As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 8, 2021

Registration No. 333-249649

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

POST-EFFECTIVE AMENDMENT NO. 1

TO

FORM S-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

1202 BMC Drive, Suite 100

Cedar Park, Texas 78613

Tel: (833) 495-4466

(Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Registrant’s Principal Executive Offices)

Thomas Healy

Chief Executive Officer

Hyliion Holdings Corp.

1202 BMC Drive, Suite 100

Cedar Park, Texas 78613

Tel: (833) 495-4466

(Name, Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Agent for Service)

Copies to:

Brenda K. Lenahan

Vinson & Elkins L.L.P.

1114 6^th Avenue, 32^nd Floor

New York, New York 10036

Tel: (212) 237-0000

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: From time to time after the effective date of this registration statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box. ☒

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934:

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐

The registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment that specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act or until the registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

On October 23, 2020, Hyliion Holdings Corp (the “Company”) filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on Form S-1 (File No. 333-249649) (the “Registration Statement”). The Registration Statement, as amended, was initially declared effective by the SEC on November 27, 2020 and initially registered the issuance by the Company of up to an aggregate of up to 19,185,637 shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (“Common Stock”), which consisted of (i) up to 6,660,183 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of 6,660,183 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) originally issued in a private placement in connection with the initial public offering of Tortoise Acquisition Corp. (“TortoiseCorp”) by the holders thereof, (ii) up to 875,000 shares of Common Stock that are issuable upon the exercise of 875,000 warrants (the “Forward Purchase Warrants” and together with the Private Placement Warrants, the “Private Warrants”) originally issued in a private placement at the closing of the Business Combination (as defined below) by the holders thereof other than the initial holder and (iii) up to 11,650,454 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of 11,650,454 warrants (the “Public Warrants” and, together with the Private Warrants, the “Warrants”) originally issued in the initial public offering of TortoiseCorp by the holders thereof.

The Registration Statement also initially registered the offer and sale from time to time by the selling stockholders identified in the prospectus of (i) up to 132,637,517 shares of Common Stock (including up to 7,535,183 shares of Common Stock that may be issued upon exercise of the Private Warrants and 20,000 shares of Common Stock that may be issued upon exercise of 20,000 Public Warrants) and (ii) up to 7,555,183 Warrants, which consists of up to 7,535,183 Private Warrants and up to 20,000 Public Warrants.

This Post-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Form S-1 (“Post-Effective Amendment No. 1”) is being filed by the Company to update the Registration Statement to (i) remove references to the registration of the Warrants and the shares of Common Stock to be issued upon exercise thereof to reflect the redemption or exercise of all Warrants on or before December 31, 2020; (ii) include updated information regarding the selling stockholders named in the prospectus, including a reduction in the number of shares of Common Stock being offered by the selling stockholders to 91,394,533 shares of Common Stock and (iii) include the information from the Company’s filings with the SEC. No additional securities are being registered under this Post-Effective Amendment No. 1. All applicable registration fees were paid at the time of the original filing of the Registration Statement.

The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. Neither we nor the selling securityholders may sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION — DATED JULY 8, 2021

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS

Up to 91,394,533 Shares of Common Stock

This prospectus relates to the offer and sale from time to time by the selling securityholders named in this prospectus (the “Selling Securityholders”) of up to 91,394,533 shares of Common Stock. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of Common Stock by the Selling Securityholders pursuant to this prospectus. Our registration of the securities covered by this prospectus does not mean that the Selling Securityholders will offer or sell any of the shares of Common Stock. The Selling Securityholders may offer, sell or distribute all or a portion of their shares of Common Stock publicly or through private transactions at prevailing market prices or at negotiated prices. We provide more information about how the Selling Securityholders may sell the shares in the section entitled “Plan of Distribution.”

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and are subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. This prospectus complies with the requirements that apply to an issuer that is an emerging growth company.

Our Common Stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the symbol “HYLN”. On July 7, 2021, the closing price of our Common Stock was $10.78.

See the section entitled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 6 of this prospectus to read about factors you should consider before buying our securities.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The date of this prospectus is           , 2021.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

You should rely only on the information provided in this prospectus, as well as the information incorporated by reference into this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement. Neither we nor the Selling Securityholders have authorized anyone to provide you with different information. Neither we nor the Selling Securityholders are making an offer of these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer is not permitted. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement is accurate as of any date other than the date of the applicable document. Since the date of this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed.

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus is part of a registration statement on Form S-1 that we filed with the SEC using the “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf registration process, the Selling Securityholders may, from time to time, sell the securities offered by them described in this prospectus. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale by such Selling Securityholders of the securities offered by them described in this prospectus.

Neither we nor the Selling Securityholders have authorized anyone to provide you with any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement or any free writing prospectuses prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you. Neither we nor the Selling Securityholders take responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. Neither we nor the Selling Securityholders will make an offer to sell these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

We may also provide a prospectus supplement or post-effective amendment to the registration statement to add information to, or update or change information contained in, this prospectus. You should read both this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement or post-effective amendment to the registration statement together with the additional information to which we refer you in the sections of this prospectus entitled “Where You Can Find More Information.”

On October 1, 2020 (the “Closing Date”), Tortoise Acquisition Corp., our predecessor company, consummated the previously announced merger pursuant to that certain Business Combination Agreement, dated June 18, 2020 (the “Business Combination Agreement”), by and among the TortoiseCorp, SHLL Merger Sub Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of TortoiseCorp (“Merger Sub”), and Hyliion Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Legacy Hyliion”). Pursuant to the terms of the Business Combination Agreement, a business combination between the Company and Legacy Hyliion was effected through the merger of Merger Sub with and into Legacy Hyliion, with Legacy Hyliion surviving as the surviving company and as a wholly-owned subsidiary of TortoiseCorp (the “Merger” and, collectively with the other transactions described in the Business Combination Agreement, the “Business Combination”). On the Closing Date, and in connection with the closing of the Business Combination (the “Closing”), Tortoise Acquisition Corp. changed its name to Hyliion Holdings Corp.

Unless the context indicates otherwise, references in this prospectus to the “Company,” “Hyliion,” “we,” “us,” “our” and similar terms refer to Hyliion Holdings Corp. (f/k/a Tortoise Acquisition Corp.) and its consolidated subsidiaries (including Legacy Hyliion). References to “TortoiseCorp” refer to our predecessor company prior to the consummation of the Business Combination.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact, included in this prospectus are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, our strategy, prospects, plans, objectives, future operations, future revenue and earnings, projected margins and expenses, markets for our services, potential acquisitions or strategic alliances, financial position, and liquidity and anticipated cash needs and availability. The words “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “projects,” “will,” “would,” variations of such words and similar expressions or the negatives thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements represent our management’s expectations as of the date of this filing and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance and achievements or industry results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such a discrepancy include, but are not limited to, our ability to disrupt the powertrain market, our focus in 2021 and beyond; the effects of our dynamic and proprietary solutions on its commercial truck customers; the ability to accelerate the commercialization of the Hypertruck ERX; our ability to meet 2021 and future product milestones; the impact of the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) on long-term objectives; the ability of our solutions to reduce carbon intensity and greenhouse gas emissions and the other risks and uncertainties described under the heading “Risk Factors” in our other SEC filings including in our Annual Report, as amended on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2020 which was filed with the SEC on May 17, 2021 (the “2020 Amended Annual Report”) (See Item 1A. Risk Factors). Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, we do not undertake, and expressly disclaim any duty, to publicly update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, new developments, or otherwise and even if experience or future changes make it clear that any projected results expressed in this prospectus will not be realized. Unless specifically indicated otherwise, the forward-looking statements in this prospectus do not reflect the potential impact of any divestitures, mergers, acquisitions or other business combinations that have not been completed as of the date of this prospectus. In addition, the inclusion of any statement in this prospectus does not constitute an admission by us that the events or circumstances described in such statement are material. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.

Forward-looking statements in this prospectus may include, for example, statements about:

We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the forward-looking statements, and you should be aware that results and events could differ materially and adversely from those contained in the forward-looking statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the following:

Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Additional cautionary statements or discussions of risks and uncertainties that could affect our results or the achievement of the expectations described in forward-looking statements may also be contained in any accompanying prospectus supplement.

Should one or more of the risks or uncertainties described in this prospectus, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and plans could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning these and other factors that may impact the operations and projections discussed herein can be found in the section entitled “Risk Factors” and in our periodic filings with the SEC. Our SEC filings are available publicly on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

You should read this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement completely and with the understanding that our actual future results, levels of activity and performance as well as other events and circumstances may be materially different from what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.

RISK FACTORS

Investing in our securities involves risks. Before you make a decision to buy our securities, in addition to the risks and uncertainties discussed above under “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” you should carefully consider the specific risks set forth herein. If any of these risks actually occur, it may materially harm our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations. As a result, the market price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Additionally, the risks and uncertainties described in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement are not the only risks and uncertainties that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may become material and adversely affect our business.

Risks Related to our Business and Industry

We are an early stage company with a history of losses, and expect to incur significant expenses and continuing losses for the foreseeable future.

Given that we are an early stage company with a history of operating losses, we believe that we will incur operating and net losses each quarter until at least the time we begin commercial deliveries of both of our Hybrid system and our Hypertruck ERX system, which are not expected to begin until 2021 and 2022, respectively, and may occur later or not at all. Even if we are able to successfully develop and sell our electrified powertrain solutions, there can be no assurance that they will be commercially successful. Our potential profitability is dependent upon the successful development and successful commercial introduction and acceptance of our electrified powertrain solutions, which may not occur.

We expect the rate at which we will incur losses to be significantly higher in future periods as we:

Because we will incur the costs and expenses from these efforts before we receive any incremental revenues with respect thereto, our losses in future periods will be significant. Our business is capital intensive, and we can be expected to continue to sustain substantial operating expenses without generating sufficient revenues to cover expenditures. In addition, it is difficult to predict our future revenues and appropriately budget for our expenses, and we have limited insight into trends that may emerge and affect our business. In the event that actual results differ from our estimates or we adjust our estimates in future periods, our operating results and financial position could be materially affected. We may find that these efforts are more expensive than we currently anticipate or that these efforts may not result in revenues, which would further increase our losses.

We are in the early stages of developing key commercial relationships with suppliers and customers, and our ability to predict the outcome of those relationships is limited.

We are in the process of developing partnerships to accelerate the development and production of our solutions and have deployed demonstration Hybrid system units to certain companies we expect to be customers in the future, however all of our commercial relationships are in the early stages of development, and we do not have the ability to predict with certainty the outcome of those relationships. Our partners may face delays or be unable to meet our business requirements and standards at the quantity, quality and price levels needed for our business. The entities that we expect to be customers in the future may decide not to do business with us. Because we are still getting to know our partners and the commercial space in which we are doing business, these relationships could result in controversies or even litigation, which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue our plans for strategic growth and ultimately our business results.

We are highly dependent on the services of Thomas Healy, our Chief Executive Officer, and if we are unable to retain Mr. Healy, attract and retain key employees and hire qualified management, technical and vehicle engineering personnel, our ability to compete could be harmed.

Our success depends, in part, on our ability to retain our key personnel. We are highly dependent on the services of Thomas Healy, our Chief Executive Officer, and largest stockholder. Mr. Healy is the source of many, if not most, of the ideas and execution driving us. If Mr. Healy were to discontinue his service to us due to death, disability or any other reason, we would be significantly disadvantaged. The unexpected loss of or failure to retain one or more of our key employees could adversely affect our business.

We do not currently maintain key man life insurance policies with respect to Thomas Healy or any other officer and we will continue to evaluate whether to obtain such key man life insurance policies. Any failure by our management team and our employees to perform as expected may have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

If we fail to manage our growth effectively, including failing to attract and integrate qualified personnel, we may not be able to develop, produce, market and sell our electrified powertrain solutions successfully.

Any failure to manage our growth effectively could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition. We intend to expand our operations significantly. We expect our future expansion to include:

We intend to continue to hire a significant number of additional personnel, including software engineers, design and production personnel and service technicians for our electrified powertrain solutions. Because our electrified powertrain solutions are based on a different technology platform than traditional internal combustion engines, individuals with sufficient training in alternative fuel and electric vehicles may not be available to hire, and as a result, we will need to expend significant time and expense training any newly hired employees. Competition for individuals with experience designing, producing and servicing electrified vehicles and their software is intense, and we may not be able to attract, integrate, train, motivate or retain additional highly qualified personnel, particularly with respect to software engineers in the Austin, Texas area. The failure to attract, integrate, train, motivate and retain these additional employees could seriously harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting which, if not corrected, could affect the reliability of our consolidated financial statements and have other adverse consequences.

We have identified material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting, which relate to: (a) segregation of duties (resulting from the small number of individuals performing the accounting functions), including the lack of a formal journal entry review and approval process; (b) the design and operation of our information technology general controls; (c) the overall closing and financial reporting processes, including accounting for significant and unusual transactions; and (d) controls in the determination of the appropriate accounting and classification for complex financial instruments.

A material weakness is a deficiency or combination of deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our financial statements would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The remaining deficiencies could result in additional misstatements to our financial statements that would be material and would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

Our management has concluded that these material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting are due to the fact that, prior to the Closing, Legacy Hyliion was a private company with limited resources and did not have: (1) the necessary business processes and related internal controls formally designed and implemented, (2) the appropriate resources, level of experience and technical expertise to oversee its business processes and controls surrounding information technology general controls, or (3) the closing and financial reporting processes to address the accounting and financial reporting requirements related to significant and unusual transactions.

Our management has developed a remediation plan to address the remaining material weaknesses. Specifically, (a) to alleviate the information technology controls issue, the Company plans to implement NetSuite, an Oracle cloud-based ERP and financial solution. This solution will allow personnel to implement workflow controls; (b) to alleviate the segregation of duties issue, the plans to leverage NetSuite configuration and workflow while expanding the accounting team and reviewing roles; and (c) to alleviate the lack of a formal journal entry review and approval process, the Company will be implementing work flow steps within NetSuite to ensue all journal entries are approved before posting to the general ledger. The material weaknesses will not be considered remediated until management has concluded, through testing, that these controls are effective. Our management will monitor the effectiveness of our remediation plans and will make changes management determines to be appropriate.

If not remediated, these material weaknesses could result in further material misstatements to our annual or interim financial statements that would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis, restatements, or in delayed filing of required periodic reports. If we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or when required in the future, if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an unqualified opinion as to the effectiveness of the internal control over financial reporting, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our Common Stock could be adversely affected and we could become subject to litigation or investigations by the NYSE, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.

Risks Related to our Financial Results

Our financial results may vary significantly from period to period due to fluctuations in our operating costs and other factors.

Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate significantly, which makes it difficult for us to predict our future operating results. These fluctuations may occur due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, including:

As a result of these factors, we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our financial results, especially in the short term, are not necessarily meaningful and that these comparisons cannot be relied upon as indicators of future performance. Moreover, our financial results may not meet expectations of equity research analysts, ratings agencies or investors, who may be focused only on quarterly financial results. If any of this occurs, the trading price of our Common Stock could fall substantially, either suddenly or over time.

We may be unable to adequately control the costs associated with our operations.

We will require significant capital to develop and grow our business, including developing and producing our electrified powertrain solutions and building our brand. We expect to incur significant expenses which will impact our profitability, including research and development expenses (including developing our next generation Hybrid system as well as our Hypertruck ERX system), component and service procurement costs, sales and distribution expenses as we build our brand and market our electrified powertrain solutions, and general and administrative expenses as we scale our operations and incur costs as a public company. In addition, we may incur significant costs servicing our electrified powertrain solutions. Our ability to become profitable in the future will not only depend on our ability to complete the design and development of our electrified powertrain solutions to meet projected performance metrics and successfully market our electrified powertrain solutions and services, but also to sell our products at prices to achieve our expected margins and control our costs. If we are unable to efficiently design, produce, market, sell, distribute and service our electrified powertrain solutions, our margins, profitability and prospects would be materially and adversely affected.

Risks Related to our Customers and Products

We may not be able to successfully engage target customers or convert early trial deployments with truck fleets into meaningful orders or additional deployments in the future.

Our success, and our ability to increase revenue and operate profitably, depends in part on our ability to identify target customers and to convert early trial deployments with truck fleets into meaningful orders or additional deployments in the future. Our Demonstrator Hybrid system has been delivered to certain customers on an early trial deployment basis, where such customers have the ability to evaluate whether the Demonstrator Hybrid system meets such customers’ performance and other requirements before such customers commit to meaningful orders or additional deployments in the future. Although we have begun the process of commercializing our Demonstrator Hybrid system, our Demonstrator Hybrid system is still undergoing testing, and it may not perform as we, or our customers, expect. If we are unable to meet our customers’ performance requirements or industry specifications, identify target customers or convert early trial deployments in truck fleets into meaningful orders or obtain additional deployments in the future, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results would be materially adversely affected. Moreover, if we or our customers find that our Demonstrator Hybrid system does not perform as expected, we may cease to distribute our Demonstrator Hybrid system, or recall some or all of our product, and future distributions may be delayed or cease for some period of time or indefinitely.

We plan to accept reservation orders for the sale of our electrified powertrain solutions that are cancellable, and our initial pre-launch sales order for Hypertruck ERX equipped trucks is cancellable.

Our electrified powertrain solutions are still in the development and testing phase and commercial deliveries of the Hybrid system and the Hypertruck ERX system are not expected to begin until late 2021 and 2022, respectively, and may occur later or not at all. As a result, we plan to accept reservation orders for our electrified powertrain solutions that will be cancellable by customers without penalty. Given the anticipated lead times between reservation orders and the delivery date of our electrified powertrain solutions, there is a heightened risk that customers who place reservation orders may ultimately decide not to convert such reservation orders into binding contracts and take delivery of their ordered electrified powertrain solutions from us due to potential changes in customer preferences, competitive developments and other factors. As a result, no assurance can be made that reservations will not be cancelled or that reservations will result in the purchase of our electrified powertrain solutions, and any such cancellations could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We may also enter into contracts for the sale of our electrified powertrain solutions that include various cancellation rights in favor of the customer. For example, in May 2020, we entered into a pre-launch sales agreement (the “Agility Pre-Launch Agreement”) with Agility Logistics Cargo Transport Co. WLL (“Agility Transport”), a company organized under the laws of and based in Kuwait and a subsidiary of Agility Public Warehousing Company K.S.C.P. Under the Agility Pre-Launch Agreement, Agility Transport agreed to order 1,000 trucks equipped with our Hypertruck ERX system in one or more future purchase orders, subject to certain testing and performance requirements and termination rights. If we are unable to deliver our Hypertruck ERX trucks according to the performance requirements and delivery timelines set forth in the contract, Agility Transport has the right to cancel our order. Additionally, even if we satisfy such performance requirements and delivery timelines, Agility Transport may terminate the Agility Pre-Launch Agreement by giving us 360-days’ advance notice after the date on which we have delivered a Hypertruck ERX demonstration truck. Furthermore, the Agility Pre-Launch Agreement does not specify the terms or periods upon which these purchase orders may be entered into, such that the sale of any Hypertruck ERX equipped trucks to Agility Transport is subject to the parties reaching an agreement on the terms of one or more purchase orders, including as to the amount of the deposit to be paid by Agility Transport to us in connection with such purchase order. Failure to reach agreement on the terms of such purchase order could result in Agility Transport refusing to purchase all or a portion of the 1,000 Hypertruck ERX equipped trucks that it pre-ordered. Should a dispute arise under the Agility Pre-Launch Agreement, we may face challenges enforcing the terms of such contract due to the jurisdictional challenges involved with instituting legal proceedings against a foreign entity and enforcing an award against such entity in a foreign jurisdiction. As a result, no assurance can be given that Agility Transport will not terminate the Agility Pre-Launch Agreement prior to purchasing all or any portion of the 1,000 Hypertruck ERX equipped trucks it pre-ordered under such agreement or that we would be able to enforce such agreement against Agility Transport. Any of these adverse actions related to the Agility Pre-Launch Agreement or any future customer contracts could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We intend to sell our electrified powertrain solutions to large commercial vehicle OEM customers and large volume customers, and the failure to obtain such customers, loss of sales to such customers or failure to negotiate acceptable terms in contract renewal negotiations could have an adverse impact on our business.

Although we intend to sell our electrified powertrain solutions to commercial vehicle OEMs and other large volume customers, we may not be able to establish relationships with such OEMs or large volume customers if customer demand is not as high as we expect or if commercial vehicle OEMs face pressure from their existing suppliers not to purchase our electrified powertrain solutions. We may enter into long-term contracts with certain of these commercial vehicle OEMs and other large volume customers, who have substantial bargaining power with respect to price and other commercial terms, and any long-term contracts would be subject to renegotiation and renewal from time to time. Failure to obtain new customers, loss of all or a substantial portion of sales to any future customers for whatever reason (including, but not limited to, loss of contracts or failure to negotiate acceptable terms in contract renewal negotiations, loss of market share by these customers, insolvency of such customers, reduced or delayed customer requirements, plant shutdowns, strikes or other work stoppages affecting production by such customers) or continued reduction of prices to these customers could have a significant adverse effect on our financial results. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain large volume customers, not lose all or a portion of sales to any future large volume customers or that we will be able to offset any reduction of prices to these customers with reductions in our costs or by obtaining new customers.

The level of any future sales to commercial vehicle OEMs, including the realization of future sales from awarded business or obtaining new business or customers, is inherently subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including the number of vehicles that these commercial vehicle OEMs actually manufacture and sell. Further, to the extent that the financial condition, including bankruptcy or market share, of any of our largest customers deteriorates or their sales otherwise continue to decline, our business, prospects, financial position and operating results could be adversely affected. Accordingly, we may not in fact realize all of the future sales represented by our awarded business. Any failure to realize these sales could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Demand for our products will ultimately depend on our end users, some of whom operate in highly cyclical industries, which may subject us to the performance of their industries and can result in uncertainty and significantly impact the demand for our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Demand for our products will ultimately depend on our end users, some of whom operate in highly cyclical industries and have felt the impact of COVID-19 and other factors on demand for output in their industries. Decisions to purchase our electrified powertrain solutions may depend on the performance of the industries of our end users and if demand for output in those industries decreases, the demand for our products will likely decrease. Demand in these industries is impacted by numerous factors, including commodity prices, infrastructure spending, housing starts, real estate equity values, interest rates, consumer spending, fuel costs, energy demands, municipal spending and commercial construction, among others. Increases or decreases in these variables may significantly impact the demand for our products. For example, lower diesel fuel costs, higher compressed natural gas (“CNG”) costs or lower CNG availability would reduce our products’ cost savings, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. Additionally, some of our end users have felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in reduced demand for commercial vehicles and may affect fueling infrastructure such as CNG stations. If we are unable to accurately predict demand, we may be unable to meet our customers’ needs, resulting in the loss of potential sales, or we may produce excess products, resulting in increased inventories and overcapacity in our contracted production facilities, increasing our unit production cost and decreasing our operating margins.

If our electrified powertrain solutions fail to perform as expected, our ability to develop, market and sell our electrified powertrain solutions could be harmed.

Our electrified powertrain solutions may contain defects in design and production that may cause them not to perform as expected or may require repair. We currently have a limited frame of reference by which to evaluate the performance of our electrified powertrain solutions upon which our business prospects depend. There can be no assurance that we will be able to detect and fix any defects in our electrified powertrain solutions. Our electrified powertrain solutions may not perform consistent with customers’ expectations or consistently with other vehicles that may become available. Any product defects or any other failure of our electrified powertrain solutions and software to perform as expected could harm our reputation and result in adverse publicity, lost revenue, delivery delays, product recalls, negative publicity, product liability claims and significant warranty and other expenses and could have a material adverse impact on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. Additionally, problems and defects experienced by other alternative fuel truck companies or electric consumer vehicles could by association have a negative impact on perception and customer demand for our electrified powertrain solutions.

The performance characteristics of our electrified powertrain solutions, including fuel economy and emissions levels, may vary, including due to factors outside of our control.

The performance characteristics of our electrified powertrain solutions, including fuel economy and emissions levels, may vary, including due to factors outside of our control. Our electrified powertrain solutions are still being designed and developed, and there are no assurances that they will be able to meet their projected performance characteristics, including fuel economy and emissions levels. External factors may also impact the performance characteristics of our electrified powertrain solutions. For instance, the estimated fuel savings and fuel economy of vehicles installed with our electrified powertrain solutions may vary depending on factors including, but not limited to, driver behavior, speed, terrain, hardware efficiency, payload, vehicle and weather conditions. Additionally, GHG emissions of vehicles installed with our electrified powertrain solutions may vary due to external factors, including the type of fuel, driver behavior, the efficiency, regulatory testing, and certification of the engine, where the engine is being operated and the characteristics of the vehicle itself, including but not limited to the vehicle’s software controls, drivetrain efficiency, aerodynamics and rolling resistance. These external factors as well as any operation of our electrified powertrain solutions other than as intended, may result in emissions levels that are greater than we expect. Additionally, the amount of GHG emissions of both the Hybrid and Hypertruck ERX solutions will vary due to, but not limited to, the factors mentioned above. The ability of our electrified powertrain solutions to have a net carbon negative profile, will depend on the availability of renewable natural gas (“RNG”) as well as the infrastructure necessary to purchase RNG through fuel providers. Any limitation on the ability to purchase RNG, such as a decrease or a limitation on the number of natural gas fueling stations or limitation on the production of natural gas and RNG in particular, will negatively impact the anticipated carbon intensity profile of our electrified powertrain solutions. In addition, the carbon intensity profiles could vary based on the source of RNG, which could reduce a fleet’s ability to have favorable carbon intensity scores. Due to these factors, there can be no guarantee that the operators of vehicles using our electrified powertrain solutions will realize the expected fuel savings and fuel economy and GHG emission reductions.

Our beliefs regarding the ability of our electrified powertrain solutions to limit carbon intensity and reduce GHG emissions and contribute to global decarbonization may be based on materially inaccurate assumptions.

We believe that our electrified powertrain solutions, to the extent adopted, may have the ability to limit carbon intensity and reduce GHG emissions from trucking operations, however, these beliefs are based on certain assumptions, including, but not limited to, our projections of the extent of natural gas and RNG use in the future, fuel types used, the ability to obtain carbon credits and driver behavior and our electrified powertrain solutions’ efficiencies and performance. To the extent our assumptions are materially incorrect or incomplete, it could adversely impact our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. In addition, if our assumptions regarding the ability of our solutions to limit carbon intensity and reduce GHG emissions from trucking operations are materially incorrect or incomplete, or if our beliefs regarding the availability of our products are materially incorrect or incomplete, it is possible that our competitors’ technology may be better at limiting carbon intensity and reducing GHG emissions in certain circumstances and in certain markets.

We have limited experience servicing our electrified powertrain solutions and our integrated software. If we are unable to address the service requirements of our customers, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

We have limited experience in servicing our electrified powertrain solutions and expect to increase our servicing capabilities as we begin commercial production of our electrified powertrain solutions. Servicing hybrid and electric vehicles is different than servicing vehicles with internal combustion engines and requires specialized skills, including high voltage training and servicing techniques. We plan to partner with a third party to perform some or all of the servicing on our electrified powertrain solutions, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to enter into an acceptable arrangement with any such third-party provider. Our customers will also depend on our customer support team to resolve technical and operational issues relating to the integrated software underlying our electrified powertrain solutions. Our ability to provide effective customer support is largely dependent on our ability to attract, train and retain qualified personnel with experience in supporting customers on platforms such as ours. As we continue to grow, additional pressure may be placed on our customer support team, and we may be unable to respond quickly enough to accommodate short-term increases in customer demand for technical support. We also may be unable to modify the future scope and delivery of our technical support to compete with changes in the technical support provided by our competitors. Increased customer demand for support, without corresponding revenue, could increase costs and negatively affect our operating results. If we are unable to successfully address the service requirements of our customers or establish a market perception that we do not maintain high-quality support, we may be subject to claims from our customers, including loss of revenue or damages, and our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

Our electrified powertrain solutions rely on software and hardware that is highly technical, and if these systems contain errors, bugs or vulnerabilities, or if we are unsuccessful in addressing or mitigating technical limitations in our systems, our business could be adversely affected.

Our electrified powertrain solutions rely on software and hardware, including software and hardware developed or maintained internally or by third parties, that is highly technical and complex and will require modification and updates over the life of the vehicle. In addition, our electrified powertrain solutions depend on the ability of such software and hardware to store, retrieve, process and manage immense amounts of data. Our software and hardware may contain, errors, bugs or vulnerabilities, and our systems are subject to certain technical limitations that may compromise our ability to meet our objectives. Some errors, bugs or vulnerabilities inherently may be difficult to detect and may only be discovered after the code has been released for external or internal use. Errors, bugs, vulnerabilities, design defects or technical limitations may be found within our software and hardware. Although we attempt to remedy any issues we observe in our products as effectively and rapidly as possible, such efforts may not be timely, may hamper production or may not be to the satisfaction of our customers. Additionally, if we are able to deploy updates to the software addressing any issues but our over-the-air update procedures fail to properly update the software, our customers would then be responsible for installing such updates to the software and their software will be subject to these vulnerabilities until they do so. If we are unable to prevent or effectively remedy errors, bugs, vulnerabilities or defects in our software and hardware, we may suffer damage to our reputation, loss of customers, loss of revenue or liability for damages, any of which could adversely affect our business and financial results.

Future product recalls could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Any product recall in the future, whether it involves us or a competitor’s product, may result in negative publicity, damage our brand and materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. In the future, we may voluntarily or involuntarily, initiate a recall if any of our products (including the batteries we design, develop and manufacture) prove to be defective or noncompliant with applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards. Such recalls involve significant expense and diversion of management attention and other resources, which could adversely affect our brand image, as well as our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We may become subject to product liability claims, which could harm our financial condition and liquidity if we are not able to successfully defend or insure against such claims.

Product liability claims, even those without merit or those that do not involve our products, could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. The automobile industry in particular experiences significant product liability claims, and we face inherent risk of exposure to claims in the event our electric powertrain solutions do not perform or are claimed to not have performed as expected. As is true for other commercial vehicle suppliers, we expect in the future that our electrified powertrain solutions will be installed on vehicles that will be involved in crashes resulting in death or personal injury. Additionally, product liability claims that affect our competitors may cause indirect adverse publicity for us and our products.

A successful product liability claim against us could require us to pay a substantial monetary award. Our risks in this area are particularly pronounced given the relatively limited number of electrified powertrain solutions delivered to date and limited field experience of our products. Moreover, a product liability claim against us or our competitors could generate substantial negative publicity about our products and business and could have a material adverse effect on our brand, business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. In most jurisdictions, we generally self-insure against the risk of product liability claims for vehicle exposure, meaning that any product liability claims will likely have to be paid from company funds, not by insurance.

Insufficient warranty reserves to cover future warranty claims could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Once we begin commercial production of our electrified powertrain solutions, we will need to maintain warranty reserves to cover warranty-related claims. If our warranty reserves are inadequate to cover future warranty claims on our vehicles, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected. We may become subject to significant and unexpected warranty expenses as well as claims from our customers, including loss of revenue or damages. There can be no assurances that then-existing warranty reserves will be sufficient to cover all claims.

Risks Related to our Production Processes and Supply Chain

We face significant barriers to produce our electrified powertrain solutions, and if we cannot successfully overcome those barriers our business will be negatively impacted.

The commercial trucking industry has traditionally been characterized by significant barriers to entry, including the ability to meet performance requirements or industry specifications, acceptance by OEMs and our end users, large capital requirements, investment costs of design and production, long lead times to bring components to market from the concept and design stage, the need for specialized design and development expertise, regulatory requirements, establishing a brand name and image and the need to establish sales capabilities. If we are not able to overcome these barriers, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results will be negatively impacted and our ability to grow our business will be harmed.

Our success will depend on our ability to economically outsource the production, assembly and installation of our electrified powertrain solutions at scale, and our ability to develop and produce electrified powertrain solutions of sufficient quality and appeal to customers on schedule and at scale is unproven.

Our business depends in large part on our ability to execute our plans to develop, produce, assemble, market, sell, install and service our electrified powertrain solutions. We currently produce our Demonstrator Hybrid system at our facility in Cedar Park, Texas and expect to begin production of our next generation Hybrid system in 2021, at the earliest, and our Hypertruck ERX system in 2022, at the earliest, in each case at our outsourcing partners’ facilities. We anticipate that a significant concentration of this production, assembly and installation will be performed by a small number of outsourcing partners. While these arrangements can lower operating costs, they also reduce our direct control over production and distribution. Such diminished control may have an adverse effect on the quality or quantity of products or services, or our flexibility to respond to changing conditions.

Production or logistics in supply or production areas or transit to final destinations can be disrupted for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to, natural and man-made disasters, information technology system failures, commercial disputes, military actions, economic, business, labor, environmental, public health or political issues or international trade disputes.

Our continued development of our electrified powertrain solutions is and will be subject to risks, including with respect to:

Our production facilities, the production facilities of our outsourcing partners and suppliers and the equipment used to produce our electrified powertrain solutions would be costly to replace and could require substantial lead time to replace and qualify for use, which may render it difficult or impossible for us to produce our electrified powertrain solutions for some period of time. The inability to produce our electrified powertrain solutions or the backlog that could develop if our production facilities and the production facilities of our outsourcing partners and suppliers are inoperable for even a short period of time may result in the loss of customers or harm our reputation. Although we maintain insurance for damage to our property and the disruption of our business, this insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our potential losses and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, if at all.

We and our future production partners have no experience to date in high volume production of our electrified powertrain solutions. We do not know whether we or our future production partners will be able to develop efficient, automated, low-cost production capabilities and processes and reliable sources of component supply, that will enable us to meet the quality, price, engineering, design and production standards, as well as the production volumes, required to successfully mass market our electrified powertrain solutions. Even if we and our future production partners are successful in developing our high-volume production capability and processes and reliably source our component supply, we do not know whether we will be able to do so in a manner that avoids significant delays and cost overruns, including as a result of factors beyond our control such as problems with suppliers and vendors, or in time to meet our vehicle commercialization schedules or to satisfy the requirements of customers. Any failure to develop such production processes and capabilities within our projected costs and timelines could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We may experience significant delays in the design, production and launch of our electrified powertrain solutions, which could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Our electrified powertrain solutions are still in the development and testing phase, and commercial deliveries of the Hybrid systems and the Hypertruck ERX system are not expected to begin until 2021 and 2022, respectively, and may occur later or not at all. Any delay in the financing, design, production and launch of our electrified powertrain solutions, including future production of our next generation Hybrid system and Hypertruck ERX system at our outsourcing partners, could materially damage our brand, business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. There are often delays in the design, production and commercial release of new products, and to the extent we delay the launch of our electrified powertrain solutions, our growth prospects could be adversely affected as we may fail to grow our market share. We will rely on our outsourcing partners to produce our electrified powertrain solutions at scale, and if they are not able produce products that meet our specifications, we may need to expand our production capabilities, which would cause us to incur additional costs. Furthermore, we rely on third-party suppliers for the provision and development of many of the key components and materials used in our electrified powertrain solutions, and to the extent they experience any delays, we may need to seek alternative suppliers. If we experience delays by our third-party outsourcing partners or suppliers, we could experience delays in delivering on our timelines.

We, our outsourcing partners and our suppliers may rely on complex machinery for our production, which involves a significant degree of risk and uncertainty in terms of operational performance and costs.

We, our outsourcing partners and our suppliers may rely on complex machinery for the production, assembly and installation of our electrified powertrain solutions, which will involve a significant degree of uncertainty and risk in terms of operational performance and costs. Our production facilities and the facilities of our outsourcing partners and suppliers consist of large-scale machinery combining many components. These components may suffer unexpected malfunctions from time to time and will depend on repairs and spare parts to resume operations, which may not be available when needed. Unexpected malfunctions of these components may significantly affect the intended operational efficiency. Operational performance and costs can be difficult to predict and are often influenced by factors outside of our control, such as, but not limited to, scarcity of natural resources, environmental hazards and remediation, costs associated with decommissioning of machines, labor disputes and strikes, difficulty or delays in obtaining governmental permits, damages or defects in electronic systems, industrial accidents, fire, seismic activity and natural disasters. Should operational risks materialize, it may result in the personal injury to or death of workers, the loss of production equipment, damage to production facilities, monetary losses, delays and unanticipated fluctuations in production, environmental damage, administrative fines, increased insurance costs and potential legal liabilities, all which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition or operating results.

We are dependent on large commercial vehicle OEMs and producers of glider kits and rolling chassis to provide vehicles for our electrified powertrain solutions.

Because we do not manufacture complete commercial vehicles, we are dependent on commercial vehicle OEMs and producers of glider kits and rolling chassis to provide vehicle chassis for our electrified powertrain solutions. If OEMs are unable or unwilling to integrate the installation of our electrified powertrain solutions into their commercial vehicle production lines, we may have to rely on producers of glider kits and rolling chassis and commercial truck upfitting and modification companies. To the extent that there are limitations on the availability of glider kits or rolling chassis, either due to the unwillingness or inability of OEMs and producers to produce and provide them to us or our installation partners, or a change in governmental regulations or policies, we would need to develop our own commercial vehicle on which to install our electrified powertrain solutions. Either case could have a negative impact on our ability to sell our electrified powertrain solutions at the prices, or achieve the margins, or in the timeframes that we anticipate. Additionally, if commercial vehicle OEMs limit or fail to provide a warranty on vehicles with our electrified powertrain solutions, we will incur additional costs by contracting with a third party to provide warranty services. Any of the foregoing would have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We will rely on third parties, including commercial truck upfitting and modification companies and commercial vehicle OEMs, to install our electrified powertrain solutions in vehicles, which is subject to risks.

We intend to enter into agreements with commercial truck upfitting and modification companies and commercial vehicle OEMs to install our electrified powertrain solutions. Using third-party contract manufacturers and installers for the production and installation of our electrified powertrain solutions is subject to risks with respect to operations that are outside our control. We could experience delays if our outsourcing partners do not meet agreed upon timelines or experience capacity constraints that make it impossible for us to fulfill purchase orders on time or at all. The installation of our solutions may also void the warranty of a vehicle or a vehicle’s components, such as our engine and transmission, which may reduce customer demand for our solutions. Additionally, we may permit returns of vehicles installed with our electrified powertrain solutions, which may result in significant additional costs to us if we are required to convert the vehicles back to their original form. There is risk of potential disputes with our outsourcing partners, and we could be affected by negative publicity related to our partners whether or not such publicity is related to their collaboration with us. Our ability to successfully build a premium brand could also be adversely affected by perceptions about the quality of our outsourcing partners’ products. In addition, although we are involved in each step of the supply chain, production and installation processes, because we also rely on our outsourcing partners and third parties to meet our quality standards, there can be no assurance that the final product will meet expected quality standards.

We may be unable to enter into new agreements or extend existing agreements with third-party contract manufacturers and installers on terms and conditions acceptable to us and therefore may need to contract with other third parties or significantly add to our own production capacity. There can be no assurance that in such event we would be able to engage other third parties or establish or expand our own production capacity to meet our needs on acceptable terms or at all. The expense and time required to complete any transition, and to assure that our electrified powertrain solutions produced at facilities of new producers comply with our quality standards and regulatory requirements, may be greater than anticipated. Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We are dependent on our suppliers, some of which are single or limited source suppliers, and the inability of these suppliers to deliver necessary components of our vehicles at prices and volumes, performance and specifications acceptable to us could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We rely on third-party suppliers, some of whom are single-source suppliers, for the provision and development of many of the key components and materials used in our electrified powertrain solutions, such as natural gas generators. Any failure of these suppliers or outsourcing partners to perform could require us to seek alternative suppliers or to expand our production capabilities, which could incur additional costs and have a negative impact on our cost or supply of components or finished goods. While we plan to obtain components from multiple sources whenever possible, some of the components used in our vehicles will be purchased by us from a single source. Our third-party suppliers may not be able to meet their product specifications and performance characteristics or our desired specifications, performance and pricing, which would impact our ability to achieve our product specifications and performance characteristics as well. Additionally, our third-party suppliers may be unable to obtain required certifications for their products for which we plan to use or provide warranties that are necessary for our solutions. If we are unable to obtain components and materials used in our electrified powertrain solutions from our suppliers or if our suppliers decide to create or supply a competing product, our business could be adversely affected. Additionally, we have entered into a commercial matters agreement with Dana Limited (“Dana”), pursuant to which we agreed to, among other things, purchase from Dana and its affiliates, unless we are directed by a customer to use a different vendor, any component, product or service required or utilized by us that Dana or any of its affiliates manufactures, sells or provides or unless Dana is unwilling or unable to supply on reasonably competitive terms such component, product or service. While we believe that we may be able to establish alternate supply relationships and can obtain or engineer replacement components for our single source components, we may be unable to do so in the short term (or at all) at prices or quality levels that are favorable to us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Increases in costs, disruption of supply or shortage of our components, particularly lithium titanate oxide (“LTO”) battery cells, could harm our business.

Once we begin commercial production of our electrified powertrain solutions, we may experience increases in the cost or a sustained interruption in the supply or shortage of our components. Any such increase or supply interruption could materially negatively impact our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. The prices for our components fluctuate depending on market conditions and global demand and could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. For instance, we are exposed to multiple risks relating to price fluctuations for LTO cells. These risks include:

Any disruption in the supply of battery cells could temporarily disrupt production of our electrified powertrain solutions until a different supplier is fully qualified. Moreover, battery cell manufacturers may refuse to supply electric vehicle manufacturers if they determine that the vehicles are not sufficiently safe. Furthermore, fluctuations or shortages in petroleum and other economic conditions may cause us to experience significant increases in freight charges. Substantial increases in the prices for raw materials may increase the cost of our components and consequently, the costs of products. There can be no assurance that we will be able to recoup increasing costs of our components by increasing prices, which could reduce our margins.

Risks Related to Our Industry and Competitive Landscape

Our future growth is dependent upon the commercial trucking industry’s willingness to adopt alternative fuel, hybrid and electric vehicles.

Our growth is highly dependent upon the adoption of alternative fuel, hybrid and electric vehicles by the commercial trucking industry. If the market for alternative fuel, hybrid and electric vehicles and our electrified powertrain solutions does not develop at the rate or in the manner or to the extent that we expect, or if critical assumptions we have made regarding the efficiency of our electrified powertrain solutions are incorrect or incomplete, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results will be harmed. The market for alternative fuels, hybrid and electric vehicles is new and untested and is characterized by rapidly changing technologies, price competition, numerous competitors, evolving government regulation and industry standards and uncertain customer demands and behaviors.

Factors that may influence the adoption of alternative fuel, hybrid and electric vehicles include:

For example, if the market price of oil is low, there may be corresponding decreases in the cost of diesel fuel, which may impact the market for electric vehicles. Additionally, we may become subject to regulations that may require us to alter the design of our electrified powertrain solutions, which could negatively impact customer interest in our products.

Although we hope to be among the first to bring electrified powertrain solutions to market, competitors have already displayed electrified vehicle prototypes and may enter the market before us.

We face intense competition in trying to be among the first to bring electrified powertrain solutions to market. Most of our current and potential competitors have greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing and other resources than we do. They may be able to deploy greater resources to the design, development, manufacturing, distribution, promotion, sales, marketing and support of their alternative fuel and electric truck programs. Additionally, our competitors also have greater name recognition, longer operating histories, larger sales forces, broader customer and industry relationships and other resources than we do. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified research and development, sales, marketing and management personnel, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our products. Additional mergers and acquisitions may result in even more resources being concentrated in our competitors. We cannot provide assurances that our electrified systems will be the first to market. Even if our electrified systems are first, or among the first, to market, there are no assurances that customers will choose vehicles with our electrified systems over those of our competitors, or over diesel powered trucks.

Tesla, Inc. (“Tesla”) and Nikola Corporation (“Nikola”) have announced their plans to bring Class 8 long haul battery electric vehicles (“BEVs”) and fuel cell electric vehicles (“FCEVs”) to the market over the coming years. Tesla announced its BEV and Nikola announced its plug-in BEVs. Cummins Inc. (“Cummins”), Daimler AG (“Daimler”), parent of Freightliner Trucks, Dana, Navistar International Corporation (“Navistar”), PACCAR Inc. (“PACCAR”), parent of Kenworth Trucks, Inc. and Peterbilt Motors Company, Volvo Group (“Volvo”), XOS Trucks and other commercial vehicle manufacturers have announced their plans to bring Class 8 BEVs or FCEVs to the market. Furthermore, we will also face competition from manufacturers of internal combustion engines powered by diesel fuel. We expect additional competitors to enter the industry as well.

We expect competition in our industry to intensify from our existing and future competitors in the future in light of increased demand and regulatory push for alternative fuel and electric vehicles.

Developments in alternative technology or improvements in the internal combustion engine may adversely affect the demand for our electrified powertrain solutions.

Significant developments in alternative technologies, such as battery cell technology, advanced diesel, ethanol or natural gas, or improvements in the fuel economy of the internal combustion engine, may materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results in ways we do not currently anticipate. Existing and other battery cell technologies, fuels or sources of energy may emerge as customers’ preferred alternative to our electrified powertrain solutions. Any failure by us to develop new or enhanced technologies or processes, or to react to changes in existing technologies, could materially delay our development and introduction of new and enhanced alternative fuel and electric vehicles, which could result in the loss of competitiveness of our electrified powertrain solutions, decreased revenue and a loss of market share to competitors. Our research and development efforts may not be sufficient to adapt to changes in alternative fuel and electric vehicle technology. As technologies change, we plan to upgrade or adapt our electrified powertrain solutions with the latest technology, in particular battery cell technology, which may also negatively impact the adoption of other our products. However, our electrified powertrain solutions may not compete effectively with alternative systems if we are not able to source and integrate the latest technology into our electrified powertrain solutions.

Risks Related to Technology, Data and Privacy-Related Matters

We are subject to cybersecurity risks to operational systems, security systems, infrastructure, integrated software in our electrified powertrain solutions and customer data processed by us or third-party vendors or suppliers and any material failure, weakness, interruption, cyber event, incident or breach of security could prevent us from effectively operating our business.

We are at risk for interruptions, outages and breaches of: (a) operational systems, including business, financial, accounting, product development, data processing or production processes, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; (b) facility security systems, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; (c) transmission control modules or other in-product technology, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; (d) the integrated software in our electrified powertrain solutions; or (e) customer or driver data that we process or our third-party vendors or suppliers process on our behalf. Such cyber incidents could: materially disrupt operational systems; result in loss of intellectual property, trade secrets or other proprietary or competitively sensitive information; compromise certain information of customers, employees, suppliers, drivers or others; jeopardize the security of our facilities; or affect the performance of transmission control modules or other in-product technology and the integrated software in our electrified powertrain solutions. A cyber incident could be caused by disasters, insiders (through inadvertence or with malicious intent) or malicious third parties (including nation-states or nation-state supported actors) using sophisticated, targeted methods to circumvent firewalls, encryption and other security defenses, including hacking, fraud, trickery or other forms of deception. The techniques used by cyber attackers change frequently and may be difficult to detect for long periods of time. Although we maintain information technology measures designed to protect ourselves against intellectual property theft, data breaches and other cyber incidents, such measures will require updates and improvements, and we cannot guarantee that such measures will be adequate to detect, prevent or mitigate cyber incidents. The implementation, maintenance, segregation and improvement of these systems requires significant management time, support and cost. Moreover, there are inherent risks associated with developing, improving, expanding and updating current systems, including the disruption of our data management, procurement, production execution, finance, supply chain and sales and service processes. These risks may affect our ability to manage our data and inventory, procure parts or supplies or produce, sell, deliver and service our electric powertrain solutions, adequately protect our intellectual property or achieve and maintain compliance with, or realize available benefits under, applicable laws, regulations and contracts. We cannot be sure that these systems upon which we rely, including those of our third-party vendors or suppliers, will be effectively implemented, maintained or expanded as planned. If we do not successfully implement, maintain or expand these systems as planned, our operations may be disrupted, our ability to accurately and timely report our financial results could be impaired, and deficiencies may arise in our internal control over financial reporting, which may impact our ability to certify our financial results. Moreover, our proprietary information or intellectual property could be compromised or misappropriated, and our reputation may be adversely affected. If these systems do not operate as we expect them to, we may be required to expend significant resources to make corrections or find alternative sources for performing these functions.

A significant cyber incident could impact production capability, harm our reputation, cause us to breach our contracts with other parties or subject us to regulatory actions or litigation, any of which could materially affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. In addition, our insurance coverage for cyberattacks may not be sufficient to cover all the losses we may experience as a result of a cyber incident.

We also collect, store, transmit and otherwise process customer, driver and employee and others’ data as part of our business and operations, which may include personal data or confidential or proprietary information. We also work with partners and third-party service providers or vendors that collect, store and process such data on our behalf and in connection with our products and services. There can be no assurance that any security measures that we or our third-party service providers or vendors have implemented will be effective against current or future security threats. While we have developed systems and processes designed to protect the availability, integrity, confidentiality and security of our and our customers’, drivers’, employees’ and others’ data, our security measures or those of our third-party service providers or vendors could fail and result in unauthorized access to or disclosure, acquisition, encryption, modification, misuse, loss, destruction or other compromise of such data. If a compromise of such data were to occur, we may become liable under our contracts with other parties and under applicable law for damages and incur penalties and other costs to respond to, investigate and remedy such an incident. Laws in all 50 states require us to provide notice to customers, regulators, credit reporting agencies and others when certain sensitive information has been compromised as a result of a security breach. Such laws are inconsistent and compliance in the event of a widespread data breach could be costly. Depending on the facts and circumstances of such an incident, these damages, penalties, fines and costs could be significant. Such an event could harm our reputation and result in litigation against us. Any of these results could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Any unauthorized control or manipulation of the information technology systems in our electrified powertrain solutions could result in loss of confidence in us and our electrified powertrain solutions and harm our business.

Our electrified powertrain solutions contain complex information technology systems and built-in data connectivity to accept and install periodic remote updates to improve or update functionality. We have designed, implemented and tested security measures intended to prevent unauthorized access to our information technology networks, our electrified powertrain solutions and related systems. However, hackers may attempt to gain unauthorized access to modify, alter and use such networks, trucks and systems to gain control of or to change our electrified powertrain solutions’ functionality, user interface and performance characteristics, or to gain access to data stored in or generated by the truck. Future vulnerabilities could be identified and our efforts to remediate such vulnerabilities may not be successful. Any unauthorized access to or control of our electrified powertrain solutions, or any loss of customer data, could result in legal claims or proceedings and remediation of such problems could result in significant, unplanned capital expenditures. In addition, regardless of their veracity, reports of unauthorized access to our electrified powertrain solutions or data, as well as other factors that may result in the perception that our electrified powertrain solutions or data are capable of being “hacked,” could negatively affect our brand and harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Inability to leverage vehicle and customer data could impact our software algorithms and impact research and development operations.

We rely on data collected from the use of fleet vehicles outfitted with our products, including vehicle data and data related to battery usage statistics. We use this data in connection with our software algorithms and the research, development and analysis of our products. Our inability to obtain this data or the necessary rights to use this data could result in delays or otherwise negatively impact our research and development efforts.

We may need to defend ourselves against patent, copyright or trademark infringement claims or trade secret misappropriation claims, which may be time-consuming and cause us to incur substantial costs.

Companies, organizations or individuals, including our competitors, may own or obtain patents, trademarks or other proprietary rights that would prevent or limit our ability to make, use, develop or sell our electrified powertrain solutions, which could make it more difficult for us to operate our business. We may receive inquiries from patent, copyright or trademark owners inquiring whether we infringe upon their proprietary rights. We may also be the subject of allegations that we have misappropriated their trade secrets or other proprietary rights. Companies owning patents or other intellectual property rights relating to battery packs, electric motors, fuel cells or electronic power management systems may allege infringement or misappropriation of such rights. In response to a determination that we have infringed upon or misappropriated a third party’s intellectual property rights, we may be required to do one or more of the following:

A successful claim of infringement or misappropriation against us could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. Any litigation or claims, whether valid or invalid, could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources.

Our business may be adversely affected if we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights from unauthorized use by third parties.

Failure to adequately protect our intellectual property rights could result in our competitors offering similar products, potentially resulting in the loss of some of our competitive advantage and a decrease in our revenue, which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. Our success depends, at least in part, on our ability to protect our core technology and intellectual property. To accomplish this, we will rely on a combination of patents, trade secrets (including know-how), employee and third-party nondisclosure agreements, copyrights, trademarks, intellectual property licenses and other contractual rights to establish and protect our rights in our technology.

The protection of our intellectual property rights will be important to our future business opportunities. However, the measures we take to protect our intellectual property from unauthorized use by others may not be effective for various reasons, including the following:

Patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws vary throughout the world. Some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as do the laws of the U.S. Further, policing the unauthorized use of our intellectual property in foreign jurisdictions may be difficult. Therefore, our intellectual property rights may not be as strong or as easily enforced outside of the U.S.

Also, while we have registered trademarks in an effort to protect our investment in our brand and goodwill with customers, competitors may challenge the validity of those trademarks and other brand names in which we have invested. Such challenges can be expensive and may adversely affect our ability to maintain the goodwill gained in connection with a particular trademark.

Our intellectual property applications for registration may not issue or be registered, which may have a material adverse effect on our ability to prevent others from commercially exploiting products similar to ours.

We cannot be certain that we are the first inventor of the subject matter to which we have filed a particular patent application, or if we are the first party to file such a patent application. If another party has filed a patent application to the same subject matter as we have, we may not be entitled to the protection sought by the patent application. We also cannot be certain whether the claims included in a patent application will ultimately be allowed in the applicable issued patent. Further, the scope of protection of issued patent claims is often difficult to determine. As a result, we cannot be certain that the patent applications that we file will issue, or that our issued patents will afford protection against competitors with similar technology. In addition, our competitors may design around our issued patents, which may adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Risks Related to Environmental and Regulatory Matters

The unavailability, reduction or elimination of government and economic incentives for alternative fuel use due to policy changes or government regulation could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Any reduction, elimination or discriminatory application of government subsidies and economic incentives because of policy changes, the reduced need for such subsidies and incentives due to the perceived success of the electric vehicle industry or other reasons may result in the diminished competitiveness of the alternative fuel and electric vehicle industry generally or our electrified powertrain solutions. While certain tax credits and other incentives for alternative energy production, alternative fuel and electric vehicles have been available in the past, there is no guarantee these programs will be available in the future. If current tax incentives are not available in the future, our financial position could be harmed.

In particular, we are influenced by federal, state and local tax credits, rebates, grants and other government programs and incentives that promote the use of RNG and natural gas as a vehicle fuel. These include various government programs that make grant funds available for the purchase of natural gas vehicles, as well as D3 RIN and LCFS programs, which encourage low carbon “compliant” transportation fuels (including CNG) in the California and Oregon marketplace by allowing producers of these fuels to generate LCFS Credits that can be sold to noncompliant regulated parties and the Alternative Fuel Tax Credit (“AFTC”) under which a tax credit is available for natural gas vehicle fuel sales made through the end of 2020 but which may not be available for vehicle fuel sales made after December 31, 2020, particularly if other legislative priorities result in insufficient focus on this program during upcoming congressional sessions. Additionally, we are influenced by laws, rules and regulations that require reductions in carbon emissions or the use of renewable fuels, such as the California Low Carbon Fuel Standards and the Oregon Clean Fuels Program. These programs and regulations, which have the effect of encouraging the use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel, could expire or be repealed or amended for a variety of reasons. For example, parties with an interest in gasoline and diesel, electric or other alternative vehicles or vehicle fuels, including lawmakers, regulators, policymakers, environmental or advocacy organizations, OEMs, trade groups, suppliers or other powerful groups, may invest significant time and money in efforts to delay, repeal or otherwise negatively influence regulations and programs that promote natural gas. Many of these parties have substantially greater resources and influence than we do. Further, changes in federal, state or local political, social or economic conditions, including a lack of legislative focus on these programs and regulations, could result in their modification, delayed adoption or repeal. Any failure to adopt, delay in implementation, expiration, repeal or modification of these programs and regulations, or the adoption of any programs or regulations that encourage the use of other alternative fuels or alternative vehicles over natural gas, would reduce the market for natural gas as a vehicle fuel and harm our operating results, liquidity and financial condition. For instance, California lawmakers and regulators have implemented various measures designed to increase the use of electric, hydrogen and other zero-emission vehicles, including establishing firm goals for the number of these vehicles operating on state roads by specified dates and enacting various laws and other programs in support of these goals. Although the influence and applicability of these or similar measures on our business and natural gas vehicle adoption in general remains uncertain, a focus by these groups on zero tailpipe emissions vehicles over vehicles with an overall net carbon negative emissions profile, but with some tailpipe emissions operating on RNG, could adversely affect the market for natural gas vehicles, including those powered by our electrified powertrain solutions. If these economic incentives are reduced or eliminated, there could be a reduction of the supply of natural gas, a corresponding increase in the price of natural gas, and our electrified powertrain solutions may not be net carbon negative, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Additionally, other changes to governmental regulations and policies could impact the competitiveness of natural gas as a fuel source. For instance, a limitation or ban on extraction methods like fracking, could have a negative impact on the availability and price of natural gas and may adversely affect the growth of the alternative fuel automobile markets. Additionally, an increase in the economic incentives for other fuel sources or BEVs, such as through the subsidization of other fuel sources or higher permitted weight limits for BEVs or FCEVs or the reduction or elimination of the higher permitted weight limits for natural gas vehicles, could make our products less competitive. Such changes in regulations and policies could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We are subject to various environmental laws and regulations that could impose substantial costs upon us and cause delays in building our production facilities.

Our operations are and will be subject to international, federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations, including laws relating to the use, handling, storage, disposal of and human exposure to hazardous materials. Environmental and health and safety laws and regulations can be complex, and we have limited experience complying with them. Moreover, we expect that we will be affected by future amendments to such laws or other new environmental and health and safety laws and regulations which may require us to change our operations, potentially resulting in a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. These laws can give rise to liability for administrative oversight costs, cleanup costs, property damage, bodily injury, fines and penalties. Capital and operating expenses needed to comply with environmental laws and regulations can be significant, and violations may result in substantial fines and penalties, third-party damages, suspension of production or a cessation of our operations.

Contamination at properties we will own or operate, we formerly owned or operated or to which hazardous substances were sent by us, may result in liability for us under environmental laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, which can impose liability for the full amount of remediation-related costs without regard to fault, for the investigation and cleanup of contaminated soil and ground water, for building contamination and impacts to human health and for damages to natural resources. The costs of complying with environmental laws and regulations and any claims concerning noncompliance, or liability with respect to contamination in the future, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or operating results. We may face unexpected delays in obtaining the required permits and approvals in connection with our planned production facilities that could require significant time and financial resources and delay our ability to operate these facilities, which would adversely impact our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Our business could be negatively affected by unfavorable changes to federal or state tax laws or the adoption of federal or state laws or regulations mandating new or additional limits on the production of GHG emissions, the cost of natural gas and “tailpipe” emissions.

Federal or state laws or regulations may be adopted that would impose new or additional limits on the emissions of GHG. The potential effects of GHG emission limits on our business are subject to significant uncertainties based on, among other things, the timing of the implementation of any new requirements, the required levels of emission reductions, the nature of any market-based or tax-based mechanisms adopted to facilitate reductions, the relative availability of GHG emission reduction offsets, the development of cost-effective, commercial-scale carbon capture and storage technology and supporting regulations and liability mitigation measures, the range of available compliance alternatives, and our ability to demonstrate that our products qualify as a compliance alternative under any new statutory or regulatory programs to limit GHG emissions. If our solutions are not able to meet future GHG emission limits or perform as well as BEV, FCEV or other alternative fuel vehicles, for instance due to unavailability of RNG in a particular area or a decline in RNG production or an increase in our cost, our solutions could be less competitive. Additionally, federal, state or road taxes could be added to natural gas fuel, which would increase the operating cost of our products. Furthermore, additional federal or state taxes could be implemented on “tailpipe” emissions, which would have a negative impact on the cost of our products and a positive impact on the cost of BEVs and FCEVs relative to our solutions. Such new federal or state laws or regulations could have a material adverse impact on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We, our outsourcing partners and our suppliers are or may be subject to substantial regulation and unfavorable changes to, or failure by us, our outsourcing partners or our suppliers to comply with, these regulations could substantially harm our business and operating results.

Our electrified powertrain solutions, and the sale of motor vehicles in general, our outsourcing partners and our suppliers are or may be subject to substantial regulation under international, federal, state and local laws. We continue to evaluate requirements for licenses, approvals, certificates and governmental authorizations necessary to manufacture, sell or service our electrified powertrain solutions in the jurisdictions in which we plan to operate and intend to take such actions necessary to comply. We may experience difficulties in obtaining or complying with various licenses, approvals, certifications and other governmental authorizations necessary to manufacture, sell or service their electrified powertrain solutions in any of these jurisdictions. For instance, our electrified powertrain solutions are novel technology that may not be readily classified into categories by governmental agencies. If we, our outsourcing partners or our suppliers are unable to obtain or comply with any of the licenses, approvals, certifications or other governmental authorizations necessary to carry out our operations in the jurisdictions in which we currently operate, or those jurisdictions in which we plan to operate in the future, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected. We expect to incur significant costs in complying with these regulations. For example, if the battery packs installed in our electrified powertrain solutions are deemed to be transported, we will need to comply with the mandatory regulations governing the transport of “dangerous goods,” and any deficiency in compliance may result in us being prohibited from selling our electrified powertrain solutions until compliant batteries are installed. Additionally, although we do not believe that our current after-market Hybrid system is required to obtain certifications from the EPA in the event that regulators determine that certifications are necessary, we may be prohibited from selling our Hybrid system until such time as we obtain the required certifications. Any such required changes to our battery packs or Hybrid system will require additional expenditures and may delay the shipment of vehicles. In addition, regulations related to the electric and alternative energy vehicle industry are evolving and we face risks associated with changes to these regulations, including but not limited to:

To the extent the laws change, our electrified powertrain solutions and our suppliers’ products may not comply with applicable international, federal, state or local laws, which would have an adverse effect on our business. Compliance with changing regulations could be burdensome, time consuming and expensive. To the extent compliance with new regulations is cost prohibitive, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results would be adversely affected.

We are subject to evolving laws, regulations, standards and contractual obligations related to data privacy and security, and our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our reputation, subject us to significant fines and liability or adversely affect our business.

We intend to use our in-vehicle services and functionality to log information about each vehicle’s use in order to aid us in vehicle diagnostics and servicing. Our customers or their drivers may object to the use of this data, which may increase our vehicle maintenance costs and harm our business prospects. Collection of our customers’, employees’ and others’ information in conducting our business may subject us to various legislative and regulatory burdens related to data privacy and security that could require notification of data breaches, restrict our use of such information and hinder our ability to acquire new customers or market to existing customers. The regulatory framework for data privacy and security is rapidly evolving, and we may not be able to monitor and react to all developments in a timely manner. For example, California requires connected devices to maintain minimum information security requirements. As legislation continues to develop, we will likely be required to expend significant additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures and internal processes to comply with such legislation. In addition, non-compliance with these laws or a significant breach of our third-party service providers’ or vendors’ or our own network security and systems could have serious negative consequences for our business and future prospects, including possible fines, penalties and damages, reduced customer demand for our vehicles and harm to our reputation and brand.

We are subject to U.S. and foreign anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws and regulations. We can face criminal liability and other serious consequences for violations, which can harm our business.

We are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act and possibly other anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees, agents, contractors and other collaborators from authorizing, promising, offering or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or anything else of value to recipients in the public or private sector. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our employees, agents, contractors and other collaborators, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. Any violations of the laws and regulations described above may result in substantial civil and criminal fines and penalties, imprisonment, the loss of export or import privileges, debarment, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, reputational harm and other consequences.

We are subject to governmental export and import control laws and regulations. Our failure to comply with these laws and regulations could have an adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Our products and solutions are subject to export control and import laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations and various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. U.S. export control laws and regulations and economic sanctions prohibit the shipment of certain products and services to U.S. embargoed or sanctioned countries, governments and persons. In addition, complying with export control and sanctions regulations for a particular sale may be time-consuming and result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities. Exports of our products and technology must be made in compliance with these laws and regulations. If we fail to comply with these laws and regulations, we and certain of our employees could be subject to substantial civil or criminal penalties, including the possible loss of export or import privileges, fines, which may be imposed on us and responsible employees or managers and, in extreme cases, the incarceration of responsible employees or managers.

In addition, changes in our products or solutions or changes in applicable export or import laws and regulations may create delays in the introduction and sale of our products and solutions in international markets, increase costs due to changes in import and export duties and taxes, prevent our customers from deploying our products and solutions or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our products and solutions to certain countries, governments or persons altogether. Any change in export or import laws and regulations, shift in the enforcement or scope of existing laws and regulations, or change in the countries, governments, persons or technologies targeted by such laws and regulations, could also result in decreased use of our products and solutions or in our decreased ability to export or sell our products and solutions to customers. Any decreased use of our products and solutions or limitation on our ability to export or sell our products and solutions would likely adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Changes in laws or regulations and U.S. trade policy, including the imposition of tariffs and the resulting consequences, could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments and agencies. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our products and business. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

The U.S. government has adopted a new approach to trade policy and in some cases has attempted to renegotiate or terminate certain existing bilateral or multi-lateral trade agreements. It has also imposed tariffs on certain foreign goods, including steel and certain commercial vehicle parts, which have begun to result in increased costs for goods imported into the U.S. In response to these tariffs, a number of U.S. trading partners have imposed retaliatory tariffs on a wide range of U.S. products, which makes it more costly for us to export our products to those countries. If we are unable to pass price increases on to our customer base or otherwise mitigate the costs, or if demand for our exported products decreases due to the higher cost, our operating results could be materially adversely affected. In addition, further tariffs have been proposed by the U.S. and our trading partners and additional trade restrictions could be implemented on a broader range of products or raw materials. The resulting environment of retaliatory trade or other practices could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, operating results, customers, suppliers and the global economy.

We intend in the future to expand internationally and will face risks associated with our international operations, including unfavorable regulatory, political, tax and labor conditions, which could harm our business.

We will face risks associated with our future international operations, including possible unfavorable regulatory, political, tax and labor conditions, which could harm our business. We anticipate having international operations which would subject us to the legal, political, regulatory and social requirements and economic conditions in any future jurisdictions. Additionally, as part of our growth strategy, we intend to expand our sales and servicing services internationally. However, we have no experience to date selling and servicing our electrified powertrain solutions internationally and such expansion would require us to make significant expenditures, including the hiring of local employees and establishing facilities, in advance of generating any revenue. We are subject to a number of risks associated with international business activities that may increase our costs, impact our ability to sell our electrified powertrain solutions and require significant management attention. These risks include:

If we fail to successfully address these risks, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially harmed.

Risks Related to Capital and Tax Matters

We may need to raise additional funds and these funds may not be available to us when we need them. If we cannot raise additional funds when we need them, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be negatively affected.

The design, production, sale and servicing of our electrified powertrain solutions is capital-intensive. In connection with the consummation of the Business Combination on October 1, 2020, we raised net proceeds of approximately $516.5 million (net of transaction costs and expenses). As of December 31, 2020, all outstanding warrants were either exercised or redeemed, with gross proceeds of $140.8 million raised, of which $16.3 million was collected during the first quarter of 2021. However, we may subsequently determine that additional funds are necessary earlier than anticipated. This capital may be necessary to fund our ongoing operations, continue research, development and design efforts, create new products and improve infrastructure. We may raise additional funds through the issuance of equity, equity related or debt securities or through obtaining credit from government or financial institutions. We cannot be certain that additional funds will be available to us on favorable terms when required, or at all. If we cannot raise additional funds when we need them, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected.

Changes in tax laws may materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

New income, sales, use or other tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be enacted at any time, which could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. Further, existing tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be interpreted, changed, modified or applied adversely to us. For example, U.S. federal tax legislation enacted in 2017, informally titled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”), enacted many significant changes to the U.S. tax laws. Future guidance from the IRS with respect to the Tax Act may affect us, and certain aspects of the Tax Act could be repealed or modified in future legislation. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), has already modified certain provisions of the Tax Act. In addition, it is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the Tax Act, the CARES Act or any newly enacted federal tax legislation.

Our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards and other tax attributes may be limited in connection with the Business Combination or other ownership changes.

We have incurred losses during our history and do not expect to become profitable in the near future, and may never achieve profitability. To the extent that we continue to generate taxable losses, unused losses will carry forward to offset future taxable income, if any, until such unused losses expire, if at all. As of December 31, 2020, we had U.S. federal net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $82.2 million.

Under the Tax Act, as modified by the CARES Act, U.S. federal net operating loss carryforwards generated in taxable periods beginning after December 31, 2017, may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such net operating loss carryforwards in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020, is limited to 80% of taxable income. It is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the Tax Act or the CARES Act.

Under Section 382 of the Code, substantial changes in our ownership may result in an annual limitation on the amount of net operating loss carryforwards that could be utilized in the future to offset our taxable income. Generally, this limitation may arise in the event of a cumulative change in ownership of more than 50% within a three-year period. We have completed such analysis and determined that such an ownership change occurred in 2017. This will limit the usage of our 2017 and prior year net operating losses, and will cause $2.0 million of such losses to expire unused, regardless of future taxable income. No other such ownership changes have occurred through December 31, 2020. Due to this, as well as our overall profitability estimate as noted above, we have recorded a full valuation allowance related to our net operating loss carryforwards and other deferred tax assets due to the uncertainty of the ultimate realization of the future benefits of those assets.

We may not be able to obtain or agree on acceptable terms and conditions for all or a significant portion of the government grants, loans and other incentives for which we may apply. As a result, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results may be adversely affected.

We anticipate applying for federal and state grants, loans and tax incentives under government programs designed to stimulate the economy and support the production of alternative fuel and electric vehicles and related technologies. We anticipate that in the future there will be new opportunities for us to apply for grants, loans and other incentives from federal, state and foreign governments. Our ability to obtain funds or incentives from government sources is subject to the availability of funds under applicable government programs and approval of our applications to participate in such programs. The application process for these funds and other incentives will likely be highly competitive. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in obtaining any of these additional grants, loans and other incentives.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Securities

Concentration of ownership among our existing executive officers, directors and their respective affiliates may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.

As of June 30, 2021, our executive officers, directors and their respective affiliates, as a group, beneficially own approximately 29.6% of our outstanding Common Stock. As a result, these stockholders are able to exercise a significant level of control over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, amendment of our Certificate of Incorporation and approval of significant corporate transactions. This control could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us or changes in management and will make the approval of certain transactions difficult or impossible without the support of these stockholders.

Our Certificate of Incorporation designates specific courts as the exclusive forum for certain stockholder litigation matters, which could limit the ability of our stockholders to obtain a favorable forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our Certificate of Incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against current or former directors, officers or other employees for breach of fiduciary duty, other similar actions, any other action as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction to the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and any action or proceeding concerning the validity of our Certificate of Incorporation or our Bylaws may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware (or, if and only if the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware does not have subject matter jurisdiction thereof, any state court located in the State of Delaware or, if and only if all such state courts lack subject matter jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware), unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum. This provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Our Certificate of Incorporation also provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the U.S. shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. This provision may limit our stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us and our directors, officers or other employees and may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors, officers and other employees. Furthermore, our stockholders may be subject to increased costs to bring these claims, and the exclusive forum provision could have the effect of discouraging claims or limiting investors’ ability to bring claims in a judicial forum that they find favorable.

In addition, the enforceability of similar exclusive forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that, in connection with one or more actions or proceedings described above, a court could rule that this provision in our Certificate of Incorporation is inapplicable or unenforceable. In March 2020, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a decision in Salzburg et al. v. Sciabacucchi, which found that an exclusive forum provision providing for claims under the Securities Act to be brought in federal court is facially valid under Delaware law. We intend to enforce this provision, but we do not know whether courts in other jurisdictions will agree with this decision or enforce it. If a court were to find the exclusive forum provision contained in our Certificate of Incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

A significant portion of our total outstanding shares of our Common Stock are restricted from immediate resale but may be sold into the market in the near future. This could cause the market price of our Common Stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Common Stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our Common Stock. As of June 30, 2021, 2.6% of our Common Stock was subject to transfer restrictions pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into at the time of the IPO, and may not be transferred until the earlier to occur of (a) one year after the Closing or (b) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, stock exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our public stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Common Stock for cash, securities or other property; notwithstanding the foregoing, if the last sale price of our Common Stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30 trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the Closing, such restricted shares will be released from these transfer restrictions. In addition to the transfer restrictions described above, Thomas Healy also agreed not to transfer more than 10% of the number of shares of Common Stock held by him immediately after the Effective Time, or issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of Common Stock held by him immediately after the Effective Time until October 1, 2022. Such restricted shares represent 18.2% of our Common Stock as of June 30, 2021. Upon expiration of the transfer restrictions, the holders will be eligible to sell their shares into the market.

We may issue additional shares of Common Stock or preferred stock, including under our equity incentive plan. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.

We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of common or preferred stock, including under our equity incentive plan. Any such issuances of additional shares of common or preferred stock:

General Risk Factors

We have been, and may in the future be, adversely affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the duration and economic, governmental and social impact of which is difficult to predict, which may significantly harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

There has been a widespread worldwide impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, and we have been, and may in the future be, adversely affected as a result. Numerous government regulations and public advisories, as well as shifting social behaviors, have temporarily limited or closed non-essential transportation, government functions, business activities and person-to-person interactions, and the duration of such trends is difficult to predict. Reduced operations and production line shutdowns at commercial vehicle OEMs due to COVID-19, limitations on travel by our personnel and personnel of our customers and increased demand for commercial trucks within our customers’ fleets caused some customers to delay the planned installation of our Hybrid system on their trucks past the second quarter of 2020, and future delays or shutdowns of commercial vehicle OEMs or our suppliers could impact our ability to meet customer orders. We also instituted certain temporary cost reduction measures such as reducing or deferring discretionary spending.

The specific timing and pace of our resumption of normal operations will depend on the status of various government regulations and the readiness of our suppliers, vendors and workforce. Although we are working to resume meetings with potential customers, we ultimately remain uncertain how we may be impacted should COVID-19 concerns increase in the future. Moreover, travel restrictions and social distancing efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic may negatively impact the commercial trucking industry, such as reduced consumer demand for products carried by the commercial trucking industry, for an unknown, but potentially lengthy, period of time.

Our operations and timelines may also be affected by global economic markets and levels of consumer comfort and spend, which could impact demand in the worldwide transportation industries. Because the impact of current conditions on an ongoing basis is yet largely unknown, is rapidly evolving and has been varied across geographic regions, this ongoing assessment will be particularly critical to allow us to accurately project demand and infrastructure requirements globally and deploy our workforce and other resources accordingly. If current global market conditions continue or worsen, or if we cannot or do not resume reduced operations at a rate commensurate with such conditions or resume full operational capacity and are later required to or choose to reduce such operations again, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially harmed.

We will incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives.

As a result of operating as a public company, we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company, and these expenses may increase even more after we are no longer an emerging growth company, as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act. As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, as well as rules adopted, and to be adopted, by the SEC and the NYSE. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, we expect these rules and regulations to substantially increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect these rules and regulations to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits or incur substantially higher costs to maintain the same or similar coverage. We cannot predict or estimate the amount or timing of additional costs we may incur to respond to these requirements. The impact of these requirements could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, our board committees or as executive officers.

The JOBS Act permits “emerging growth companies” like us to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.

We qualify as an “emerging growth company” as defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). As such, we take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including (a) the exemption from the auditor attestation requirements with respect to internal control over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (b) the exemptions from say-on-pay, say-on-frequency and say-on-golden parachute voting requirements and (c) reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they deem important. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (a) the last day of the fiscal year (i) following March 4, 2024, the fifth anniversary of our IPO, (ii) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion (as adjusted for inflation pursuant to SEC rules from time to time) or (iii) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A Common Stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last business day of our prior second fiscal quarter, and (b) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three year period.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the exemption from complying with new or revised accounting standards provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act as long as we are an emerging growth company. An emerging growth company can therefore delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies, but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

We cannot predict if investors will find our Common Stock less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our Common Stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our Common Stock and the price of our Common Stock may be more volatile.

We are or may be subject to risks associated with strategic alliances or acquisitions and may not be able to identify adequate strategic relationship opportunities, or form strategic relationships, in the future.

We have entered into strategic alliances and may in the future enter into additional strategic alliances or joint ventures or minority equity investments, in each case with various third parties for the production of our electrified powertrain solutions as well as with other collaborators with capabilities on data and analytics, engineering, installation channels, refueling stations and hydrogen fuel cells. These alliances subject us to a number of risks, including risks associated with sharing proprietary information, non-performance by the third party and increased expenses in establishing new strategic alliances, any of which may materially and adversely affect our business. We may have limited ability to monitor or control the actions of these third parties and, to the extent any of these strategic third parties suffer negative publicity or harm to their reputation from events relating to their business, we may also suffer negative publicity or harm to our reputation by virtue of our association with any such third party.

Strategic business relationships will be an important factor in the growth and success of our business. However, there are no assurances that we will be able to continue to identify or secure suitable business relationship opportunities in the future or our competitors may capitalize on such opportunities before we do. Moreover, identifying such opportunities could require substantial management time and resources, and negotiating and financing relationships involves significant costs and uncertainties. If we are unable to successfully source and execute on strategic relationship opportunities in the future, our overall growth could be impaired, and our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected.

When appropriate opportunities arise, we may acquire additional assets, products, technologies or businesses that are complementary to our existing business. In addition to possible stockholder approval, we may need approvals and licenses from relevant government authorities for the acquisitions and to comply with any applicable laws and regulations, which could result in increased delay and costs, and may disrupt our business strategy if we fail to do so. Furthermore, acquisitions and the subsequent integration of new assets and businesses into our own require significant attention from our management and could result in a diversion of resources from our existing business, which in turn could have an adverse effect on our operations. Acquired assets or businesses may not generate the financial results we expect. Acquisitions could result in the use of substantial amounts of cash, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the occurrence of significant goodwill impairment charges, amortization expenses for other intangible assets and exposure to potential unknown liabilities of the acquired business. Moreover, the costs of identifying and consummating acquisitions may be significant.

Our employees and independent contractors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could have an adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We are exposed to the risk that our employees and independent contractors may engage in misconduct or other illegal activity. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless or negligent conduct or other activities that violate laws and regulations, including production standards, U.S. federal and state fraud, abuse, data privacy and security laws, other similar non-U.S. laws or laws that require the true, complete and accurate reporting of financial information or data. It is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct by employees and other third parties, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. In addition, we are subject to the risk that a person or government could allege such fraud or other misconduct, even if none occurred. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results, including, without limitation, the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, disgorgement, integrity oversight and reporting obligations to resolve allegations of non-compliance, imprisonment, other sanctions, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings and curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Work stoppages or similar difficulties could significantly disrupt our operations.

A work stoppage, including due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at the production facilities of one or more of our or our outsourcing partners’, suppliers and commercial vehicle OEMs could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, if a significant customer were to experience a work stoppage, that customer could halt or limit purchases of our products, which could result in shutting down the related production facilities. Also, a significant disruption in the supply of a key component due to a work stoppage at one of our suppliers could result in shutting down production facilities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our business and operations could be negatively affected if we become subject to any securities litigation or shareholder activism, which could cause us to incur significant expense, hinder execution of business and growth strategy and impact the price of our Common Stock.

Shareholder activism, which could take many forms or arise in a variety of situations, has been increasing recently. Volatility in the price of our Common Stock or other reasons may in the future cause us to become the target of securities litigation or shareholder activism. Securities litigation and shareholder activism, including potential proxy contests, could result in substantial costs and divert management’s and our Board’s attention and resources from our business. Additionally, such securities litigation and shareholder activism could give rise to perceived uncertainties as to our future, adversely affect its relationships with service providers and make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel. Also, we may be required to incur significant legal fees and other expenses related to any securities litigation and activist shareholder matters. Further, the price of our Common Stock and could be subject to significant fluctuation or otherwise be adversely affected by the events, risks and uncertainties of any securities litigation and shareholder activism.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish or cease publishing research or reports about us, our business or our market, or if they change their recommendations regarding our Common Stock adversely, the price and trading volume of our Common Stock could decline.

The trading market for our Common Stock will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. If any of the analysts who may cover us change their recommendation regarding our stock adversely, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about our competitors, the price of our Common Stock would likely decline. If any analyst who may cover us were to cease their coverage or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

USE OF PROCEEDS

All of the Common Stock offered by the Selling Securityholders pursuant to this prospectus will be sold by the Selling Securityholders for their respective accounts. We will not receive any of the proceeds from these sales.

DETERMINATION OF OFFERING PRICE

Our Common Stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol “HYLN”. The actual offering price by the Selling Securityholders of the shares of Common Stock covered by this prospectus will be determined by prevailing market prices at the time of sale, by private transactions negotiated by the Selling Securityholders or as otherwise described in the section entitled “Plan of Distribution.”

MARKET INFORMATION FOR COMMON STOCK AND DIVIDEND POLICY

Market Information

Our Common Stock is currently listed on the NYSE under the symbol “HLYN.” As of June 30, 2021, there were 103 holders of record of our Common Stock.

Dividend Policy

We have not paid any cash dividends on our Common Stock to date. We may retain future earnings, if any, for future operations, expansion and debt repayment and have no current plans to pay cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any decision to declare and pay dividends in the future will be made at the discretion of our Board of Directors (the “Board”) and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors that the Board may deem relevant. In addition, our ability to pay dividends may be limited by covenants of any existing and future outstanding indebtedness we or our subsidiaries incur. We do not anticipate declaring any cash dividends to holders of the Common Stock in the foreseeable future.

UNAUDITED PRO FORMA CONDENSED COMBINED FINANCIAL INFORMATION

The following unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information has been prepared in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation S-X.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information does not include an unaudited pro forma condensed combined balance sheet as of December 31, 2020 as the Business Combination was consummated on October 1, 2020 and is reflected in our historical audited consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2020, included elsewhere in this prospectus.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020, derived from the historical statement of operations of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2020 and the historical statement of operations of TortoiseCorp for the nine months ended September 30, 2020, gives effect to the Business Combination as if it had occurred on January 1, 2020.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information was prepared in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation S-X as amended by the final rule, Release No. 33-10786 “Amendments to Financial Disclosures about Acquired and Disposed Businesses,” using the assumptions set forth in the notes to the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information. The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information has been adjusted to depict the accounting for the transaction (“Transaction Accounting Adjustments”), which reflect the application of the accounting required by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), linking the effects of the Business Combination to the Company’s historical consolidated financial statements. The Company has elected not to present the reasonably estimable synergies and other transaction effects that have occurred or are reasonably expected to occur and will only be presenting Transaction Accounting Adjustments in the following unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information is for illustrative and informational purposes only and is not necessarily indicative of the operating results that would have occurred if the Business Combination had been completed as of the dates set forth above, nor is it indicative of the future consolidated results of operations of the Company. Further, pro forma adjustments represent management’s best estimates based on information available as of the date of this prospectus and are subject to change as additional information becomes available.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information should be read together with “Use of Proceeds,” “Dilution,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions” and the historical audited consolidated financial statements, and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Notes to Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Financial Statements

1. Description of the Transaction & Basis of Presentation

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information was prepared in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation S-X, as amended by the final rule, Release No. 33-10786 “Amendments to Financial Disclosures about Acquired and Disposed Businesses,” and present the pro forma results of operations of the Company based upon the historical financial information after giving effect to the Business Combination set forth in the notes to the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information does not reflect any cost savings, operating synergies or revenue enhancements that the consolidated company may achieve as a result of the Business Combination.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020, derived from the historical statement of operations of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2020 and historical statement of operations of TortoiseCorp for the nine months ended September 31, 2020, gives effect to the Business Combination as if it had occurred on January 1, 2020.

Business Combination

On October 1, 2020 (the “Closing Date”), TortoiseCorp entered into a business combination agreement (the “Business Combination”) with each of the shareholders of Hyliion Inc. (“Legacy Hyliion”). Pursuant to the Business Combination, TortoiseCorp acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock from the Legacy Hyliion shareholders. In connection with the closing of the transaction, Tortoise Corp. changed its name to Hyliion Holdings Corp.

The Business Combination was accounted for as a reverse recapitalization, with no goodwill or other intangible assets recorded, in accordance with GAAP. Under this method of accounting, TortoiseCorp was treated as the acquired company for financial reporting purposes. Accordingly, for accounting purposes, the Business Combination was treated as the equivalent of Legacy Hyliion issuing stock for the net assets of TortoiseCorp, accompanied by a recapitalization. The net assets of TortoiseCorp were stated at historical cost, with no goodwill or other intangible assets recorded.

2. Notes to Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Statement of Operations

Transaction Accounting Adjustments include the following adjustments related to the unaudited pro forma condensed combined statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020, as follows:

3. Income (Loss) per Share

Represents the net income (loss) per share calculated using the historical weighted average shares outstanding, the dilutive effect of stock options, warrants and the issuance of additional shares in connection with the Business Combination, assuming the shares were outstanding since January 1, 2020. As the Business Combination is being reflected as if it had occurred at the beginning of the period presented, the calculation of weighted average shares outstanding for basic and diluted net loss per share assumes that the shares issuable relating to the Business Combination have been outstanding for the entire period presented. Basic and diluted earnings per share are the same for each class of common stock because they are entitled to the same liquidation and dividend rights.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF
FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis provides information which our management believes is relevant to an assessment and understanding of our results of operations and financial condition. This discussion and analysis should be read together with the audited, as restated, and unaudited financial statements and related notes that are included elsewhere in this prospectus. This discussion and analysis should also be read together with our pro forma financial information for the period ended December 31, 2020 (in the section entitled “Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Financial Information”). In addition to historical financial information, this discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. See the section entitled “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Actual results and timing of selected events may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” or elsewhere in this prospectus.

Dollar amounts in this section are expressed in millions, except as otherwise noted. Certain figures, such as interest rates and other percentages, included in this section have been rounded for ease of presentation. Percentage figures included in this section have not in all cases been calculated on the basis of such rounded figures but on the basis of such amounts prior to rounding. For this reason, percentage amounts in this section may vary slightly from those obtained by performing the same calculations using the figures in our financial statements or in the associated text. Certain other amounts that appear in this section may similarly not sum due to rounding.

Company Overview

Hyliion is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Cedar Park, Texas. On the Closing Date, TortoiseCorp entered into a Business Combination with each of the shareholders of Legacy Hyliion, and consummated the Merger contemplated by the Business Combination, with Legacy Hyliion surviving the Merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of TortoiseCorp. As a result of the Business Combination, we became a NYSE listed company.

Our mission is to be the leading provider of electrified powertrain solutions for the commercial vehicle industry. Our goal is to reduce the carbon intensity and the GHG emissions of the transportation sector by providing electrified powertrain solutions for Class 8 semi-trucks at the lowest TCO. Our solutions utilize our proprietary battery systems, control software and data analytics, combined with fully integrated electric motors and power electronics, to produce electrified powertrain systems that either augment, in the case of our Hybrid system, or fully replace, in the case of the Hypertruck ERX system, traditional diesel or natural gas fueled powertrains and improve their performance. By reducing both GHG emissions and TCO, our environmentally conscious solutions support our customers’ pursuit of their sustainability and financial objectives.

We are currently developing two electrified powertrain systems for long-haul Class 8 commercial vehicles: our Hybrid system and our Hypertruck ERX system. Our Hybrid system has been installed in low volumes on our initial customers’ commercial vehicles. Across the customer installations and over the entire Hyliion fleet we have accumulated millions of real world road miles on Class 8 commercial vehicles. Our Hybrid system can either be installed on a new vehicle during assembly and prior to entering fleet service or retrofit to an existing in-service vehicle. Our Hypertruck ERX system is in the development stage with vehicles being built for testing and validation. Our Hypertruck ERX system’s design and technology leverages the experience and operating data from our Hybrid system to replace the traditional diesel powertrain installed in new vehicles. Our Hypertruck ERX system will offer commercial vehicle owners and operators a net carbon negative electrified powertrain option for Class 8 commercial vehicles, when using RNG.

Our initial expected deliveries of our Hypertruck ERX systems to customers are designed to have their batteries recharged with CNG. CNG fueled recharging is preferable due to both the current comparable cost of fuels and existing availability of CNG refueling infrastructure. Class 8 commercial vehicles can currently be refueled with CNG through existing, geographically diverse and third-party accessible natural gas refueling stations established across North America. Globally, RNG, CNG and liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) are used widely for land-based transport and trucking and Hyliion believes there are established, geographically diverse and third-party accessible refueling stations available in certain areas in which Hyliion expects it may sell its electrified powertrain solutions in the future. We believe there is opportunity for adoption of our electrified powertrain solutions across Europe. This existing and accessible refueling infrastructure will significantly reduce the buildout time and cost required to utilize our Hypertruck ERX system as compared to other proposed potential electrified solutions. See “Risk Factors — Our future growth is dependent upon the commercial trucking industry’s willingness to adopt alternative fuel, hybrid and electric vehicles” discussed in our 2020 Amended Annual Report.

Our Hybrid and Hypertruck ERX systems are designed to be installed on most major Class 8 commercial vehicles, which gives our customers the flexibility to continue using their preferred vehicle brands and maintain their existing fleet maintenance and operations strategies. Our early Hybrid system deployments include leaders in the transportation and logistics sector. We are focusing its initial marketing efforts on large fleet operators as well as companies committed to reducing the overall environmental impact and fuel costs of their owned and operated trucking fleets.

Recent Developments

None.

Comparability of Financial Information

Our historical operations and statements of assets and liabilities may not be comparable to our operations and statements of assets and liabilities as a result of the Business Combination and becoming a public company.

Business Combination and Public Company Costs

On October 1, 2020, we consummated the Merger contemplated by the Business Combination, with Legacy Hyliion surviving the Merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of TortoiseCorp.

Immediately prior to the closing of the Business Combination, all shares of issued and outstanding redeemable convertible preferred stock converted into shares of Legacy Hyliion Common Stock and all outstanding convertible notes payable plus accrued interest converted into shares of Legacy Hyliion Common Stock at the discount rates set forth in the original agreements. Upon the consummation of the Business Combination, each share of Legacy Hyliion Common Stock issued and outstanding was cancelled and converted into the right to receive the per share merger consideration. Additionally, Legacy Hyliion issued 1,000,000 shares of Legacy Hyliion Common Stock with a grant date fair value of $10.00 per share to one of the convertible noteholders in connection with the Commercial Matters Agreement entered into in June 2020 (as defined herein).

Upon the closing of the Business Combination, TortoiseCorp’s certificate of incorporation was amended and restated to, among other things, increase the total number of authorized shares of capital stock to 260,000,000 shares, of which 250,000,000 shares were designated Common Stock, $.0001 par value per share, and of which 10,000,0000 shares were designated preferred stock, $0.0001 par value per share.

In connection with the Business Combination, a number of investors purchased from the Company an aggregate of 30,750,000 shares of Common Stock (the “PIPE Shares”), for a purchase price of $10.00 per share and an aggregate purchase price of $307.5 million pursuant to separate subscription agreements entered into effective June 18, 2020 (the “PIPE”). The PIPE investment closed simultaneously with the consummation of the Business Combination. Additionally, a purchaser purchased 1,750,000 TortoiseCorp units (each unit consisting of one share of Common Stock and one half of one warrant, the “Forward Purchase Units”), consisting of 1,750,000 shares of Common Stock (“Forward Purchase Shares”) and the Forward Purchase Warrants for an aggregate purchase price of $17.5 million pursuant to the Amended and Restated Forward Purchase Agreement, as amended by the First Amendment to Forward Purchase Agreement. On November 30, 2020, the Company issued a notice of redemption of all its outstanding Public Warrants and Forward Purchase Warrants which was completed in December 2020. However, the Private Warrants held by the initial holders thereof or permitted transferees of the initial holders were not subject to this redemption.

Legacy Hyliion was deemed the accounting acquirer in the Business Combination based on an analysis of the criteria outlined in ASC 805. The determination was primarily based on Legacy Hyliion’s stockholders prior to the Business Combination having a majority of the voting interests in the combined company, Legacy Hyliion’s board of directors comprising a majority of the board of directors of the combined company, Legacy Hyliion’s existing shareholders’ control over decisions regarding the election and removal of directors and officers of the combined company’s board of directors, and Legacy Hyliion’s senior management comprising the senior management of the combined company. Accordingly, for accounting purposes, the Business Combination was treated as the equivalent of Legacy Hyliion issuing stock for the net assets of TortoiseCorp, accompanied by a recapitalization. The net assets of TortoiseCorp are stated at historical cost, with no goodwill or intangible assets recorded.

As a result of the Business Combination, we became a NYSE listed company, which will require us to hire additional personnel and implement procedures and processes to address public company regulatory requirements and customary practices. We have incurred, and expect to continue to incur, additional annual expenses as a public company for, among other things, directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, director fees and additional internal and external accounting, legal and administrative resources, including increased audit, compliance, and legal fees.

Key Factors Affecting Operating Results

We believe that our performance and future success depend on several factors that present significant opportunities for us but also pose risks and challenges, including but not limited to those discussed below and in the section entitled “Risk Factors”.

Successful commercialization of our drivetrain solutions

We expect to derive future revenue from our Hybrid systems and Hypertruck ERX system. Our Demonstrator Hybrid system is available today, offering customers the immediate ability to lower costs and improve environmental impact, and we intend to introduce our improved Hybrid system for customer deliveries in late 2021 and will continue to make improvements to this next iteration Hybrid system in 2022. Demos of our Hypertruck ERX system is projected to be delivered to customers for evaluation and testing beginning in late 2021 with commercial availability projected for 2022. To reach commercialization, we must purchase and integrate related property and equipment, as well as achieve several research and development milestones. We anticipate that a substantial portion of our capital resources and efforts in the near future will be focused on the continued development and commercialization of our drivetrain solutions. The amount and timing of our future funding requirements, if any, will depend on many factors, including the pace and results of our research and development efforts, as well as factors that are outside of our control.

Customer Demand

As discussed above in more detail, we have deployed demonstration Hybrid system units to a number of companies, and our Hypertruck ERX system is generating interest from companies who have received demonstration Hybrid system units and potential new customers.

Key Components of Statements of Operations

Research and Development Expense

Research and development expenses consist primarily of costs incurred for the discovery and development of our electrified powertrain solutions, which include:

We expect research and development costs to increase for the foreseeable future as we continue to invest in research and development activities to achieve operational and commercial goals.

Selling, General and Administrative Expense

Selling, general and administrative expenses consist of personnel-related expenses for our corporate, executive, finance, sales, marketing and other administrative functions, expenses for outside professional services, including legal, audit and accounting services, as well as expenses for facilities, depreciation, amortization, travel, sales and marketing costs. Personnel-related expenses consist of salaries, benefits and share-based compensation.

We expect our selling, general and administrative expenses, including legal, audit, and additional insurance expenses, investor relations activities and other administrative and professional services, to increase for the foreseeable future as we scale headcount with the growth of our business and operate as a public company in compliance with the rules and regulations of the SEC..

Other Income (Expense), Net

Other income and expenses consist primarily of interest expense incurred on our debt obligations, interest income earned on our investments and a remeasurement gain or loss associated with the change in the fair value on our convertible notes payable derivative liabilities and a loss on the extinguishment of our convertible notes payable.

Research and Development

Research and development expenses increased by $6.7 million from $2.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 to $9.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021 primarily as a result of increased expenditures for external consultancy by $2.5 million, increased research and development costs by $2.0 million which was associated with the purchase of vehicles and equipment to be used in testing of our products, increased labor by $1.2 million as we build out our engineering team and continue to build out our operations team and capabilities and increased expenditures for components utilized in the development process by $1.0 million in our efforts to finalize the design of our Hybrid system and continue the design and testing of our Hypertruck ERX system during three months ended March 31, 2021.

Selling, General and Administrative

Selling, general, and administrative expenses increased by $6.7 million from $0.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 to $7.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, primarily due to additional costs incurred to operate as a public company which include increased expenses for personnel and benefits by $3.0 million, increased expenditures for directors and officers insurance by $1.1 million, increased expenditures for legal and professional fees by $1.9 million, and increased expenditures for other expenses by $0.7 million.

Other Income (Expense)

Total other expense decreased by $2.4 million from $2.2 million of other expense for the three months ended March 31, 2020 to $0.2 million of other income for the three months ended March 31, 2021. The decrease was primarily due to the following:

Research and Development

Research and development expenses increased by $3.3 million from $9.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $12.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 as a result of increased expenditures for external consultancy by $2.2 million, and increased expenditures for components utilized in the development process were increased by $1.1 million in our efforts to finalize the design of our Hybrid system and continue the design and testing of our Hypertruck ERX system during the year ended December 31, 2020.

Selling, General and Administrative

Selling, general, and administrative expenses increased by $6.9 million from $2.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $9.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, primarily due to additional costs incurred to operate as a public company which, include increased expenditures for personnel and benefits by $2.4 million, increased expenditures for directors and officers insurance by $1.2 million, increased expenditures for legal and professional fees by $2.8 million, increase in facilities leases by $0.2 million, and increased expenditures for other expenses by $0.2 million.

Other Income (Expense)

Total other income increased by $348.4 million from $2.1 million of other expense for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $346.3 million of other income for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was primarily due to the following:

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Prior to the Business Combination, the Company’s operations were financed through private placements of redeemable convertible preferred stock and the issuance of convertible notes payable. As of March 31, 2021, our principal sources of liquidity were our cash and cash equivalents in the amount of $334.7 million, which are primarily invested in money market funds.

On November 30, 2020, we issued a notice of redemption to the warrant holders for a redemption of all the outstanding warrants, on a cash basis, or in the case of the Private Placement Warrants on a cashless basis. As a result, we raised gross proceeds of $140.8 million, $16.3 million of which was received during the first quarter of 2021.

As of March 31, 2021, we have yet to generate revenue from our core business operations. As of March 31, 2021, our current assets were $483.2 million, consisting primarily of cash and cash equivalents of $334.7 million, short-term investments of $144.8 million, and prepaid expenses of $3.6 million. Our current liabilities were $7.9 million primarily comprised of accounts payable, accrued expenses, and operating lease liabilities.

We believe the credit quality and liquidity of our investment portfolio as of March 31, 2021 is strong and will provide sufficient liquidity to satisfy operating requirements, working capital purposes and strategic initiatives. The unrealized gains and losses of the portfolio may remain volatile as changes in the general interest environment and supply/demand fluctuations of the securities within our portfolio impact daily market valuations. To mitigate the risk associated with this market volatility, we deploy a relatively conservative investment strategy focused on capital preservation and liquidity whereby no investment security may have a final maturity of more than 36 months from the date of acquisition or a weighted average maturity exceeding 18 months. Eligible investments under the Company’s investment policy bearing a minimum credit rating of A1, A-1, F1 or higher for short-term investments and A2, A, or higher for longer-term investments include money market funds, commercial paper, certificates of deposit, and municipal securities. Additionally, all our debt securities are classified as held-to-maturity as we have the intent and ability to hold these investment securities to maturity, which minimizes the realized losses that we would recognize. However, even with this approach we may incur investment losses as a result of unusual or unpredictable market developments, and we may experience reduced investment earnings if the yields on investments deemed to be low risk remain low or decline further due to unpredictable market developments. In addition, these unusual and unpredictable market developments may also create liquidity challenges for certain of the assets in our investment portfolio.

Based on our past performance, we believe our current assets will be sufficient to continue and execute on our business strategy and meet our capital requirements for the next twelve months. Our primary short-term cash needs are paying operating expenses. We expect to continue to incur net losses in the short term, as we continue to execute on our strategic initiatives by (i) completing the development and commercialization of the hybrid and electrified drive systems for long haul “Class 8” semi-tractors, (ii) scaling the Company’s operations to meet anticipated demand, and (iii) hiring personnel. However, actual results could vary materially and negatively as a result of a number of factors including, but not limited to, those discussed in the section entitled “Risk Factors.”

Cash Flows for the Three Months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020

Presented below is a summary of Hyliion’s operating, investing, and financing cash flows:

Cash Flows Used in Operating Activities

For the three months ended March 31, 2021, cash flows used in operating activities were $10.8 million. The cash used primarily related to Hyliion’s net loss of $16.6 million, adjusted for changes in Hyliion’s working capital accounts and certain non-cash expense of $1.9 million (including $0.2 million related to non-cash lease expense, $0.2 million related to depreciation and amortization, and $1.5 million related to share based compensation).

For the three months ended March 31, 2020, cash flows used in operating activities were $3.3 million. The cash used primarily related to Hyliion’s net loss of $5.6 million, adjusted for changes in Hyliion’s working capital accounts and certain non-cash expense of $2.8 million (including $0.3 million related to non-cash lease expenses, $0.3 million related to depreciation and amortization, $0.6 million related to a loss from the change in fair value of the convertible notes payable derivative liabilities, $1.3 million related to amortization of the debt discount and $0.3 million related to paid-in-kind interest on convertible notes payable).

Cash Flows Used in Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities primarily related to the purchase of investments during the three months ended March 31, 2021 totaling $219.5 million, offset by the proceeds from the sale of investments of $160.0 million. Net cash used in investing primarily related to capital expenditures of $0.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020.

Net cash used in investing activities is expected to continue to increase substantially as we purchase additional property and equipment as we continue the development of our Hybrid and Hypertruck ERX systems and scale the manufacturing operations to meet anticipated demand.

Cash Flows Provided by Financing Activities

Cash provided by financing activities was $15.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, which was primarily generated from proceeds from the exercise of warrants of $16.2 million and proceeds from the exercise of stock options of $0.3 million, partially offset by the repayment of the Paycheck Protection Program (the “PPP”) loan of $0.9 million. Cash provided by financing activities was $3.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020, which was primarily due to $3.2 million of proceeds from the issuance of a convertible note payable, partially offset by the repayment on finance lease obligations of $0.1 million.

Cash Flows for the Years Ended December 31, 2020 and 2019

The following table summarizes our net cash provided by or used in operating activities, investing activities and financing activities for the periods indicated and should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in the Financial Statements section of this prospectus:

Net cash used in operating activities

For the year ended December 31, 2020, cash flows used in operating activities was $23.0 million. The cash used primarily related to a net income of $324.1 million, adjusted for changes in working capital accounts and certain non-cash expense of $18.9 million (including $10.2 million related to the loss on extinguishment of convertible notes payable, $4.2 million related to amortization of debt discount, $1.4 million related to a loss from the change in fair value of the convertible notes payable derivative liabilities, $1.1 million related to paid-in-kind interest on convertible notes payable, $0.9 million related to non-cash lease expense, $0.9 million related to depreciation and amortization, $363.3 million related to changes in fair value of warrant liabilities, and $0.3 million related to share-based compensation).

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cash flows used in operating activities were $11.1 million. The cash used primarily related to a net loss of $14.1 million, adjusted for changes in working capital accounts and certain non-cash expense of $4.5 million (including $1.3 million related to non-cash lease expense, $1.0 million related to depreciation and amortization, $1.1 million related to a gain from the change in fair value of the convertible notes payable derivative liabilities, $2.5 million related to amortization of the debt discount, $0.7 million related to paid-in-kind interest on convertible notes payable and $0.1 million related to share-based compensation).

Net cash used in investing activities

Net cash used in investing activities primarily relates to the purchase of investments during the year ended December 31, 2020 and totaled $238.1 million. Net cash used in investing activities primarily relates to the purchase of capital expenditures primarily attributable to equipment and machinery, demonstration and test vehicles, leasehold improvements, office furniture and equipment for the year ended December 31, 2019 and totaled $0.3 million.

Net cash used in investing activities is expected to increase substantially as we purchase additional property and equipment as we continue the development of our Hybrid and Hypertruck ERX systems and scale the manufacturing operations to meet anticipated demand.

Net cash provided by financing activities

Cash provided by financing activities was $644.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, which was primarily due to net proceeds of $516.5 million from the Business Combination and PIPE, proceeds from the exercise of warrants of $124.5 million, the issuance of $3.2 million of convertible notes payable in exchange for cash, proceeds of $0.9 million from the PPP loan, partially offset by the payments for financing costs of $0.5 million and finance lease obligations of $0.2 million.

Cash provided by financing activities was $16.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, which was primarily due to the issuance of $16.8 million of convertible notes payable in exchange for cash, partially offset by the repayment on finance lease obligations of $0.2 million.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

During the periods presented, we did not have any relationships with unconsolidated organizations or financial partnerships, such as structured finance or special purpose entities, which were established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities as of the balance sheet date, as well as the reported expenses incurred during the reporting period. Management bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions believed to be reasonable, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities. Actual results could differ from those estimates, and such differences could be material to our financial statements.

We believe that the accounting policies discussed below are critical to understanding our historical and future performance, as these policies relate to the more significant areas involving management’s judgments and estimates.

While our significant accounting policies are described in the notes to our financial statements (see Note 3 in the accompanying audited consolidated financial statements, as restated), we believe that the following accounting policies require a greater degree of judgment and complexity. Accordingly, these are the policies we believe are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our financial condition and results of operations.

In preparing our condensed consolidated financial statements, we applied the same critical accounting policies as described in our 2020 Amended Annual Report that affect judgments and estimates of amounts recorded for certain assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses.

Share-Based Compensation

We account for share-based payments that involve the issuance of shares of our Common Stock to employees and nonemployees and meet the criteria for share-based awards as share-based compensation expense based on the grant-date fair value of the award.

For periods prior to the Business Combination, we issued stock option awards to employees and nonemployees under the Hyliion Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2016 Plan”), as amended in August 2017 and approved by the Board. Outstanding stock options, whether vested or unvested, under the 2016 Plan to purchase shares of Legacy Hyliion Common Stock granted under the 2016 Plan converted into stock options for shares of the combined company’s Common Stock upon the same terms and conditions that were in effect with respect to such stock options immediately prior to the Business Combination, after giving effect to the Exchange Ratio. No further grants can be made under the 2016 Plan.

For periods subsequent to the Business Combination, share-based awards will be issued under the 2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2020 Plan”). As of December 31, 2020, no awards were issued under the 2020 Plan.

The fair value of the stock options issued to employees and nonemployees under the 2016 Plan was estimated at each grant date using the Black-Scholes model which requires the input of the following subjective assumptions:

A summary of the significant assumptions used to estimate the fair value of stock option awards during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 were as follows:

If factors change, and we utilize different assumptions, share-based compensation cost on future award grants may differ significantly from share-based compensation cost recognized on past award grants. Higher volatility and longer expected terms result in an increase to share-based compensation determined at the date of grant. Future share-based compensation cost will increase to the extent that we grant additional share-based awards to employees and non-employees. If there are any modifications or cancellations of the underlying unvested securities, we may be required to accelerate any remaining unearned share-based compensation cost or incur incremental cost. Share-based compensation cost affects our research and development expenses and selling, general and administrative expenses.

Based on our fair value of Common Stock of $16.48 at December 31, 2020 and our estimated fair value of Common Stock of $0.34 at December 31, 2019, the aggregative intrinsic value of the vested and unvested options to purchase shares of our Common Stock outstanding at December 31, 2020 and 2019 was $113.8 million and $0.3 million, respectively.

We recognized share-based compensation of $0.3 million and $0.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. We recognize and adjustment to share-based compensation expense in the period in which forfeitures occur. The effect of forfeiture adjustments during 2020 and 2019 was insignificant.

In future periods, we expect share-based compensation to increase, due in part to our existing unrecognized share-based compensation and as we issue additional share-based awards to continue to attract and retain employees. As of December 31, 2020, there was $0.4 million of unrecognized compensation cost related to share-based payments, which is expected to be recognized over an average period of 2.6 years.

Income Taxes

We recognize deferred taxes for temporary differences between the basis of assets and liabilities for financial statement and income tax purposes. At December 31, 2020, we had federal net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $82.2 million and state net operating loss carryforwards of $12.5 million that expire in various years starting in 2036. The Company also has R&D credits of $0.3 million that begin to expire in 2037.

Under Section 382 of the Code, substantial changes in our ownership may result in an annual limit on the amount of net operating loss carryforwards that could be utilized in the future to offset our taxable income. Generally, this limitation may arise in the event of a cumulative change in ownership of more than 50% within a three-year period. We have completed such analysis and determined that such ownership change occurred in 2017. This will limit the usage of our 2017 and prior year net operating losses, and will cause $2.0 million of such losses to expire unused, regardless of future taxable income. No other such ownership changes have occurred through December 31, 2020. Due to this, as well as our overall profitability estimate as noted above, we have recorded a full valuation allowance related to our net operating loss carryforwards and other deferred tax assets due to the uncertainty of the ultimate realization of the future benefits of those assets.

Our policy is to recognize interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions in income tax expense. There was no accrued interest or penalties related to uncertain tax positions and no amounts have been recognized in our statements of operations for the years ended December 31, 2020, and 2019.

Emerging Growth Company Status

Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard, until such time we are no longer considered to be an emerging growth company. At times, we may elect to early adopt a new or revised standard. See Note 3 of the accompanying audited financial statements, as restated, for the recent accounting pronouncements adopted and the recent accounting pronouncements not yet adopted for the years ending December 31, 2020, and 2019.

In addition, we intend to rely on the other exemptions and reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an emerging growth company, we intend to rely on such exemptions, we are not required to, among other things: (a) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; (b) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; (c) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis); and (d) disclose certain executive compensation-related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the Chief Executive Officer’s compensation to median employee compensation.

We will remain an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act until the earliest of (a) the last day of our first fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the Closing, (b) the last date of our fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, (c) the date on which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” under the rules of the SEC with at least $700.0 million of outstanding securities held by non-affiliates or (d) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the previous three years.

New and Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

From time to time, new accounting pronouncements are issued by the FASB or other standard setting bodies that are adopted by us as of the specified effective date. Unless otherwise discussed, we believe that the impact of recently issued standards that are not yet effective will not have a material impact on our financial position or results of operations under adoption.

See Recent Accounting Pronouncements issued, not yet adopted under Note 3 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies in the notes to the 2020 consolidated financial statements for more information about recent accounting pronouncements, the timing of their adoption and our assessment, to the extent we have made one, of their potential impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

We are exposed to a variety of market and other risks, including the effects of changes in interest rates and inflation, as well as risks to the availability of funding sources, hazard events and specific asset risks.

Interest Rate Risk

We hold cash and cash equivalents for working capital purposes As of December 31, 2020, we had a cash balance of $389.7 million, consisting of operating and money market accounts which are not affected by changes in the general level of U.S. interest rates. We do not have material exposure to interest rate risk with respect to cash and cash equivalents as these are all highly liquid investments with a maturity date of 90 days or less at the time of purchase.

Inflation Risk

We do not believe that inflation currently has a material effect on its business. Inflation may become a greater risk in the event of changes in current economic and governmental fiscal policy.

BUSINESS

Overview

Hyliion is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Cedar Park, Texas. On the Closing Date, TortoiseCorp entered into the Business Combination Agreement with each of the shareholders of Legacy Hyliion, and consummated the Merger contemplated by the Business Combination, with Legacy Hyliion surviving the Merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of TortoiseCorp. As a result of the Business Combination, we became a NYSE listed company.

Our mission is to be the leading provider of electrified powertrain solutions for the commercial vehicle industry. Our goal is to reduce the carbon intensity and GHG emissions of the transportation sector by providing electrified powertrain solutions for Class 8 commercial vehicles at the lowest TCO. Our solutions utilize our proprietary battery systems, control software and data analytics, combined with fully integrated electric motors and power electronics, to produce electrified powertrain systems that either augment, in the case of our Hybrid system, or fully replace, in the case of the Hypertruck ERX system, a natural gas fueled engine powering the battery that improves their performance. By reducing both GHG emissions and TCO, our environmentally conscious solutions support our customers’ pursuit of their sustainability and financial objectives.

We are currently developing two electrified powertrain systems for long-haul Class 8 commercial vehicles: our Hybrid system and our Hypertruck ERX system. Our Hybrid system has been installed in low volume on our initial customers’ commercial vehicles. Across the customer installations and over the entire Hyliion fleet we have accumulated millions of real world road miles on Class 8 commercial vehicles. Our Hybrid system can either be installed on a new vehicle during assembly and prior to entering fleet service or retrofit to an existing in-service vehicle. Our Hypertruck ERX system is in the development stage with vehicles being built for testing and validation. Our Hypertruck ERX system’s design and technology leverages the experience and operating data from our Hybrid system to replace the traditional diesel powertrain installed in new vehicles. Our Hypertruck ERX system will offer commercial vehicle owners and operators a net carbon negative electrified powertrain option for Class 8 commercial vehicles, when using RNG.

Our initial expected deliveries of our Hypertruck ERX systems to customers are designed to have their batteries recharged with CNG. CNG fueled recharging is preferable due to both the current comparable cost of fuels and existing availability of CNG refueling infrastructure. Class 8 commercial vehicles can currently be refueled with CNG through existing, geographically diverse and third-party accessible natural gas refueling stations established across North America. Globally, RNG, CNG and LNG are used widely for land-based transport and trucking and Hyliion believes there are established, geographically diverse and third-party accessible refueling stations available in certain areas in which Hyliion expects it may sell its electrified powertrain solutions in the future. We believe there is opportunity for adoption of our electrified powertrain solutions across Europe. This existing and accessible refueling infrastructure will significantly reduce the buildout time and cost required to utilize our Hypertruck ERX system as compared to other proposed potential electrified solutions. See “Risk Factors — Our future growth is dependent upon the commercial trucking industry’s willingness to adopt alternative fuel, hybrid and electric vehicles.”

Our Hybrid and Hypertruck ERX systems are designed to be installed on most major Class 8 commercial vehicles, which gives our customers the flexibility to continue using their preferred vehicle brands and maintain their existing fleet maintenance and operations strategies. Our early Hybrid system deployments include leaders in the transportation and logistics sector. We are focusing its initial marketing efforts on large fleet operators as well as companies committed to reducing the overall environmental impact and fuel costs of their owned and operated trucking fleets.

Market Opportunity

We estimate that the global market opportunity for our products is $800 billion, based on ACT Research’s estimate of eight million Class 8 commercial vehicles currently in operation. In addition, ACT Research estimates that the active Class 8 commercial vehicle population will grow by approximately 4.5% annually from 2020 to 2024.

Challenges with Other Solutions

With the global focus on reducing the environmental impact of commercial transportation, a number of companies have begun developing solutions to lower GHG emissions in commercial vehicles, including plug-in commercial BEVs and commercial FCEVs. However, neither of these solutions have been commercialized or delivered in volume for the long-haul Class 8 commercial vehicle space at this time. We believe these other proposed solutions face unique challenges for widespread adoption, which may include:

Our Technology and Solutions

Our electrified powertrain solutions utilize our proprietary battery systems, control software and data analytics, combined with electric motors and power electronics, to produce an electrified powertrain system technology platform that can be used to either augment, in the case of our Hybrid system, or fully replace, in the case of our Hypertruck ERX system, conventional powertrains in Class 8 commercial vehicles and improve their performance. Our solutions are designed to be compatible with most major Class 8 commercial vehicle manufacturers and are fuel and generator agnostic, giving our customers flexibility to choose the vehicles and fuel source that best fit their overall commercial vehicle operations strategy in their transition to electrified transportation.

Hybrid Electric Powertrain Systems

Our Hybrid system can be installed on most major Class 8 commercial vehicles to reduce fuel usage, decrease GHG emissions, improve performance and/or reduce operating costs. Our Demonstrator Hybrid system is comprised of our proprietary battery system and an associated software management solution, a control module running our software and data analytics, high and low voltage power distribution and a thermal management system. These components are attached to the frame rails of a Class 8 commercial vehicle. The solution also includes an axle with an electric motor, which replaces the third axle on the vehicle, and our CoPilot in-cab driver display. This system is charged by regenerative braking and downhill deceleration and discharged to provide additional horsepower and torque when called upon by our control software, thereby reducing fuel usage and related GHG emissions or applying additional power to improve vehicle performance. Our Hybrid system’s battery power can be utilized as an auxiliary power unit (“APU”) to supply electricity for in-cab devices and air conditioning to reduce or eliminate idling when the driver is “hoteling” in the truck.

We are developing our next generation Hybrid system, which we intend to introduce in 2021. The system is being designed to consolidate the separate control, battery system and glycol thermal control system boxes from the Demonstrator Hybrid system into a single enclosure that can be attached to the frame rail of most major Class 8 commercial vehicles, providing additional cost savings and simplifying installation, and incorporating a custom e-axle solution with associated cooling box to reduce weight and improve system efficiencies. Our next generation Hybrid system will also include enhanced on-board data analytics capabilities among other improvements. Based on internal and third-party testing and customer-reported experiences, we believe the benefits of utilizing our Hybrid system compared to conventional diesel or CNG commercial vehicles will reduce fuel usage, emissions, idling, and/or improved performance.

We also believe that reduced operating costs will be the main decision factor for many fleets in adopting our Hybrid system. Our Hybrid system enables fleets to transition from diesel to natural gas engines, which can currently be fueled at a cost significantly lower than the fuel cost of a diesel engine. Additionally, our customers should save on overall vehicle maintenance with reduced wear and tear on the vehicles’ engines and brakes.

Range Extender Powertrain System

Our Hypertruck ERX system, which is an electric range extender powertrain system, is being designed for installation on most major Class 8 commercial vehicles to create a net carbon negative electrified Class 8 commercial vehicle when using RNG. Our Hypertruck ERX system builds upon our Hybrid system and consists of a larger version of our proprietary battery system, an associated software management and data analytics solution, a range extending electric generator powered by a customer’s choice of fuel, a primary electric traction drive system and power electronics with integrated controls and our CoPilot in-cab driver display. The system works by pairing a fully electric powertrain with a battery system that is recharged by an onboard generator that produces electricity. This system fully replaces the traditional powertrain in Class 8 commercial vehicles, while giving our customers the flexibility to choose between most major Class 8 commercial vehicle brands and fuel type for their long-haul applications.

Our Hypertruck ERX system combines the performance of fully electric powertrains with the refueling efficiency of traditionally fueled vehicles. In most cases, we estimate that it will be less expensive to run our onboard generator to produce electricity than recharging a BEV from the grid. By using an onboard generation of electricity, rather than using a large battery pack for a BEV, our Hypertruck ERX system will provide an extended range over commercial BEVs and improve payload capacity compared to currently available diesel commercial vehicles.

We believe the benefits of our Hypertruck ERX system will include:

Rollout Timeline

We are currently developing our initial Hypertruck ERX system at our facility in Cedar Park, Texas. We intend to deliver demonstration vehicles incorporating our Hypertruck ERX system to our customers in late 2021 and begin commercial delivery in 2022.

CNG and RNG as a Fuel

Our Hypertruck ERX system will leverage existing CNG fueling stations that provide a cross country refueling network. In the continental United States, there are approximately 700 public CNG fueling stations already in operation for Class 8 commercial vehicles. These stations are geographically dispersed across the United States enabling long-haul trucking without the need for incremental refueling infrastructure buildout. Our Hypertruck ERX system is being designed to allow operation for multiple days before refueling. Furthermore, our Hypertruck ERX system is being designed to be refueled in approximately ten minutes, which is on par with existing diesel solutions. Internationally, we believe CNG infrastructure is even more prevalent due to government mandates requiring reduced carbon emissions from transportation. Additionally, we believe that in certain international jurisdictions, the necessary heavy-duty infrastructure exists that would support adoption of our Hypertruck ERX system.

The ability to utilize the existing CNG fueling infrastructure eliminates the time and cost needed to build expensive fueling infrastructure before our Hypertruck ERX system can be utilized, as compared to Class 8 commercial BEVs and FCEVs, which currently lack electric charging and hydrogen fueling infrastructure.

RNG is a form of natural gas that is much cleaner for the environment than most other fuel sources. RNG is generated by capturing methane from landfills, livestock operations such as dairies, wastewater treatment and other sources or through anaerobic digestion and processing of food and animal waste streams. Depending on the source, RNG can have a significantly negative carbon intensity score, enabling our solutions to achieve a net carbon negative emissions profile. RNG is widely available today and new sources are in development. Our customers interested in achieving a negative carbon intensity score are expected to be able to contract long-term delivery of 100% RNG at various average carbon intensity scores from their fuel suppliers.

Generator and Fuel Agnostic

Although our initial Hypertruck ERX system is being used injunction with CNG it is designed to be generator and fuel agnostic. Our current designs would allow our Hypertruck ERX system to use any available fuel generator to recharge the battery system without needing to change other components of its electric powertrain system. In addition to natural gas, other potential generator options include hydrogen fuel cells, microturbines, and diesel or gasoline generators. The effect of the system’s design is to allow our Hypertruck ERX system customers to choose their preferred recharging fuel based on their unique priorities, including fuel cost and availability and emissions objectives. By designing our solutions in this manner, we will be able to quickly adapt to changing commodity price and availability fundamentals, customer preferences and regulatory signals and mandates without the need to redesign our solutions.

Battery Systems

In addition to designing battery systems for our powertrain solutions, we intend to design, develop and sell advanced battery systems to customers for use in their own applications. These applications are expected to include lower range and smaller class commercial vehicles, specialty vehicles such as airport or transportation terminal vehicles, as well as standalone components, such as APUs and systems to power vehicle accessories such as pumps, lifts and thermal control.

Software and Data Analytics

Our software and algorithms seek to control and optimize the fuel economy and performance of our powertrain systems by controlling and optimizing the charging and discharging of the battery systems and the performance of the electric motor and power electronics. Our software and control algorithms can be remotely updated over the air to enable our customers to receive improvements and the latest features and functionalities.

We intend to develop additional value-added services and software programs for its customers by further utilizing the data it harvests and the insights into vehicle performance and utilization its solutions provide, which could include predictive maintenance and other logistics and fleet management services.

Our CoPilot product runs on our in-cab display and provides real-time vehicle performance, vehicle status metrics and driving feedback to the vehicle operators. CoPilot also brings gamification to the driver experience by giving real-time feedback of driving behaviors to help coach drivers of all experience levels to drive more efficiently.

Additional Future Products

We intend to design, develop and sell additional commercial transportation products in the future. For example, our Hybrid technology could also be utilized on trailers for either trailer electrical loads, such as refrigeration, or to provide power assist or additional battery recharging to the vehicle when driving.

Customers and Backlog

We have deployed demonstration Hybrid system units to certain companies we expect to be customers in the future, including leaders in the transportation and logistics sector as well as companies committed to reducing the overall environmental impact and fuel costs of their owned and operated trucking fleets.

Our initial customer and launch partner for its Hypertruck ERX system is Agility Transport, from which we have received a pre-launch order of up to 1,000 trucks equipped with our Hypertruck ERX system in one or more future purchase orders, subject to certain testing and performance requirements and termination rights (including a right to terminate the Agility Pre-Launch Agreement prior to purchasing all or any portion of Agility Transport’s pre-order). In October 2020, we entered into a sales agreement that includes a pre-order of up to 250 Hypertruck ERX vehicles, allowing for early availability of our Hypertruck ERX to American Natural Gas (“ANG”) and its fleet customers.

Strategy

Our mission is to be the leading provider of electrified powertrain solutions for the commercial vehicle industry. Our value proposition to our customers has five key elements: reduced GHG emissions, cost savings, performance, availability and no new infrastructure requirements. Key elements of our strategy include:

Maintaining Technology Leadership and First-Mover Advantage

Our Hybrid system is currently being deployed into our customers’ fleets, and we intend to be one of the first to the market with an electric powertrain solution for long-haul Class 8 commercial vehicles. Our Hypertruck ERX system is in advanced development, and we intend to deliver demonstration vehicles incorporating our Hypertruck ERX system to our customers in late 2021 and begin commercial delivery in 2022. We expect to capture a market share for low and zero emission commercial vehicles by being one of the first to the market and by having a solution that can offer a net carbon negative electrified powertrain option to the industry. Our software and the algorithms that drive our solutions have been utilized in millions of real-world road miles, which are used to drive continuous improvements in the system management software.

Leveraging Existing Infrastructure

We intend to leverage the substantial infrastructure of the existing commercial transportation sector of diesel and CNG to accelerate adoption of its solutions. To start, utilizing CNG allows for electrified Class 8 commercial vehicle solutions that do not require substantial new infrastructure, such as the construction of electric charging or hydrogen fueling stations. By utilizing existing commercial transportation fueling infrastructure, we believe our customers can achieve low GHG emissions, when utilizing CNG, or carbon negative status, when utilizing RNG, with our solutions.

Focusing on Powertrains

Our electrified powertrain solutions are designed to be installed on Class 8 commercial vehicles from most major commercial vehicle OEMs. By focusing on the powertrain and its associated components and including compatibility into its design, our solutions are intended to give its customers the flexibility to use their preferred vehicle brand. This will allow our customers to adopt our Hybrid or Hypertruck ERX system while continuing to utilize their existing maintenance and service organizations. We believe this approach will increase the adoption of our solutions by reducing our customers’ cost and risk of transitioning to electrified transportation.

Continuing to Build and Leverage Strategic Relationships

We intend to continue developing partnerships to accelerate the development and production of our solutions. We have entered into (a) agreements with Dana, Sensata Technologies, Inc. and other companies for component development and potential future sourcing, (b) non-binding letters of intent with FEV North America Inc. for design and system integration support and (c) non-binding letters of intent with Lonestar Specialty Vehicles and Fontaine Modification Company for vehicle installation and (d) partnership agreement with ANG that offers our customers discounted pricing for RNG at ANG fueling stations across the country. Our strategic, engineering, production and technology partners augment our internal resources, and we intend to leverage their capabilities and infrastructure to bring our solutions to market more quickly and to meet industry standards, without requiring us to invest substantial amounts of capital in internal production operations. See “Risk Factors — Certain of our strategic, development and deployment arrangements could be terminated or may not materialize into long-term contract partnership arrangements.” and “Risk Factors — We are dependent on our suppliers, some of which are single or limited source suppliers, and the inability of these suppliers to deliver necessary components of our vehicles at prices and volumes, performance and specifications acceptable to us could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.”

Production, Assembly and Installation

We intend to primarily outsource the production, assembly and installation of our electrified powertrain systems to our partners at volume, while maintaining in-house research, development and prototyping capabilities, including low-volume assembly and installation.

Sales and Marketing

We currently market and sell our electrified powertrain solutions domestically through a direct sales organization and with our marketing partners to Class 8 commercial vehicle fleet owners and operators, and we expect to begin marketing and selling our electrified powertrain solutions internationally in the future.

Research and Development

Our research and development activities primarily take place at our headquarters in Cedar Park, Texas, on our testing and demonstration vehicles on roads and highways, and at our partners’ facilities.

Our research and development is primarily focused on:

The majority of our current activities are primarily focused on the research and development of our electrified powertrain systems, third-party component integration and the underlying proprietary battery and software technology platforms. We undertake significant testing and validation of our products and components in order to ensure that they will meet the demands of our customers.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is important to our business, and we seek protection for our strategic intellectual property. We rely upon a combination of patents, copyrights, trade secrets, know-how and trademark laws, along with employee and third-party non-disclosure agreements and other contractual restrictions to establish and protect our intellectual property rights.

As of December 31, 2020, we had 15 issued U.S. patents and 20 pending U.S. patent applications. We pursue the registration of our domain names, trademarks and service marks in the United States and in some locations abroad. In an effort to protect our brand, as of December 31, 2020, we had three registered and four pending trademarks in the United States and 26 registered and 14 are pending internationally.

We regularly review our development efforts to assess the existence and patentability of new intellectual property. To that end, we are prepared to file additional patent applications as we consider appropriate under the circumstances relating to the new technologies that we develop.

We cannot be sure that patents will be granted with respect to any of our pending patent applications or with respect to any patent applications we may own or license in the future, nor can we be sure that any of our existing patents or any patents we may own or license in the future will be useful in protecting our technology. Please see the section entitled “Risk Factors” for additional information on the risks associated with our intellectual property strategy and portfolio.

Facilities

Our headquarters are located in an approximately 104,000 square foot facility that we lease in Cedar Park, Texas, just north of Austin, Texas, where we design, develop, prototype and perform low volume assembly and installation of our electrified powertrain systems and components. Our lease of this facility expires in January 2026 and we have the option to extend the lease for an additional five-year term. We also lease a 2,500 square foot facility in Braddock, Pennsylvania that is used to support our operations.

Human Capital

As of December 31, 2020, we had 91 employees. We have not experienced any work stoppages and we consider our relationship with our employees to be good. None of our employees are subject to a collective bargaining agreement or represented by a labor union. Our people are integral to our business, and we are highly dependent on our ability to attract and retain key employees and hire qualified management, and technical and vehicle engineering personnel. We seek to provide our employees with competitive compensation and benefits, including grants of equity under our equity incentive plan. While we are currently still a small company in terms of headcount, we have plans to grow, and expect that our practices and programs with respect to human capital management will grow as we do.

Government Regulations

We operate in an industry that is subject to extensive environmental regulation, which has become more stringent over time. The laws and regulations to which we are subject govern, among others, water use, air emissions, use of recycled materials, energy sources, the storage, handling, treatment, transportation and disposal of hazardous materials, the protection of the environment, natural resources and endangered species and the remediation of environmental contamination. We may be required to obtain and comply with the terms and conditions of multiple environmental permits, many of which are difficult and costly to obtain and could be subject to legal challenges. Compliance with such laws and regulations at an international, regional, national, provincial and local level is an important aspect of our ability to continue its operations.

Environmental standards applicable to us are established by the laws and regulations of the countries in which we operate, and our product are sold, standards adopted by regulatory agencies and the permits and licenses that we hold. Each of these sources is subject to periodic modifications and increasingly stringent requirements. Violations of these laws, regulations or permits and licenses may result in substantial civil and criminal fines, penalties, orders to cease the violating operations or to conduct or pay for corrective works. In some instances, violations may also result in the suspension or revocation of permits and licenses.

EPA and CARB Emissions Compliance and Certification

Under the U.S. Clean Air Act, some of our electrified powertrain solutions may be required to obtain a Certificate of Conformity issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and a California Executive Order issued by the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”), demonstrating that our powertrains and vehicles comply with requirements including as applicable, emission standards for both criteria pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (“NOx”) and particulate matter, and GHGs, such as CO2 and nitrous oxide. A Certificate of Conformity is required for vehicles sold in all states and an Executive Order is required for vehicles sold in California and states that have adopted the California standards. The California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) sets the California standards for emissions control for certain regulated pollutants for new vehicles and engines sold in California and must obtain a waiver of preemption from the EPA before implementing and enforcing such standards. States that have adopted the California standards, as approved by the EPA, also require a CARB Executive Order for sales of vehicles in those states. There are currently four states that have adopted the California standard for heavy-duty vehicles.

Pursuant to its authority under the Clean Air Act, the EPA adopted Phase 1 fuel efficiency and GHG standards for heavy-duty vehicles and engines effective 2014 through 2018. The EPA subsequently adopted more stringent fuel efficiency and GHG standards for heavy-duty vehicles and engines in October 2015. Phase II CARB also has adopted GHG and fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty vehicles and engines effective 2018 to 2027, and is considering an Advanced Clean Trucks rule that would require heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers to produce and offer for sale in California a certain number of zero-emission vehicles. Manufacturers of vehicles and engines must comply with the GHG standards as a condition of the EPA Certificate of Conformity and the CARB Executive Order.

Additionally, CARB is also providing more stringent criteria on heavy-duty engines, now testing requirements an expanded emissions warranty for specific engines and powertrain components in CARB’s Low NOX Omnibus rule. As currently proposed, CARB’s Low NOV Omnibus rule would begin in 2024 and be implemented through 2031.

All vehicles and engines manufactured for sale in the United States must be covered by an EPA Certificate of Conformity (and CARB Executive Order if sold in California), including engines and vehicles using zero-emission or low-carbon technology. As is necessary, an EPA Certificate of Conformity and/or CARB Executive Order, covering both criteria pollutants and GHG, must be obtained each model year for each engine family and heavy-duty vehicle. Failure to obtain or comply with the terms of a Certificate of Conformity or Executive Order is subject to civil penalty and administrative or judicial enforcement.

Receipt of an EPA Certificate of Conformity and CARB Executive Order obligates the holder to ensure that the covered engine or vehicle complies with applicable standards throughout the full useful life of the product, which ranges from ten years or 185,000 miles, whichever comes first, for medium heavy-duty vehicles, to ten years or 435,000 miles, whichever comes first, for heavy heavy-duty vehicles. Emissions control system warranty coverage must be provided for a period of five years or 50,000 to 100,000 miles, whichever comes first and depending on the engine and vehicle size. During this time, manufacturers must repair emission-related defects at no cost to the customer. Throughout the full useful life of the engine or vehicle, manufacturers are required to remedy in-use problems that cause engines or vehicles to exceed emission standards for criteria pollutants or GHGs. Manufacturers may have to conduct recalls, service campaigns or other field actions, or provide extended warranties to address any such in-use issues that may arise. Both the EPA and CARB are considering extending the emissions warranty period, depending on the engine size.

Manufacturers of heavy-duty engines and vehicles also must ensure that their products comply with On Board Diagnostics (“OBD”) requirements. The OBD system is intended to identify and diagnose malfunctions within the engine, aftertreatment and emission control systems and alert the driver to the underlying issue so the vehicle can be brought in for service. CARB issues approval of the OBD system as part of its issuance of an Executive Order; the EPA typically deems CARB OBD approval to be compliance with the EPA’s requirements. As with emissions compliance, manufacturers are required to ensure that the OBD system functions as designed and is able to identify component malfunctions throughout the full useful life of the vehicle or engine.

Natural Gas and RNG Credits

Generation and Sale of Renewable Identification Numbers (“RIN”) Credits and low carbon fuel standards (LCFS) Credits. In February 2010, the EPA finalized the Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”) (which was established by the Energy Policy Act of 1992/2005), which creates RINs that can be generated by the production and use of RNG in the transportation sector and sold to fuel providers that are not compliant under the RFS. In addition, CARB and comparable agencies in Oregon have adopted the LCFS, which encourages low carbon “compliant” transportation fuels (including CNG) in the California and Oregon marketplace by allowing producers of these fuels to generate LCFS Credits that can be sold to noncompliant regulated parties.

Sale of Natural Gas Vehicle Fuel: Alternative Fuel Tax Credit (AFTC). Under separate pieces of U.S. federal legislation, natural gas vehicle fuel sales made during the year ending December 31, 2020 are eligible for an AFTC. The AFTC credit is equal to $0.50 per gasoline gallon equivalent of CNG sold as vehicle fuel. The AFTC may not be reinstated for vehicle fuel sales after December 31, 2020.

GHG Credits — U.S. EPA

The EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Regulation requires all manufacturers of heavy-duty engines and vehicles to comply with fleet average GHG standards. Manufacturers may comply with the standards by producing engines or vehicles, all of which comply with the standards, or by averaging, banking and trading GHG credits within vehicle or engine categories. Manufacturers may also comply with GHG standards by purchasing credits from manufacturers with a surplus of credits. The failure to comply with GHG standards can lead to civil penalties or the voiding of a manufacturer’s EPA Certificate of Conformity. In connection with the delivery and placement into service of zero-emission and low-emission vehicles, we may earn tradable GHG credits that under current laws and regulations can be sold to other manufacturers. Under the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Regulation, plug-in hybrid, all-electric and fuel cell vehicles earn a credit multiplier of 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5, respectively, for use in the calculation of GHG emission credits.

Commercial engine and vehicle manufacturers are required to meet the NOx emission standard for each type of engine or vehicle produced. Typical diesel engine emission control technology limits the fuel economy and GHG improvements that can be made while maintaining compliance with the NOx standard. As the fleet-average GHG standards continue to decrease over time, compliance with the NOx standard will increase the difficulty for conventional diesel vehicles to meet the applicable GHG standard. Until technology catches up for commercial vehicles, manufacturers of diesel trucks will likely need to purchase GHG credits to cover their emission deficit. The EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Regulation provides the opportunity for the sale of excess credits to other manufacturers who apply such credits to comply with these regulatory requirements. Furthermore, the regulation does not limit the number of GHG credits that can be sold within the same commercial vehicle categories.

GHG Credits — California Air Resources Board

California also has a separate GHG emissions regulatory program which is very similar to the EPA requirements. Like the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Rule, the CARB rule allows for averaging, banking and trading of credits to comply with the fleet-average GHG standard and the failure to comply with the California GHG standard may lead to the imposition of civil penalties. The delivery and placement into service of our zero-emission and low-emission vehicles in California may earn us tradable credits that can be sold. Under CARB GHG regulations, advanced technology vehicles also earn a credit multiplier of for use in the calculation of emission credits in the same amounts as under the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Rule.

Examples of other potential incentive and grant programs that either we or our customers can apply for include:

European and Other Requirements for Heavy-Duty Vehicles

Similar to requirements in the US, Europe and other jurisdictions regulate pollutants, operational characteristics, and content of heavy-duty vehicles and vehicle equipment. For example, European emission regulations of heavy-duty vehicles (currently under “Euro VI” regulations) specify criteria pollutant emission limits from various vehicles, including heavy-duty vehicles, that are similar to those of EPA and CARB. The European regulations also require similar engine and vehicle OBD systems to those of EPA and CARB. However, as these are ‘similar’ emissions and diagnostic regulations, the EPA and CARB are not the same as European emissions and diagnostic regulations. Unlike the generally synergistic relation and regulations between EPA and CARB, current European emissions and diagnostic regulations require separate design, validation, testing and approval such that EPA and/or CARB approval does not directly correlate to European approval of similar powertrain and vehicle equipment. Other requirements regulating vehicles and vehicle equipment components similar to Hyliion systems may be applicable to or exempted by regulation. For example, European Restriction of Hazardous Substance regulates materials in electrical equipment, but currently exempts transport vehicles. As Hyliion considers these other markets, Hyliion systems will be configured to meet these requirements in other jurisdictions.

Heavy-Duty Vehicle Safety Requirements

Manufacturers of vehicles that operate on US highways are subject to, and must comply with, various regulations established by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”). These federal motor vehicle safety standards (“FMVSS”) cover a wide variety of vehicle equipment and components. Manufacturers of vehicles, including heavy-duty vehicles, must confirm that their vehicles and vehicle equipment comply with applicable standards or, as appropriate, are exempt from those standards. Currently, there are several FMVSS that apply to vehicle manufacturers and may be applicable to Hyliion’s hybrid and ERX systems. As may be required, Hyliion is evaluating FMVSS requirements for applicability to Hyliion products.

Manufacturers of vehicles that operate on US highways must also comply with NHTSA safety reporting requirements concerning safety involving Hyliion systems concerning various issues including, but not limited to, accidents, warranty claims, field actions and reports, and recalls. As situations may arise, Hyliion will take appropriate actions to comply with these reporting requirements.

Competition

We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, intense competition from a number of companies, particularly as the commercial transportation sector increasingly shifts towards low-emission, zero-emission or carbon neutral solutions. We face competition from many different sources, including major commercial vehicle OEMs and companies that are developing alternative fuel and electric commercial vehicles. Existing commercial vehicle OEMs such as Paccar, Navistar, Volvo, Mack Trucks and Daimler maintain the largest market shares in the sector. Given we primarily develop and sell powertrains that are designed to be installed into an OEM’s commercial vehicle to augment or replace conventionally fueled powertrains, as opposed to a complete commercial vehicle, we believe we primarily compete with new low emissions vehicle entrants in the commercial vehicle market and to a lesser extent the in-house powertrain development efforts of the incumbent commercial vehicle OEMs, as well as existing traditional powertrain component manufacturers. While there are many competitors addressing electrification of commercial vehicles, many of them are focused on shorter range vehicles. We are providing electrified solutions that are addressing both the long-haul and regional transportation sectors. We believe the primary competitive factors in the long-haul Class 8 commercial vehicle market include, but are not limited to:

We believe that we compete favorably with our competitors on the basis of these factors; however, most of our current and potential competitors have greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing and other resources than us. Our competitors may be able to deploy greater resources to the design, development, manufacturing, distribution, promotion, sales, marketing and support of their alternative fuel and electric truck programs. Additionally, our competitors also have greater name recognition, longer operating histories, larger sales forces, broader customer and industry relationships and other tangible and intangible resources than us. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified research and development, sales, marketing and management personnel, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our products. Additional mergers and acquisitions may result in even more resources being concentrated in our competitors. We cannot provide assurances that our electrified systems will be the first to market. Even if our electrified systems are first to market, or among the first to market, we cannot be sure that customers will choose vehicles with our electrified systems over those of our competitors, or over conventional diesel-powered vehicles.

Tesla and Nikola have announced their plans to bring long-haul Class 8 commercial BEVs and FCEVs to the market over the coming years. Cummins, Daimler, Dana, Navistar, PACCAR, Volvo, Lion Electric, Hyzon and other commercial vehicle manufacturers have announced their plans to bring Class 8 commercial BEVs or FCEVs to the market. Furthermore, we will also face competition from manufacturers of internal combustion engines powered by diesel fuel. We expect additional competitors to enter the market as well.

Legal Proceedings

From time to time, we may become involved in legal proceedings or be subject to claims arising in the ordinary course of our business. We are not currently a party to any material legal proceedings. Regardless of outcome, such proceedings or claims can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of resources and other factors and there can be no assurances that favorable outcomes will be obtained.

Strategic Collaborations

Dana Limited (“Dana”)

Commercial Matters Agreement

In June 2020, Hyliion and Dana entered into an agreement as to certain commercial arrangements (the “Commercial Matters Agreement”). The Commercial Matters Agreement amended and replaced certain prior commercial arrangements between Hyliion and Dana.

Among other things, pursuant to the Commercial Matters Agreement, as long as Dana or its affiliates hold at least 1,000,000 shares of our Common Stock or equity securities issued in exchange therefor or into which such shares are otherwise converted (in each case subject to customary adjustments for stock splits or dividends or other similar changes), and in the case of the Dana Sourcing Arrangement (defined below), for five years following the date of certain change in control transactions affecting us or our respective affiliates: (a) we agreed to purchase from Dana and its affiliates, unless we are directed by a customer to use a different vendor, any component, product or service required or utilized by us that Dana or any of its affiliates manufactures, sells or provides or unless Dana is not capable or willing to supply on reasonably competitive terms such component, product or service; provided that if a customer so directs us to use an alternative source, we agreed to use our good faith efforts to cause such customer to use Dana’s or its affiliates’ component, product or service by providing Dana or its affiliates with the opportunity to meet and speak with such customer (the “Dana Sourcing Arrangement”); (b) Dana agreed to provide Hyliion with a sourcing arrangement that granted us certain preferred payment terms when purchasing components from Dana or its affiliates for our own use in connection with its commercial vehicle business operations; (c) Dana and Hyliion agreed to execute joint marketing and branding activities; (d) Dana and its affiliates were granted a right of first refusal with respect to any assembly or manufacturing activities required by us; and (e) we agreed not to engage in certain business activities with certain competitors of Dana, subject to certain conditions.

For a period of three years following the closing of the Business Combination, Dana agreed to provide to us, at no charge (other than reimbursement of certain expenses), support services related to our business and operations, substantially comparable to the scope and quantity of services provided by Dana to us prior to entering into the Commercial Matters Agreement (the “Dana Support Services”) upon the terms and conditions of a new services agreement to be mutually agreed to, based upon good faith negotiations. In consideration for the Dana Support Services, Hyliion agreed to issue $10.0 million worth of Hyliion Common Stock to Dana immediately prior to the consummation of the Business Combination.

Sensata Technologies, Inc.

Sensata Collaboration Agreement

In June 2019, in connection with the notes payable issued to Sensata (“Sensata Notes”), we entered into a Collaboration and Development Agreement with Sensata relating to the development and supply of power distribution units (“PDUs”) for use in certain of our products (the “Sensata Collaboration Agreement”). Pursuant to the Sensata Collaboration Agreement, we and Sensata agreed to collaborate in connection with Sensata’s development, at its cost and expense, of PDUs that meet our specifications. The Sensata Collaboration Agreement does not require Sensata to complete development of PDUs that meet our specifications. However, if Sensata is able to deliver PDUs to us that meet our qualifications, we have agreed to negotiate in good faith a definitive supply agreement for Sensata to manufacture and supply PDUs to us for use in certain of our products. Such definitive supply agreement shall require us to purchase Hyliion’s total requirements for such PDUs from Sensata for an initial term of three years, so long as Sensata is willing and able to satisfy our pricing, timing and performance objectives. If we fail to enter into such definitive supply agreement or, if entered into, fail to purchase our total requirements of PDUs exclusively from Sensata during such three-year period, Sensata shall be entitled to certain remedies including reimbursement for all of the documented costs incurred by Sensata in the development of the PDUs pursuant to the Sensata Collaboration Agreement. All intellectual property developed by Sensata in connection with the Sensata Collaboration Agreement that does not incorporate any of our intellectual property shall be solely owned by Sensata; however, Sensata has granted us a perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-sublicensable license to such intellectual property. The term of the Sensata Collaboration Agreement is 18 months and may be extended by the parties’ written mutual agreement. Either party may terminate the Sensata Collaboration Agreement by providing the other party with 30 days’ written notice.

Sensata Data Sharing Agreement

In June 2019, in connection with the Sensata Notes, we also entered into a Data Sharing and Research Agreement with Sensata, pursuant to which we and Sensata agreed to engage in predictive maintenance and data capture collaborations in connection with trucks operated by us (the “Sensata Data Sharing Agreement”). Pursuant to the Sensata Data Sharing Agreement, we agreed to deliver to Sensata data from its vehicle fleet tests related to powertrain and other applications, and Sensata agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts to work with Logistics Management Institute (formerly Clockwork Solutions) (“Clockwork”), a data science and predictive maintenance consulting firm engaged by us, to analyze such data in order to develop and delineate analytics, patterns and predictive algorithms for the purpose of enhancing Class 8 truck performance. The Sensata Data Sharing Agreement further specified that all data provided by us to Sensata shall remain our property. To date, we and Sensata have collaborated pursuant to the Sensata Data Sharing Agreement in connection with capturing data from trucks operated by us to permit a data study conducted by Clockwork. We have not entered into a definitive agreement with Clockwork to undertake advanced analytic data processing and to assist with data analysis.

FEV Letter of Intent for Commercial Agreement

In May 2020, we entered into a non-binding letter of intent with FEV North America Inc. (“FEV”) relating to the provision of engineering services (the “FEV LOI”). The FEV LOI provides that we will negotiate a definitive agreement for FEV to provide services to us on a non-exclusive basis relating to engineering and research and development in connection with our development of electrified solutions for medium and heavy-duty trucks, among other matters. The FEV LOI contemplates that following the execution of a definitive agreement, we will, from time to time, provide FEV with the details of projects that it is working on and request that FEV submit a proposal to provide services to us in connection with such projects. If mutually agreed to by us and FEV, FEV would then provide such services to us pursuant to the definitive agreement. The FEV LOI also contemplates collaboration on customer leads and opportunities, as mutually agreed to by us and FEV from time to time.

We are now renegotiating the definitive agreement, but the term of the FEV LOI will continue until the execution of a definitive agreement. Either party may terminate the FEV LOI by delivering written notice to the other party. In August 2020, we and FEV entered into a statement of work, pursuant to which FEV is providing limited engineering services to us. As contemplated by the FEV LOI, we and FEV intend to enter into a definitive agreement that will govern all future work, but there is no guarantee that a binding definitive agreement will be achieved.

Fontaine Letter of Intent for Commercial Agreement

In May 2020, we entered into a non-binding letter of intent with Fontaine Modification Company (“Fontaine”), a North America based provider of comprehensive post-production truck modification services for OEMs, relating to the provision of post-production truck modification services (the “Fontaine LOI”). The Fontaine LOI provides that we will negotiate a definitive agreement for Fontaine to provide services to us on a non-exclusive basis relating to design, engineer, test and build truck modifications and custom solutions for our products, among other matters. The Fontaine LOI contemplates that Fontaine will have the capacity and capability to modify an agreed upon number of trucks per year (and per month) on its production lines pursuant to the definitive agreement. The Fontaine LOI also contemplates that following the completion of modification services by Fontaine, Fontaine will work cooperatively with us to coordinate delivery of trucks to our customers, including utilizing “ship-thru” agreements with the OEMs of such trucks. The term of the Fontaine LOI will continue until the execution of a definitive agreement. Either party may terminate the Fontaine LOI by delivering written notice to the other party. There is no guarantee that a binding definitive agreement will be achieved.

Lonestar Letter of Intent for Commercial Agreement

Since 2019, Lonestar Specialty Vehicles (“Lonestar”), an installer of powertrains in rolling chassis and glider trucks, has been providing us with installation services in connection with certain of our products. In April 2020, we entered into a non-binding letter of intent with Lonestar relating to the provision of truck production, installation and customization services (the “Lonestar LOI”). The Lonestar LOI provides that we will negotiate a definitive agreement for Lonestar to provide services to us on a non-exclusive basis relating to the production, installation and customization of trucks that contain or utilize our products, among other matters. The Lonestar LOI contemplates that Lonestar will reserve capacity on its production line to build an agreed upon number of trucks per year pursuant to specifications provided by us, and that Lonestar will be responsible for sourcing the truck body and all truck components from applicable manufacturers, installing our products in such trucks and performing all customization requested by us and our customers. The Lonestar LOI also contemplates that following the completion of each truck, Lonestar will coordinate delivery of such truck directly to our customers, Lonestar will be designated as one of our nationally recognized authorized servicers, Lonestar will offer extended warranty contracts directly to our customers and Lonestar will offer financing and leasing terms directly to our customers to assist them in purchasing or leasing trucks. The term of the Lonestar LOI will continue until the execution of a definitive agreement. Either party may terminate the Lonestar LOI by delivering written notice to the other party. There is no guarantee that a binding definitive agreement will be achieved.

Collaboration with American Natural Gas

Since 2018, we and American Natural Gas (“ANG”) have collaborated, on a non-exclusive basis, in connection with customer inquiries, on potential co-marketing opportunities and potential opportunities for ANG to provide our customers with RNG/CNG at fueling stations built, owned or operated by ANG across the United States. In October 2020, we entered into a sales agreement and partnership agreement with ANG. The sales agreement includes a pre-order of up to 250 Hypertruck ERX vehicles and the partnership agreement offers our customers discounted pricing for RNG at ANG fueling stations across the country and, for qualifying fleet customers, ANG has also agreed to build new fueling stations near our customer locations with no upfront capital costs to such customers.

Executive Officers

Thomas Healy. Mr. Healy has served as our Chief Executive Officer since October 2020 and prior to this, served as Chief Executive Officer of Legacy Hyliion since January 26, 2016. While leading Hyliion, Mr. Healy has been awarded numerous patents in the space of electrifying commercial vehicles. Mr. Healy founded Hyliion while studying to obtain a Master’s in mechanical engineering and had previously founded multiple start-ups during his undergraduate studies. He took a leave of absence during his Master’s program in 2015 to pursue founding Hyliion. Mr. Healy holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering with a double-major in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University.

Sherri Baker. Ms. Baker has served as our Chief Financial Officer since February 2021. Prior to joining us, Ms. Baker served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of PGT Innovations, Inc., a company that builds products including windows and doors to withstand major storms, beginning from March 2019 to January 2021. Prior thereto, Ms. Baker served as Vice President of Investor Relations, Strategy and Corporate Finance for Dean Foods Company (OTCMKTS: DFODO), a leading food and beverage company, from January 2016 to March 2019. From January 2013 through December 2015, Ms. Baker served as Vice President of Finance, Logistics for Dean Foods Company. Prior to Dean Foods Company, Ms. Baker spent 13 years at Frito-Lay, Inc., a subsidiary of PepsiCo, Inc., in a succession of finance and accounting roles. Ms. Baker holds a bachelor of science and masters of science in accounting from the University of North Texas.

Patrick Sexton. Mr. Sexton has served as our Chief Technical Officer since October 2020 and prior to this, served as Chief Technical Officer of Legacy Hyliion since May 2020 and prior to this, as Vice President of Engineering since June 2019. Prior to joining Legacy Hyliion, Mr. Sexton served as a Director of Engineering in Powertrain Innovations at Dana Incorporated (NYSE: DAN), a manufacturer of vehicle components, from April 2013 to June 2019. Mr. Sexton has served as a director of Solexpro LLC since 2021. Mr. Sexton holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering from the Cork Institute of Technology.

Jose Oxholm. Mr. Oxholm has served as our Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer since November 23, 2020. Prior to joining Hyliion, Mr. Oxholm served in various legal positions at Meritor, Inc. (from January 2017 to February 2020), LoJack Corporation (from April 2012 to March 2016), The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (from 2005 to April 2012) and the Ford Motor Company (from 2000 to 2005). Mr. Oxholm also serves as a director on the board of directors of three non-profit organizations. Mr. Oxholm holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a juris doctor degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Carey Law School.

Non-Employee Directors

Andrew H. Card, Jr. Mr. Card has served as a director of the Board since October 2020. Mr. Card served as Chairman of National Endowment for Democracy, a nonprofit foundation, from January 2018 to January 2021. From 2015 until 2016, Mr. Card served as President of Franklin Pierce University, and also previously served as the Executive Director of the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Texas A&M University. Prior to that, Mr. Card served as Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush, the 11th Secretary of Transportation under President H.W. Bush and Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for President Ronald Reagan. Additionally, Mr. Card previously served as Vice President-Government Relations for General Motors Corporation, and as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Automobile Manufacturers Association. Mr. Card has served as a director of Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE: UNP), a transportation company that primarily operates one of the largest railroads in North America, since July 2006, Draganfly Inc. (OTCMKTS: DFLYF), a manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles, since November 2019 and Lorillard Inc., a tobacco company, from July 2011 to June 2015. Mr. Card is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a B.S. in Engineering. He also attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Mr. Card served in the U.S. Navy from 1965 to 1967.

Vincent T. Cubbage. Mr. Cubbage served as TortoiseCorp’s Chief Executive Officer, President and director from November 2018 to September 2020, as Chairman of the TortoiseCorp board of directors since the completion of its initial public offering in March 2019, and has continued to serve on the Board following the completion of the Business Combination. Since July 2020, Mr. Cubbage has served as Chief Executive Officer, President and as a Director of Tortoise Acquisition Corp. II, and as Chairman of the Board of Tortoise Acquisition Corp. II since the completion of its initial public offering in September 2020. Mr. Cubbage has served as Chief Executive Officer and as a Director of TortoiseEcofin Acquisition Corp. III since February 2021 and is expected to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors following the completion of its initial public offering. He has served as Managing Director — Private Energy of Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C. since January 2019 and of Ecofin Investments, LLC since September 2020. Mr. Cubbage was the founder and served as the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Managers of Lightfoot Capital Partners GP LLC, the general partner of Lightfoot Capital Partners, LP, from its formation in 2006 through its wind-up in December 2019. He served as Chief Executive Officer, Director and Chairman of the Board of Arc Logistics GP LLC, the general partner of Arc Logistics Partners LP (NYSE: ARCX), from October 2013 to the date of its sale in December 2017. From 2007 to 2011, Mr. Cubbage also served on the board of managers of the general partner of International Resources Partners LP, a private partnership founded by Lightfoot Capital. Prior to founding Lightfoot Capital, Mr. Cubbage was a Senior Managing Director and Sector Head in the Investment Banking Division of Banc of America Securities, where he worked from 1998 to 2006. Before joining Banc of America Securities, Mr. Cubbage was a Vice President at Salomon Smith Barney in the Global Energy and Power Group where he worked from 1994 to 1998. Mr. Cubbage received an M.B.A. from the American Graduate School of International Management and a B.A. from Eastern Washington University.

Howard Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins has served as a director of the Board since October 2020 and prior to this, served as a director of Legacy Hyliion since 2016. Since January 2017, Mr. Jenkins has served as managing partner of Axioma Ventures, LLC, an investment firm. Beginning in 1977, Mr. Jenkins served on the board of directors and later as CEO of Publix Super Markets, Inc., an employee-owned company operating supermarkets in seven states in the Southeast U.S. Mr. Jenkins also served on the board of directors of several other privately held companies and charities. In 1975, Mr. Jenkins received his B.A. in Economics from Emory University.

Edward Olkkola. Mr. Olkkola has served as a director of the Board since October 2020 and prior to this, served as a director of Legacy Hyliion since June 2016. Mr. Olkkola also served as the Chief Operating Officer of Legacy Hyliion from January 2018 to October 2018 and as an employee of Legacy Hyliion until March 2020, however his employment ended prior to the Business Combination. Since 2009, Mr. Olkkola has served as a managing director of Teakwood Capital, LP, an investment firm, where he manages private equity investment funds focused on micro-cap portfolio companies. Prior to joining Teakwood Capital, LP, Mr. Olkkola served as the Senior Vice President, New Products and Business Development for A. H. Belo Corporation, a Dallas, Texas based media company, from 2007 to 2009, where his responsibilities were focused on strategic investments in media and technology companies. Prior to joining A. H. Belo Corporation, Mr. Olkkola was a general partner at Austin Ventures from 1997 to 2005 and an operating partner from 2006 to 2007 where he established the communications technology and hardware investment practice. Before joining Austin Ventures, Mr. Olkkola was with Compaq Computer with his last role being the Vice President & General Manager of the Communications Division. Before Compaq, Mr. Olkkola was with Motorola/Codex with his role as Senior Director, Systems Division. During his career, Mr. Olkkola has brought over a dozen new products to market. He co-founded the Compaq Venture Fund, and with partners at Teakwood Capital and Austin Ventures, raised over $2 billion in venture and private equity funds. He holds patents in core communications and network technologies including voice recognition, home networking, real-time signal processing and high-speed digital network switching. Mr. Olkkola holds a B.S. in Finance and Management Information Systems from the University of Massachusetts and an M.B.A. from Northeastern University.

Stephen Pang. Mr. Pang has served as a director of the Board since October 2020 and prior to this, served as a director of TortoiseCorp since the completion of its initial public offering on March 4, 2019 and as TortoiseCorp’s Chief Financial Officer from January 2020 until the closing of its Business Combination with Hyliion on October 1, 2020. Mr. Pang has served as a director of Tortoise Acquisition II since the completion of its initial public offering in September 2020 and Chief Financial Officer since July 2020. Since 2019, Mr. Pang has served as a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Tortoise and is responsible for Tortoise’s public and private direct investments across its energy strategies. Mr. Pang also served as Vice President of Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc., a closed-end fund, from May 2017 to December 11, 2020. Prior to joining Tortoise Investments, LLC in 2014, Mr. Pang was a Director in Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC’s Equity Capital Markets Group. Before joining Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC in 2012, he spent eight years in Citigroup Global Markets Inc.’s Investment Banking Division, where he focused on equity underwriting and corporate finance in the energy sector. Since October 2019, Mr. Pang has served as a member of the board of managers of Mexico Pacific Limited LLC. Mr. Pang holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Richmond and is a CFA charterholder.

Robert M. Knight, Jr. Mr. Knight has served as a director of the Board since October 2020. Mr. Knight served as Chief Financial Officer of Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE: UNP), a transportation company that primarily operates one of the largest railroads in North America, from 2004 until his retirement in 2019. Mr. Knight has served as a director of Schneider National, Inc. (NYSE: SNDR), a transportation and logistics company, since April 2020 and Carrix, Inc., a privately-held marine terminal and rail operator company, since February 2020. Mr. Knight holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Kansas State University and an M.B.A. from Southern Illinois University.

Board Composition

Our business and affairs are organized under the direction of the Board which consists of seven members. Edward Olkkola serves as Chair of the Board. The primary responsibilities of the Board are to provide oversight, strategic guidance, counseling and direction to our management. The Board meets on a regular basis and additionally as required. The Board held four meetings in 2020. Each director attended at least 75% of the meetings of the Board and each committee on which he served in 2020 (held during the period in which the director served). Our independent directors regularly hold executive sessions without our Chief Executive Officer or management present, and in 2020, our independent directors met in executive session at least once. We did not hold an annual meeting last year.

The Board is divided into three classes, Class I, Class II and Class III, with members of each class serving staggered three-year terms. The Board is divided into the following classes:

At each annual meeting of stockholders, the successors to directors whose terms then expire will be elected to serve from the time of election and qualification until the third annual meeting following their election and until their successors are duly elected and qualified. Pursuant to a stockholders rights agreement we entered into with Vincent T. Cubbage, Stephen Pang, and certain stockholders of Hyliion and the Company (the “Stockholders Rights Agreement”), we agreed to take all necessary action to cause the Board to nominate and recommend Vincent T. Cubbage and Thomas Healy for election at the annual meeting of stockholder in 2021. The stockholders who are party to the Stockholders Rights Agreement agreed to vote in favor of Messrs. Cubbage and Healy at the annual meeting.

Director Independence

The Board has determined that each of the following directors qualifies as an independent director as defined under the NYSE listing standards: Messrs. Card, Cubbage, Jenkins, Olkkola, Pang and Knight. Mr. Healy is not independent because of his service as our CEO. The Board consists of a majority of “independent directors,” as defined under the rules of the SEC and NYSE listing standards relating to director independence requirements. In addition, we are subject to the rules of the SEC and the NYSE relating to the membership, qualifications, and operations of the audit committee, as discussed below.

Role of the Board in Risk Oversight

One of the key functions of the Board is informed oversight of our risk management process. The Board does not have a standing risk management committee, but administers this oversight function directly through the Board as a whole, as well as through various standing committees of the Board that address risks inherent in their respective areas of oversight. In particular, the Board is responsible for monitoring and assessing strategic risk exposure and our audit committee has the responsibility to consider and discuss our major financial risk exposures and the steps our management will take to monitor and control such exposures, including guidelines and policies to govern the process by which risk assessment and management is undertaken. Our audit committee also monitors compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. Our compensation committee assesses and monitors whether our compensation plans, policies and programs comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

Board Committees

The Board has a standing audit committee, compensation committee, and nominating and corporate governance committee, each of which has adopted a charter which complies with the applicable requirements of current NYSE rules. Copies of these charters are available in the “Governance—Governance Documents” section of our website at www.investors.hyliion.com.

Audit Committee

Our audit committee consists of Robert M. Knight, Jr., Andrew H. Card, Jr. and Stephen Pang. The Board has determined that each of the members of the audit committee satisfies the independence requirements of the NYSE and Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act. Each member of the audit committee can read and understand fundamental financial statements in accordance with NYSE audit committee requirements. In arriving at this determination, the Board examined each audit committee member’s scope of experience and the nature of their prior and/or current employment.

Robert M. Knight, Jr. serves as the chair of the audit committee. The Board has determined that each of Robert M. Knight, Jr. and Stephen Pang qualifies as an audit committee financial expert within the meaning of SEC regulations and meets the financial sophistication requirements of the NYSE listing rules. In making this determination, the Board considered each such director’s formal education and previous experience in financial roles. Both our independent registered public accounting firm and management periodically will meet privately with our audit committee. The audit committee held two meetings during the 2020 fiscal year.

The functions of this committee include, among other things:

Compensation Committee

Our compensation committee consists of Andrew H. Card, Jr., Vincent T. Cubbage and Howard Jenkins. Howard Jenkins serves as the chair of the compensation committee. The Board has determined that each of the members of the compensation committee is a non-employee director, as defined in Rule 16b-3 promulgated under the Exchange Act and satisfies the independence requirements of the NYSE.

The functions of the committee include, among other things:

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

None of our executive officers currently serve, or has served during the last completed fiscal year, on the compensation committee or board of directors of any other entity that has one or more executive officers that has served or currently serves as a member of the Board or compensation committee.

Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee

Our nominating and corporate governance committee consists of Vincent T. Cubbage, Howard Jenkins and Edward Olkkola. Vincent T. Cubbage serves as the chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee. The Board has determined that each of the members of our nominating and corporate governance committee satisfies the independence requirements of the NYSE. The nominating and corporate governance committee held one meeting during the 2020 fiscal year.

The functions of this committee include, among other things:

Considerations and Process for the Selection of New Directors

In evaluating the nominees for the Board, the Board and the nominating and corporate governance committee took into account the qualities they seek for directors, and the directors’ individual qualifications, skills, and background that enable the directors to effectively and productively contribute to the Board’s oversight of Hyliion. When evaluating re-nomination of existing directors, the nominating and corporate governance committee also considers the nominees’ past and ongoing effectiveness on the Board and, with the exception of Mr. Healy, who is an employee, their independence.

In fulfilling its responsibility to oversee the selection of directors, the nominating and corporate governance committee will consider persons identified by our stockholders, management, and others. The nominating and corporate governance committee considers recommendations for Board candidates submitted by stockholders using substantially the same criteria it applies to recommendations from the nominating and corporate governance committee, directors and members of management. Stockholders may submit informal recommendations by providing the person’s name and appropriate background and biographical information in writing to the nominating and corporate governance committee at 1202 BMC Drive, Suite 100, Cedar Park, Texas 78613.

Stockholder Engagement Efforts and Board Communication

Our relationship and on-going dialogue with our stockholders is an important part of our Board’s and our executive team’s corporate governance commitment. The Board welcomes communications from our stockholders and other interested parties. We actively seek input from our stockholders because we value the contribution stockholder engagement gives to overall business success. Our executives meet with our investment community regularly and discuss a variety of matters, including common investor interests, Environmental, Social and Governance matters and emerging issues. We provide our Board with reports on the key themes and results of these discussions.

Stockholders and other interested parties may communicate with our executive team or the Board (including the Board Chair, the chair of any committee, the independent directors as a group and/or any Board member) by IR@hyliion.com. Stockholders and any other interested parties should mark the envelope containing each communication as “Stockholder Communication with Directors” and clearly identify the intended recipient(s) of the communication.

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and Corporate Governance Guidelines

We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics applicable to the directors, officers and employees of the Company and its subsidiaries. We have also adopted Corporate Governance Guidelines that address, among other things, director qualifications, responsibilities and compensation, director access to officers, employees and advisors, and determinations regarding director independence. Copies of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and our Corporate Governance Guidelines are available in the “Governance—Governance Documents” section of our website at www.investors.hyliion.com. We intend to disclose any amendments to, or waivers from, our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that apply to senior executives by posting such information, if any, on the Company’s website.

Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Directors and Officers

Our Certificate of Incorporation limits our directors’ liability to the fullest extent permitted under the DGCL. The DGCL provides that directors of a corporation will not be personally liable for monetary damages for breach of their fiduciary duties as directors, except for liability:

If the DGCL is amended to authorize corporate action further eliminating or limiting the personal liability of directors, then the liability of our directors will be eliminated or limited to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL, as so amended.

Delaware law and our amended and restated bylaws provide that we will, in certain situations, indemnify our directors and officers and may indemnify other employees and other agents, to the fullest extent permitted by law. Any indemnified person is also entitled, subject to certain limitations, to advancement, direct payment, or reimbursement of reasonable expenses (including attorneys’ fees and disbursements) in advance of the final disposition of the proceeding.

In addition, we have entered into separate indemnification agreements with our directors and officers. These agreements, among other things, require us to indemnify our directors and officers for certain expenses, including attorneys’ fees, judgments, fines and settlement amounts incurred by a director or officer in any action or proceeding arising out of their services as one of our directors or officers or any other company or enterprise to which the person provides services at our request.

We maintain a directors’ and officers’ insurance policy pursuant to which our directors and officers are insured against liability for actions taken in their capacities as directors and officers. We believe these provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation, our amended and restated bylaws and these indemnification agreements are necessary to attract and retain qualified persons as directors and officers.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers, or control persons, in the opinion of the SEC, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.

Non-Employee Director Compensation

Prior to our Business Combination, none of our directors received cash, equity or other non-equity compensation for service on our Board. In October 2020, our Board approved the following cash and equity compensation for each of our current non-employee directors on a going-forward basis:

The program was not provided to the directors until the 2021 year, therefore there are no amounts reportable for 2020.

The Board expects to review director compensation periodically to ensure that director compensation remains competitive such that we are able to recruit and retain qualified directors. We intend to develop a board of directors’ compensation program that is designed to align compensation with our business objectives and the creation of stockholder value, while enabling us to attract, retain, incentivize and reward directors who contribute to our long-term success.

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

We are currently considered an emerging growth company for purposes of the SEC’s executive compensation disclosure rules. In accordance with such rules, we are required to provide a Summary Compensation Table and an Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End Table as well as limited narrative disclosures. Further, our reporting obligations extend only to the individuals serving as our chief executive officer and our two other most highly compensated executive officers during the 2020 fiscal year. For purposes of this executive compensation discussion, the names and positions of our named executive officers for the 2020 fiscal year were:

On January 8, 2021, Mr. Van de Vere announced his intention to resign from his duties as an executive officer, and his resignation and retirement was effective January 15, 2021. Due to the fact that Mr. Van de Vere was still active in his prior executive officer position as of December 31, 2020, he will still be referred to in this section as a named executive officer for 2020.