 Welcome everybody back to the independent investor channel for another reaction video to the ACT expo that just Concluded in Long Beach, California. I thought it was very telling. I was able to Review for you guys and actually time stamped the panel that I thought was the most telling of the expo for sure So I spent a lot of time actually leaving the time stamps in the bottom of that I think really for context you really do need to listen to the hour and a half panel In its totality because there's a few key moments that we will talk about in this video But we're gonna go in and we're gonna jump into the really the six segments and we're gonna break it down For you guys we're gonna listen to Thomas Healy and I'm gonna allow my commentary or offer my commentary a little bit About how I think that this was just a slam dunk you know the the reaction of the stock was Predictable no doubt about it. I think every day that goes by I think it's creating one of the best value opportunities that I've ever seen in the market and and I think that people that are really paying attention and Really listening I was actually paying attention to the people in the audience reacting to Thomas Healy There was a lot of head nodding and and I think that when some of the other panelists were talking I Really didn't understand where they were going with some of their their dialogue and and and what point they were trying to make I really think they were trying to do a lot of skirting of the issue And I think that really shined through I think Thomas Healy was very very succinct I thought he was very to the point and We're gonna kick in here and allow Thomas Healy to provide the the intro And then we'll walk through each of the six sessions At the ACT expo which I found was just a real pivotal milestone For highly on and really putting this product to the forefront In front of big industry and I thought it was just absolutely intriguing Hope you guys enjoy our mission is to be a leading provider of electrified powertrains to the commercial vehicle space I've had the pleasure of meeting with most of you over the the past few years here at the ACT expo But it's exciting to see how much this show has grown. I think we hit record attendance this year and For us, this was a huge trade show for us It was the first time that we unveiled our new and improved hybrid system for class 8 semi trucks As well as it was the first time that we actually publicly unveiled and let people see firsthand up close our hyper truck ERX We had the Interesting experience of announcing a new product through the middle of COVID So we were super excited that you guys actually get to see it here at the show But you know the reality is the way we look at this whole electrification shift is it's happening but we need to do it in a way where it's going to be easy and practical for fleets to adopt and and so for highly on we see it as there's not a one-size-fits-all solution and We're going after the long haul class 8 market specifically and we see that for that market You really need range extender solutions and a few others on the panel here are also bringing forward range extender solutions But you know the really the question is how are those batteries getting charged? How are we actually producing the electricity? Where's the electricity coming from? To actually be able to drive that vehicle for us We're taking approach of starting with natural gas as a fuel on board the vehicle and specifically using renewable natural gas Which can drive net carbon negative emissions profiles for trucks Infrastructure is already built out the cost already works and the emissions already works and it's bleeding right if you're net negative It's pretty tough to beat that So from that end we see this as a great starting point for making this shift into line haul long haul Class 8 electrification and then from there we can target a future So a few things that Thomas really just set the stage for what ended up to be an extremely telling Panel it was incredible Mind you that was the only two times that net carbon negative was mentioned during this panel I found that to extremely telling. I also thought it interesting how on this panel he foot stomped again the version 2 of the hybrid product that is actually been added to the highly on comm Website they've added an entire Sequence just devoted to the hybrid version For all of you guys that are interested in that information I highly encourage you to kick over to highly on comm and go into what is available now with their Hybrid product that they've got their new and improved hybrid product. So Thomas does a good job here have really set in the stage Really introducing highly on is as the product kind of a standalone here on this panel With the direction of going toward the solution and the fuel being RNG. I Thought that was super important To really distinguish himself from the group and that way He was able to really remain kind of close to the vest during the totality of the panel And I thought that was a really strategically smart move because he was able to define Highly on his business model and actually kind of go on the offensive a little bit later in the interview So let's get into session 2 In at the ACT expo at the at the panel here Yeah, absolutely So I think the theme that every single answer has addressed here is infrastructure is the question mark The truck technology is not going to be the question mark I fully believe that we're going to be at a point where the truck technology is ready We'll have BEV trucks that can do long range But we're not going to have an infrastructure that's able to support actually charging those vehicles Similarly when you look at hydrogen, where's the infrastructure to actually refuel these vehicles and that's going to take time to build out That's not going to happen overnight You need to get lots of permitting in order to build a station You need to figure out how you're actually going to produce the hydrogen and the grid in the electricity generation is a real Problem, right? I mean you Craig you hit the nail on the head California is already having problems keeping lights on at home keeping your refrigerator running let alone putting trucks on the grid and The reality is if you want to electrify all the trucks in California I was told at this show that you need to double the capacity of the grid in California in order to support that and that's not something that's even being embarked on and worked on You know, that's not that hasn't taken place So the reality is we need to be really smart about how this electricity is going to be generated And we need to be practical about it as well, right? There is a panel that happened the other day where one of the speakers was saying well Why don't we take renewable natural gas and we will use that to actually make hydrogen? Our pitch as a company is well, why don't you just take that renewable natural gas? just put it in the truck and produce the electricity on board the vehicle in order to drive it and From an ecosystem standpoint that is a much more efficient solution than going through multiple phase changes of a of energy In order to be able to produce electricity So from that standpoint our pitch is why don't we utilize the already existing infrastructure out there over? 700 stations built out across North America for class 8 trucks or for semi trucks and Utilize that to refuel the vehicles with renewable natural gas Last year we surpassed over 50% of the Natural gas sold at these stations already came from renewable sources. So RNG is a real fuel source This isn't like one or two percent of the market and one of the fun stats out There is also there are just as many RNG production facilities being permitted and starting build right now as they're already in existence So we're going to see a tremendous amount of RNG production coming in the near future So just use that right on board the vehicle produce the electricity and get all the benefits of electrification Without the downsides of infrastructure So Thomas takes the time here to address the infrastructure issue and the real contrast between Hylian and the rest of the panel members if you do watch the panel in its totality you're really going to relate hopefully the way that I did with the Lack of clarity surrounding how The other companies are going to respond the bev especially And also the lack of infrastructure on the hydrogen fuel cell I found this extremely compelling and it was never countered During the during the debate which this ended up kind of going there a little bit And I think Thomas asked some real rhetorical question aimed at striking at the heart of there is no infrastructure And there are no plans for said infrastructure improvements to even Make good on the promise that these other companies are looking to put forward as a solution In that you might even get there But you're still not going to have the ability to provide a cost effective Truck over there if that in fact is what's driving your TCO the total cost of ownership over time If you just don't have the electricity to provide And even if you did it would still need to be comparable or on par or dare I say cheaper Then diesel they get into that a little bit later. So let's jump into session three here at the ACT Expo and See what Thomas Healy's got for us next At the end of the day customers need to be thrilled and satisfied with the technology and needs to make economic sense for them To adopt this and that's one of the things that we can't lose sight of right and so from our end as we're going through the design The development phases of getting trucks deployed out there It all comes back to what do the customers need to see in operations in order to make this work We put together a fleet council with some of the leading fleets in the industry so that we actually could bring fleets along the product development cycle with us and get their feedback along the way so that when we actually Do start shipping the hyper truck out to fleets We know that it's something that's going to meet their needs as opposed to the last thing We want to do is is deploy a product that nobody wants to adopt, right? So, you know, I think we're sitting in this is actually a fascinating thing if you think about it You've got all very young and innovative companies that are sitting here to try to disrupt and evolve an industry and the coolest part of it When you kind of collectively add it up you have billions of dollars sitting on our balance sheet Just on this panel alone to go make that happen And so what's a really interesting thing is that we're all taking a little bit different of an approach now I wouldn't say any of our approaches are wrong, right? The reality is though is that each of our approaches is going to have a market opportunity that it makes sense where us to deploy trucks It does not make sense for you know To put an electric truck in an area where a fully electric plug-in truck in an area where the Greek can already support it Or it doesn't make any sense to put a fully electric truck in a place We have to turn on a coal-fired power plant in order to recharge that vehicle Similarly for hydrogen you can't put it in an area where you know there is in hydrogen production or you can't make green hydrogen Right, so we have to be really strategic on how we deploy these vehicles And ultimately we need to listen to our customers to see how it's going to work And the last point on all that is we need to have solutions that can actually save fleets money because as you all know in the audience here This is not the passenger car world. The passenger car world is going to make a decision on buying a car based on emotions It's going to be I love the touchscreen in this car. The acceleration is awesome. I have ludicrous mode Right, I mean, it's all those things that that's what's going to make you buy an electric car The reality of all the people sitting at this show though is that is an asset that's a revenue-generating Vehicle that's designed to make profit for an organization And if we can't help them make profit and we can't be better than diesel Then we're not going to have a winning solution so that element right there was extremely important in Drawing a distinction between and highly on who has the services of the intubation council 10 specific large fleet owners and Interesting enough, I don't really feel like the other companies are challenged enough on this front and a specific to customer integration in the process I don't believe and I don't cover the other Companies hi's on B. Y. D. I cover Nicola a little bit But not to the point where I'm trying to substantiate an investment in the company But to my knowledge, they don't have anything that highly on has with the innovation council in that they're seeking out validation And there was a theme throughout this panel that I felt like there was really a lot of talking around the core issue that Really, I don't mean to be impartial here, but Thomas Healy really was very crystal clear very well spoken on Addressing the core issues and posing those questions rhetorically, which I felt like the rest of the panel failed miserably At addressing and answering there was all kinds of different ways of explaining that they were going to go out And they were going to meet customer demand But all the while I don't see that they're integrating their Vision for the future that was used a lot, especially by Craig of Nicola who was representing the panel here about their vision and Thomas Healy hit it on the head when he said look if they if we're coming up with a solution That is feudal in otherwise it can't be used or the bottom dollar total cost of ownership cannot be Substantiated justified if the efficiencies just aren't there it will fail And he says that outright and the rest of the panel seemed to spend the most of the time Really just talking about their vision their vision and that they're going to have to accommodate for Customer needs on an individual basis It made no sense to me and I found that it was a real flailing by the rest of the panel here When Thomas challenged them on this very front Customer integration, so let's jump into discussion for here and see what Thomas has gotten store with us in session for So TCO is something we really need to talk about and I'll lead into this was saying like Craig and I were chatting about this yesterday and The reality is is like even though all of us are sitting up here and technically we are competitors at the end of the Day we want all of us all of each other to succeed here because that's what's going to make this industry transition into being a cleaner contributor to the environment, but we really need to have an honest discussion about TCO and how we're going to make this work because I think there's a general perception that you know for Realization from a fleet standpoint that you're going to have to hold on to assets a little bit longer So you can really drive a payback and see a benefit from having a electric vehicle But I'll share kind of where we're approaching it from from a natural gas standpoint And then we've got hydrogen experts and we have be be experts on this as well And we got to talk about how are we going to do this? So with natural gas we're dealing with a fuel source that already is less than the the cost of diesel So that allows us to increase the the upfront cost of the truck a little bit over diesel But then we're going to drive a benefit because you're going to use a fuel source. That's less expensive Then then what diesel is and that's what's actually going to get you to a point that you're you're better off than diesel But with hydrogen and even in some instances great electricity. We're not there today So how are we going to get hydrogen to a point where it is less than diesel? What does that transition look like and you know Craig Pablo? How are we so I thought this was really the critical moment in the entire panel and you guys can leave your comments at the bottom the pay close attention to Nicola rep Craig who Thomas puts on the spot and I don't think he appreciated it very much his response was well, that's fickle I'm not sure what that means But then he goes on to explain how he's not going to try to boil the ocean overnight etc etc really just complete a vase of evading the question that that Thomas posed there and I thought that this was just a an absolute slam dunk moment and To draw a real distinction between the Hylian Total cost of ownership proposition when you take the RNG fuel and you compare it to It being now currently the only one on the panel I might add less than diesel So the total cost of ownership calculations Thomas does allude to the potential for owning the asset longer I don't think fleets have a problem with that and and I think it's brought up on the council or the panel In a little bit that I don't think fleets are really even that concerned with a little bit larger of a sticker price Upfront as long as they can have those concrete figures to understand what they're shooting for On the onset when they take on a solution that burns a specific fuel Case-in-point Hylian has the only fuel solution on this panel that currently is less than the cost of diesel some of these other Fuel sources are four times hydrogen for example of diesel and Craig with Nicola does Really a very very poor job of saying what the target price for huge hydrogen fuel cell at four dollars and that being the value Proposition Interesting enough in a fairytale world that would just be absolutely lovely if you could actually plug the truck in and It was interesting the moderator who's actually with Meritor I find that I found that extremely ironic which for those of you who don't know and don't cover highly on Meritor is the replacement for the Daniel Dana rear axle on their hybrid and their Their hybrid version so they are the the sole distributor of that it's going to go on a Meritor axle So I found that really interesting here Real key moment here, and I think he put them both on the spot. I Appreciated that he did it. I think it's part of that You know, there's a time to be nice and there's also a time to press and as the front man of highly Unholdings and not being a private company Having stakeholders and stock owners to to answer to I found that this little bit of offensive here And I don't think Thomas Healy meant anything by it I just think that the as probing of a question as it was and how much difficulty Craig and Pablo both had and answering the question. I thought this was a real telling moment In the entire Panel when the quick response was well, that's fickle I found that just intriguing that's seriously your answer as a four and a half billion dollar company That being Nicola when the little company that could the one and a half billion dollar company With the actual solution that holds the actual fuel that's less than each diesel Poses that question to you and you can't answer what's your total cost of ownership calculations are going to look like There's a reason for that. Okay That nobody can forecast What it's going to look like to produce and it gets alluded to on the panel what it's going to be like to transport the hydrogen That was alluded to as being the most expensive element of this whole thing It was said on this panel that hydrogen is everywhere That might be true and it is true in the world What what was an escape from the actual topic at hand was that? Hydrogen to to to produce it is actually very very difficult So it was it was really interesting there where the conversation came for the the TCO the total cost of ownership and There was just too many unknowns and the panel had a really hard time address addressing that direct comment From Thomas Healy because Thomas knew that he hold it He held the aces on this very very topic and he had to put that out there and I'm glad that he did So let's rock on to topic five here and we'll continue on here So I fall first share kind of my biggest surprise come with this all was coming into this industry I thought that I was going to be met with kind of people with you know a stiff arm of hey We don't want to hear it. You know, we've been doing this for a lot of years. We know how it's done We don't need new entrance. It was the exact opposite You know we work with you TJ and TJ and I know each other well like There's an easy way for Organizations that have been here for a while to also work with newcomers into this space To really make an impact and so I'd say that's the first thing that we can't lose right We need collaboration amongst the newcomers coming in as well as the players who have been here who know how to get things done In this industry and do things the right way and that's how we're going to see innovation happen So let's not lose that but then for us, you know, it's allowed us to really position ourselves as a Disruptor an innovative thought leader which has then allowed us and the others on this panel to go out and we're and raise the required Capital needed to actually go do this, you know, let's just be totally honest None of this is going to happen unless there's a significant amount of capital being put behind it to make this transition take place I mean these vehicles are expensive right now the components going into them are very expensive and that goes back to the initial comment of You know ultimately these vehicles are going to cost more than a diesel truck to get them rolled out in your Fleets, but then we need to utilize the actual cost of electricity the cost of fuel to drive down You know to being less than diesel in order to see a payback and the only way we're going to hit those sort of levels of scale The commodities scale is if all of us are working together to drive the cost of these components down to make it work So it needs to be collaborative But I think there's an awesome mix of kind of the people have been here and been doing it for a great job for a While combining with the newcomers like the ones sitting on this. So he gives a nod there to TJ TJ's with Meritor. He was talking about How he's been received and Thomas has talked about this on many of his interviews how he was surprised at how accepted At least that legacy industry was to sit down at the table and have a real discussion he alludes to this all the time with what industry needs and Talking about how those Those those offerings were integrated into the highly unsolutions going forward a lot of my bullish thesis is surrounded around I think Thomas is a smart guy. I Don't think that he would dismiss Some of these companies that have been around for a hundred years Meritor being one of them And I don't I don't think that he wouldn't with an open mind sit down and listen to constructive feedback As the fleets over the last couple years have enjoyed the hybrid product You're seeing that very integration here and and I don't believe that Hylian is getting due credit for the V2 hybrid the the newest hybrid version that is available now Through Hylian comm and they're going to be able to offer those two fleets realize revenue here in the back app of 2021 exciting stuff But I just don't see that level of collaboration with industry. I see partnering with dealerships That's completely different That is completely different what that tells me is that Nikola says I'm going to build a truck And it's going to be our way and it's going to be your job to sell that truck Okay, the problem that I really have is that all the companies Nikola specifically doesn't get scrutinized on its margins the cost of taking a truck from start to finish is significant and the the the ability of and The cost that's associated with that really speaks to the Hylian opportunity running more of a Capital lean business rather than a capital intensive business The only one on the panel that I think can say that Whereas, you know the margins on the Hylian products once they ramp up scale and production a lot of those Margin costs are going to actually fall right to the bottom line because their operating costs are kept Significantly low operating the company right now at about 135 million that's that's nothing That's extremely lean now that should ramp up over time and I hope that it does But we want to see that mass scale integration start to take place and have them realize those projected margins That on the initial investor presentation was set at about 35 percent, which are they are fat So let's jump in here and we'll conclude the panel here Then I'll offer my closing comments, but we'll get to the very last comment here in the ACT expo and these components have a lot longer life span to them than what we're seeing in a conventional vehicle today, right? So in the beginning, let's be honest there is going to be a lot of risk I mean we saw this when you know vehicles 10 years ago initial natural gas trucks came out There's ton of question around residual value of value of these assets. It's going to be different with electric trucks though, I think that's a guarantee Big question mark is going to be the batteries right do your batteries last to a point where you can actually Continue to keep driving these things or you're going to need to do a whole pack swap out I think we're getting to to a point where batteries are starting to the last, you know, life of vehicle So that actually kind of concluded the session and I went through and for you guys that are interested in catching the interview in its totality Please do very very simple You can just search through YouTube ACT expo highly on and it will come up I'll throw the description down in the in the In the description if you'd like or the link in the description And you guys can kick over there and catch the interview and its totality. I thought this was a real slam dunk I Think over the last couple weeks There has been one after another value proposition on highly on with the additions to the board with the roll-out and finalization of the hybrid version the improved version of that that is actually available now and I don't think that there has been more pressure behind the dam with highly on the stock itself Certainly the company is doing everything that they need to do to show progress and then finally the ACT expo which I wasn't sure the verdict was out for me on whether or not this was really going to be a bullish type of Move for the company what that meant. I really don't know But this panel really brought it together for me and I watched it and I could not believe what I was listening to I could not believe it and I don't want to be rude And I also want you guys to derive a kind of an impartial opinion on Some of the responses that you heard from some of the other panel members that of which we did not discuss Alluded to it a little bit But see if you can actually understand some of the responses from some of the others I mean there was talk of Financing being the answer There was talk of this grand vision of infrastructure guys None of that exists in reality and that's that's the interesting part when I look at the contrast between Nicola that is absolutely loved by the market right now Hey highly on stock being absolutely hated at the same time I look at what what company actually has the most chance of Having its product integrated into the the line In other words, who's closer to mass scale production? There was a few comments there from hyzon, which I thought was really telling in that they plan on delivering 200 trucks by 223 and I don't understand why those companies are given a pass in that Nicola has had orders on the books and straight up canceled highly on sitting on what 1575 orders right now right Yeah, so pretty pretty exciting stuff 1550 I think is what we're looking at with the highly on order book right now It very exciting stuff. Those are not small potatoes guys. Those are QG RX orders And I just think that there has never been a better opportunity For retail investors who have somewhat of an appetite for a little bit more of a speculative opportunity The stars are aligning. There's no doubt about it and Mark my word when the stock gets up above where I think it should be out of extremely oversold territory I could see the stock go into 20 30 dollars very very quickly I could see it go in there by the year's end, but none of that matters Okay, the only thing that matters is what we talked about during the making of this coverage of the ACT expo real updates heard from the boss Thomas Healy who really looked to take that challenge sitting just feet from their Competitors and make no mistake guys. They are in fact competitors If you enjoy the content you got coming through here on the independent investor channel Specifically these highly on videos. I love doing I'm a big shareholder in the company very very bullish I don't care what the stock does day-to-day I wasn't surprised to see that the ACT Expo churn and and the excitement around what highly on is doing fell flat Just like every other good piece of news. I do think that there's stock manipulation going on I do think that Would be investors in this company are being provided the opportunity of a lifetime and really piss on the market to be Honest with you for providing this Opportunity for for for for the market It's kind of boxing the stock into a corner to be honest with you because sooner or later The good news will shine through and the stock will Reflect the good things that are going on with the company and there won't be such a severe disconnect Between the stock price and what's actually going on at highly on now Make sure and leave your comments at the bottom of this video guys share the message with anybody out there That's no can appreciate another highly on video and an update on the ACT Expo that just happened this week as thank you so much for tuning in to the message and good luck in your investment future