and Canoo coming down from that Class 3 space. But most of what we've seen is more the vans and walk-in vans as opposed to, say, box trucks like you'd see with U-Haul, a Ryder or Penske in these kinds of users. So again, I'm not going to go as far as saying there's nobody, but in the specific application we're looking at, I think we're still going to be one of the few, if not the only one in that segment.

所以現在，我再次強調，我們並不是唯一能做出如此決定的人。但從目前我們所看到的情況來看，該細分市場還沒有類似的產品出現。我們可能有來自 3 級空間的 Arrival 和 Canoo。但我們看到的大多數都是貨車和步入式貨車，而不是 U-Haul、Ryder 或 Penske 這類用戶中看到的箱型卡車。再說一遍，我不會說沒有人，但在我們正在研究的特定應用程式中，我認為我們仍然會成為該細分市場中少數幾個（即使不是唯一的）之一。

Our next question is from Jeff Osborne with Cowen and Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Cowen and Company 的 Jeff Osborne。

A couple of questions. I was wondering if we could walk through what's left on the homologation process to hit that for December. What have you done so far? And what still needs to be banged out?

有幾個問題。我想知道我們是否可以完成認證過程中剩下的內容以實現 12 月的目標。到目前為止你做了什麼？還有什麼需要解決的？

Yes. Thanks, Jeff. Well, as you can tell, it's November and December is not that far away. So we've got a pretty good line of sight. And as we've gone through before, this is a series of engineering tests that we go through, of course, to verify that we're meeting the FMVSS standards. And so some of those are done virtually in the math tools. Some of them -- a lot of them have already been completed in -- off of prototype tools. The last step we have is what we really call verification testing. We've seen them already pass the tests. Those have already happened. And -- but now we just have to make sure that those are, call it, repeated or verified or confirmed off production tools, production parts in the same configuration.

是的。謝謝，傑夫。嗯，如您所知，現在是 11 月，距離 12 月也不遠了。所以我們有一個非常好的視線。正如我們之前經歷過的，這是我們進行的一系列工程測試，當然是為了驗證我們是否符合 FMVSS 標準。因此，其中一些實際上是在數學工具中完成的。其中一些——其中許多已經透過原型工具完成。我們的最後一步就是我們真正所說的驗證測試。我們已經看到他們已經通過測試了。這些已經發生了。而且 - 但現在我們只需要確保這些是，稱之為，重複或驗證或確認的生產工具，生產零件具有相同的配置。

So we're highly confident these are going to pass because we've already seen them pass once. They just have to pass off this last generation of parts that are coming from our assembly line. So those are the tests that we have lined up in the first couple of weeks of December. And as those progressively pass, then we'll be in a fully, fully certified situation to ship in December.

所以我們非常有信心這些將會通過，因為我們已經看到它們通過了一次。他們只需假冒來自我們裝配線的最後一代零件。這些是我們在 12 月的前幾週安排的測試。隨著這些逐步通過，我們將處於完全、完全認證的狀態，可以在 12 月發貨。

Got it. That's great to hear. And just maybe for yourself or Rob, as it relates to the 300 to 500 deliveries for the quarter. Will those all, I assume, be the unhomologated? And so should we think about the average price that you had this quarter, being $27,000 or so, being consistent in Q4 and then back to more normalized levels for 2020 -- or 2022?

知道了。聽到這個消息我很高興。也許只是為了您自己或 Rob，因為這涉及到本季度 300 到 500 份的交付量。我想，這些都是未經認證的嗎？那麼，我們是否應該考慮本季的平均價格，即 27,000 美元左右，在第四季度保持一致，然後在 2020 年或 2022 年回到更正常的水平？

Jeff, this is Rob here. The 300 to 500 production vehicles that we've indicated for 2021, it's actually going to be a mix of EV Campus vehicles as well as the fully homologated on-road vehicles. So the price assumption should be a blended of $27,000 and $34,500 that we have for the on-road vehicles.

傑夫，這是羅布。我們預計 2021 年將生產 300 至 500 輛量產車，實際上將是電動校園車輛以及完全認證的道路車輛的混合。因此，道路車輛的價格假設應該是 27,000 美元和 34,500 美元的混合價格。

Got it. And then my last question is just I think you folks had a social media post on the 5th of November that had an aerial shot of your lot that had quite a few vans out there. Can you just give us any sense of what you've seen in October and November in terms of like weekly build rates? There wasn't a lot on the call as it relates to sort of the staffing and throughput levels. There was a lot of issues around inputs and costs and whatnot, but anything as to the staff and the job that they're doing would be helpful to understand.

知道了。我的最後一個問題是，我認為你們在 11 月 5 日發布了一篇社交媒體帖子，其中對你們的場地進行了空中拍攝，那裡有很多貨車。您能否向我們介紹一下您在 10 月和 11 月的每週建置率等情況？電話會議上沒有太多內容，因為它涉及人員配置和吞吐量等級。關於投入和成本等存在很多問題，但是有關員工和他們正在做的工作的任何事情都將有助於理解。

Yes. I think it's probably easier just to come into the current tents, Jeff, to say that our build rate next week will be about 40. So that aerial shot you had, it was a large piece of the around 100 that we got in play or on the way out the door. And -- but right now, we've got a sufficient team. It's about 45, 50 people that are in place to be able to build our current rate of about 40 a week. Going into the end of the year, we'll ramp that workforce up to just a little bit less than 100 by the time we hit Christmas, New Year's, 100 people.

是的。我認為傑夫，進入目前的帳篷可能更容易說我們下週的建造率約為 40。所以你看到的空中鏡頭，是我們在比賽中或出門時拍攝的大約 100 張照片中的很大一部分。而且——但現在，我們有足夠的團隊。大約需要 45 到 50 名員工，才能達到我們目前每週約 40 人的速度。到今年年底，我們將在聖誕節、新年期間將員工人數增加到略低於 100 人。

And we have a question from Chirag Patel with Jefferies.

奇拉格·帕特爾向傑弗里斯提出了一個問題。

If we could just go back to the Urban Utility vehicle. I just kind of wanted to get a sense for some of the milestones that we should be on the lookout for, whether it be testing phases, supply agreements, things of that nature, as we look into next year.

如果我們能回到城市公用事業車輛就好了。我只是想了解我們應該關注的一些里程碑，無論是測試階段、供應協議還是類似性質的事情，在我們展望明年的時候。

Sure. Well, just to set the stage, the requirements, let's say, milestones, as you called it, are quite a bit different than they were for the Urban Delivery, given it's a Class 3 vehicle. The safety requirements, FMVSS, all of that is much less than it is for the Class 1s and 2s. So we have a less cost, less timing and less complexity for us to go through the different hurdles and milestones to hit the start of production. We still have to do some of the retooling, some similarities, for instance. Just one example will be the headlamps where you have to have headlamps that are compliant with the U.S. regulations. That has nothing to do with crash. But as far as airbags, seatbelts and things like that, it's a very different approval process.

當然。好吧，只是為了奠定基礎，假設您所說的里程碑，與城市交付的要求有很大不同，因為它是 3 級車輛。安全要求、FMVSS，所有這些都比 1 級和 2 級低得多。因此，我們可以用更少的成本、更少的時間和更少的複雜性來克服不同的障礙和里程碑來開始生產。例如，我們仍然需要進行一些重組，一些相似之處。頭燈就是一個例子，您必須擁有符合美國法規的頭燈。這與崩潰無關。但就安全氣囊、安全帶之類的東西而言，這是一個非常不同的審批流程。

So we have similar gates, locking up our battery supply with incremental volume. We have the early tooling changes that make us U.S.-compliant on some things that we've all kicked off. This has started months ago. And then it really just be the plant trials that all plants go through and then final certification. So a pretty, I'd say, generic or a normal process. The highlight is much shorter and much lower cost than it was for the Urban Delivery.

所以我們有類似的門，以增量鎖定我們的電池供應。我們進行了早期的工具變更，使我們在一些我們已經啟動的事情上符合美國的要求。這已經從幾個月前開始了。然後，實際上只是所有工廠都要經過工廠試驗，然後是最終認證。我想說，這是一個非常通用或正常的過程。與城市配送相比，其亮點是時間短得多，成本也低得多。

All right. I appreciate that. And then the only other thing I had to look at was just the idea of the freight and logistics costs, just trying to get one more handle on that for a second, is the idea of locking in some of that for 2022. What should we kind of be projecting as far as thoughts on how that's going to impact the margins from what we had talked about as we went through the process of the original launch the idea of double-digit margins. It's going to be a longer-term playbook? Is that something that we are thinking of high single digits in the near term? And then eventually, as we kind of progress into a more normalized area to achieve those double digits? Or is it maybe even sooner than that?

好的。我很感激。然後，我唯一需要考慮的另一件事就是貨運和物流成本的想法，只是想再多了解一下，就是鎖定 2022 年其中的一些成本。我們應該如何預測這將如何影響我們在最初推出兩位數利潤率想法時所討論的利潤率。這將是一個長期的劇本？這是我們近期考慮的高個位數的事情嗎？最終，當我們進入一個更標準化的領域以實現兩位數？或者可能比這還要早？

Yes. It's Rob here. So regarding freight costs, if you think about what the current spot rate is, about $25,000 and what contract prices typically are, which is about 60% of spot rate, assuming we can achieve that type of a discount going forward in 2022, that will equate to about $10,000 per container, lower than what we're currently paying. So that equates to -- if we are only -- if we are only are able to put 2 vehicles in a container, that's about a $5,000 savings per vehicle. So if you apply that to the $34,000 MSRP, you're probably generating 15% -- up to 15% gross margin on our products. And we expect to be able to get within that range by the second half of 2022, assuming we are able to lock in contracts at that rate.

是的。我是羅布。因此，就運費而言，如果您考慮一下當前的即期費率是多少（約25,000 美元）以及通常的合約價格（約為即期費率的60%），假設我們可以在2022 年實現這種類型的折扣，那麼相當於每個貨櫃約 10,000 美元，低於我們目前支付的價格。因此，如果我們只能將 2 輛車放入一個貨櫃中，那麼這相當於每輛車可節省約 5,000 美元。因此，如果將其應用於 34,000 美元的建議零售價，我們的產品可能會產生 15% 的毛利率，最高可達 15%。假設我們能夠以這個速度鎖定合同，我們預計到 2022 年下半年就能達到這個範圍。

And that concludes the questions. Today's call has concluded. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines.

問題就這樣結束了。今天的通話結束了。我們感謝您的參與，並請您斷開線路。