Just curious, I've paid the exhibit hall pass and am considering this conference: Green Truck Summit will be held Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at JW Marriott Indianapolis (Indianapolis, Indiana) in conjunction with Work Truck Week® 2024. Bob Wilson
I'm back: You were wise to skip the NTEA Work Truck Week, 2024. This is what I found on the floor: 1/3d established manufactures (non-technical sales staff) 1/3d customizations (tailor truck frame to mission) 1/3d JC Whitney for trucks (like AutoZone for truckers). As a small investor (thanks to Autoline,) I came for REE (https://investors.ree.auto.) and glad I did. Architecture In a rare case of forgetfulness, David, the REE chief engineer was there. Getting some 'bent knee' time at their booth, I overheard him chatting with a couple of early EV truck adopters. He was very kind addressing their sincere but lay questions. When they wandered off, David and I had an 'engineering' chat that I throughly enjoyed and David also seemed to enjoy. I hope my regular online responders can arrange with Chris Charlton to do a video interview with UK based David, they won't regret it. Better still, ask Sandy Munro or someone from the "Lean Design" team to participate. Back to REE, they have a superior EV architecture of four, mechanically independent 'corner drives' on the battery and payload skateboard. Here is their corner drive, four needed: This lowers the payload deck of their prototype, 8 ton truck to the mid-axel height. The only similar, low floor height trucks are the relatively light weight, front-wheel drive, modified vans which limits power, payload. They carry the overhead of a fuel/exhaust and a weak, rear PTO where it is needed: This example is for work volume air conditioning use 12 V electronics and drive engine, compressor. What really brought this home was looking at the BYD, Isuzu, and Bollinger truck frames: These top heavy frames are nearly a meter high for the payload deck to clear the tops of the tires. In contrast, the REE architecture is half that height. That is why so many delivery trucks require an elevator at the rear to load and unload the payload. REE also has the advantage of no wheels-to-wheel, heavy mechanical linkages and hydraulic lines. These steal payload area and requires heavy duty lifts or below work floor tunnels for ordinary maintenance in tight, confined space. The corner drives are accessible from two sides and can even be whole unit swapped in the field. Business Case REE is entering their most dangerous and risky phase, the transition from prototype to production. All too often, brilliant designers are neutered by 'new hires' and 'business wizards' who don't know what the h*ll they are doing. But the transition to manufacturing has its own risks. For example, the assembly line video: This video is at least at 4x speed. Turning the YouTube speed to the minimum, 0.25, lets you see the details and challenges with what I call, an engineering prototype assembly line. Perfect for rapid prototypes, critical at this point, it also highlights REE need for a Sandy Munro, "lean design" review. For example, the current prototype has too many threaded fasteners, ~1/3d, and piece parts, ~1/2x, David is aware of Sandy Munro and hopefully they can get together for the benefit of both. REE business and product space is like 2010 Tesla and always false-start Fisker all. The few flaws shows REE is not a Nicola fraud. Their strength is a serious architecture. The REE corner drive is actually better than Tesla's current products because it eliminates the wheel-to-wheel assemblies. But the REE investor, web pages, lack engineering specs and interfaces. If someone is going to make a REE emergency body with the corner drives, the body engineers need at a minimum the attachment points. So I recommended they hire an intern (i.e., engineering undergrad) to make a NDA tech page for the engineers of future REE customers. RE needs to share the engineering specs and data for their patent protected, corner drives. In a perfect world, Musk would buy REE for the technology and bring Tesla manufacturing skills and resources. Transitioning from a brillant architecture to profitable manufacturing is a minefield that characters like Fisker (and many others) have never mastered. This is something I lived through at General Electric. A reminder, I went to the show as a small investor trying to decide: SELL, HOLD, or BUY. As I type this note, I'm between strong HOLD and weak BUY. Thanks to the recent TSLA price change, I've bought low but seeing REE, I'm a firm HOLD. As I build up my cash reserves, I will go on to a low-level, BUY, well aware of the high risks REE faces but knowing that comes great rewards (i.e., Tesla split 6x.) Bob Wilson
