Smartrick's Ideanomics- Hyundai - Daimler Extravaganza
Remember this is SPECULATION and NOT ADVICE!
Welcome back to another Smartrick Picks, got a bunch of love for my EOY prediction of Ideanomics (IDEX) so I thought I’d break it all down. In this DD I will be covering some new material, recapping some old, and trying to put the circle pegs in the circle holes. Remember this isn’t advice, just my personal research.
In this report, I will tackle the following
Recap of prior DD + updates
My EOY prediction and theories
Recap:
Before I get into today’s report if you are new to Ideanomics I suggest reading some of my prior reports as I will be referencing some of that information today. In August I published a report To the Moon? The Story of the Little Rocket that could. The report detailed the history of Ideanomics back to its origins of Shane McMahon, Chairman Wu’s experience, and what they have been building on since the 2019 rebrand to Ideanomics.
I published A Second Look at the Hindenburg Report where I went over Hindenburg Research’s claims and tried to give the best rebuttal to the questions that the report proposed to investors. The aftermath of the short conducted on Ideanomics really hurt the company making investors really question the legitimacy of IDEX. I personally think investors are finally seeing the writing on the wall and are waiting to see what’s next for the company.
Q2 Earnings Call
In Ideanomics Q2 earnings call CEO Alf Poor gave us a bunch of good nuggets of information that investors can look forward to in the coming months. While re-reading the transcript from the call a few things stuck out to me.
They highlighted their business operations in Inner Mongolia which is the home to 50% of all graphite in the globe which will be a hot commodity with the evolution of EVs and battery technology and before you say “ but Tesla is working with silicon over graphite” Tesla said that battery is 3 years away. If Elon Musk’s promise of 1 million Robo taxis in 2020 is any indication of timelines it could be even longer.
In the July - August delivery update it was reported they sold 25 heavy trucks which I’m assuming were in Inner Mongolia with the JV with CATL. CEO Alf Poor stated that August was a little light due to legislative policy change in China but expected September to improve.
The video also talks about what we can expect out of Medici Motor Works and its progress in North America. (which I will be covering in my predictions)
What we already know
Medici Motor Works
This has to be the biggest question out there, what are they gonna do with MMW? But let’s look at what we already know from the information out there.
Medici Motor Works will have 6 different vehicles brought to the NA market
This has been stated multiple times by CEO Alf poor to include the Q2 ER call and we’ve seen some conceptual designs of semis, a pickup, buses, and other logistical vehicles.
Smartrick Claim: Ideaonomics will unveil hydrogen and electric vehicles this year
Why do I say that? Because in the Q2 earnings call Poor stated this:
Who are these partners? Well, Beiben Trucks (China) and Hyundai (South Korea) of course.
IDEX signed an agreement with Beiben Trucks back in March, Beiben is the largest state-owned manufacturer of heavy trucks in China. It is a subsidiary of North industries Group Corporation (NORINCO) the largest military/industrial state-owned an operated company in China. So Beiben is kinda a big deal, and Chairmen Wu is known for having many connections at the state level and the Beiben deal has Wu’s name written all over it.
Beiben also has been working in the EV space for 10 years and has been manufacturing and delivering EV heavy-duty trucks in China, Africa, and South America for years.
But not only that Beiben is the main producer of Daimler heavy-duty trucks to include the electric ones. Beiben signed an agreement with Daimler in 1986 to manufacture these trucks with 90% domestic parts (from China) Daimler sends 10% of its parts to Beiben to finish off the builds.
It was reported Beiben manufacturer over 40,000 trucks annually for Daimler (not EV but total)
Beiben Semi Truck
Mercedes Benz (Daimler) Truck Semi
Medici Motor Works Semi (taken from Ideanomics PR)
Hyundai Motor Company/KEIFCO
If you do a quick google search you’ll notice there are not a lot of South Korean commercial truck manufactures out there. Kia and Hyundai are the two biggest domestic manufacturers in South Korea both are owned by Hyundai. Kia Motors DOES NOT make commercial trucks and Hyundai is pretty darn good at it especially when it comes to hydrogen technology. (wink) But if that doesn’t convince you that Hyundai is most likely the South Korean partner. CEO Poor has referenced in many interviews that it will leverage its partnerships in China, and southern Asian for MMW.
What’s in Southern Asia? Treeletrik
Ideanomics 51% ownership of Treeletrik which is the only licensed EV manufacture in Malaysia is quite important as the Malaysian company expands outside of just producing electric scooters and into the commercial truck market space. CEO Poor has stated that the company just purchased 250 acres of land as a new site to produce these vehicles with the help of Beiben and other partners to include Hyundai KEFICO.
KEFICO was started in 1987 by Robert Bosch in a JV with Mitisubishi and Hyundai, in 2005 Mitisubishi sold its stake in the company to Robert Bosch, and it 2012 KEFICO became 100% owned by Hyundai. KEFICO is known for its green technology.
KEFICO’s largest customer (556 million USD) is to their Chinese subsidiary which has 3 locations
The Rizhao plant is only ~150 KM from Qingdao and the MEG.
Hyundai is a big player in the Hydrogen technology game as they were the first to market a hydrogen-powered semi. The 2020 Truck Innovation Award winner Hyundai XCIENT semi-trucks are powered by a 190-kW hydrogen fuel cell system with dual 95-kW fuel cell stacks. Hyundai in 2018 announced it would produce all of its XCIENT and Mighty commercial trucks in China. It's pretty interesting that IDEX just announced the Medici Research Institute focused on Hydrogen technology headed by a pioneer in the industry Dr. Liquing Hu.
Hyundai XCIENT
Ideanomics Semi from an Investor presentation (hmmmmmm maybe)
Hyundai Santa Fe Pickup
Ideanomics Pickup design
Other Chinese Partners
Ankai/JAC Motors
JAC Motors (manufacture of NIO) and its subsidiary Ankai are very important partnerships to ideanomics. In July Volkswagen AG announced its intention to buy a 75% stake in JAC for 1 billion euros upgrading its 50-50 JV that was established in 2017. VW plans on implementing its MEB program in JAC operations which would be huge for companies like NIO.
JAC Motors is the 11th largest auto producers in China and is evaluated at ~1.9 billion USD, the company produces its own line of vehicles, NIO ES6/8, and other commercial vehicles through its subsidiaries like Ankai.
The company received its passenger car license from the Chinese Government in 2007 as it was just known as a commercial truck manufacture. JAC Motors and Hyundai started working together in 2001 as JAC was contracted to manufacture Hyundai’s MPV and an SUV. The cooperation was terminated in 2007 however JAC continued to manufacture two vehicles using Hyundai technology.
JAC T6 Pickup
JAC-Hyundai Coach
Ankai
A subsidiary of JAC Ankai is primarily a bus manufacture and is known for its 5G smart double-decker bus. However, while sister company JAC motors were building JAC-Hyundai coaches (though for a short time) Ankai who partners with EvoBus together builds Sentra Coaches owned by Daimler AG. Ankai’s partnership with Ideanomics is not only sales of Ankai buses in China but to develop hydrogen technology to include charging stations.
BAIC/Futon
Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co or BAIC is one of the top 5 largest auto manufactures in China. The state-owned company was founded in 1958 and builds Mercedes Benz and Hyundai cars in China. BAIC owns many brands in China and as of 2012 owns the intellectual property of Saab (Evergrande Group now owns Saab as 2020). BAIC also maintains two joint ventures in Beijing Hyundai and Beijing Benz. There is no official MoU between Ideanomics and BAIC however there is one with BAIC subsidiary Futon China’s number 1 bus manufacture.
Futon Motor
Founded in 1996 Futon is the largest commercial truck manufacture in all of China and has been for 13 straight years. According to their Linkedin page Futon has manufactured over 8 million vehicles and employees over 40,000 in China.
Futon’s MoU with Ideanomics will be used to benefit Treelektik operations in Malaysia. Look for Ideanomics to sell Futon as overflow orders in ASEAN countries.
Futon Motors maintains 2 joint ventures
1.) Futon-Daimler where Futon produces Auman trucks for Daimler
2.) Futon-Cummins JV
BYD Auto
BYD’s partnership is primarily domestic as the company will fulfill orders of BYD buses and taxi’s to various cities.
Alf Poor was asked (by me) at the LD micro-conference about MMW and BYD’s relationship and Alf stated that BYD would be seen as a competitor in North American operations.
In March 2010 BYD signed an MoU to collaborate on luxury electric vehicles with Daimler AG called Denza.
Geely
Geely maybe one of the largest auto manufacturers in the world that you never heard of. Founded in 1997 Geely is the largest privately held automotive company in China. In August Geely posted a total sales volume of 113,443 units sold in China.
Geely owns 90% of Volvo Cars, 10% of Volvo Trucks (largest private shareholder), and 10% of Daimler AG. The Volvo factory runs 100% on renewable energy via the Three Gorges Dam. Geely is an active investor in the Three Gorges Electic Energy Co. and Ideanomics is partnered with the dam for a deal on charging stations in China.
Geely also formalized a JV with Daimler in Jan for its “Smart” EV brand
Palcan Energy Corp
Palcan Energy Corp based in Canada does a lot in the field of hydrogen, the company has active partnerships with Ballard Power Systems and Plug Power for fuel cells. Ideanomics has partnered with Palcan for its hydrogen tech and for its conversion of gas stations to hydrogen fueling stations.
Additional Info:
Ideanomics forms strategic partnership with Palcan
Yinlong
Yinlong is a major bus manufacturer in China, the company also is a leader in autonomous driving and IoT services. It is expected that Yinlong will be used to fill orders in China as well as for Treelectik operations in Malaysia.
Ideanomics Partnership wrap up
After reviewing all of these partnerships one thing, in particular, stands out to me and that almost every car manufacture tied to Ideanomcis works or has worked in cooperation with Hyundai and or Daimler Trucks. Also, all of these companies listed use CATL batteries.
Ideanomics MoU with Hyundai KEFICO in Treelectik production
Ideanomics MoU with Futon Motors
Ideanomics MoU Bieben trucks in Treelectik production
Prediction Time
With my birthday being tomorrow this prediction is what I will be blowing out the candles to.
I believe Ideanomics will use its partnership with Hyundai KEIFCO in a similar fashion to Treelectik. I believe MMW is just the North American version of Treelectik. There is a lot of speculation of a merger/acquisition in Ideanomics future, even CEO Alf Poor has stated that the company may be looking into an M/A. In my September Watchlist, I detailed Bruno Wu’s RTO takeover of London-based company CZN however in the prediction has nothing to do with the mining company drilling in Canada.
Here are some facts that led me to this conclusion
Ideanomics terminated its New York lease at the end of Q2
In the latest article (below) “Ideanomics has also seen some interested stemming out of Canada and the company is hoping to secure penetration on the continent before much longer.”
CZN RTO expected to close in December CZN mines in Canada
Palcan Energy has an HQ in Canada
I believe Ideanomics will merge or acquire California-based EV manufacture Proterra w/ Hyundai (KEIFCO) or Daimler (already co-owns).
Who is Proterra?
Proterra founded in 2004 is now one of the largest private EV bus manufacturers in North America, the company started by Dale Hill and supported by Silicon Valley Venture Capital Firm Proterra Investments. The company is crawling with former Tesla employees has been referred to as “unicorn” by financial and media outlets. Proterra has been rumored to going public since 2019 and with the SPAC craze going in the current market its odd that we haven’t seen an announcement by the company. (because IDEX buys them)
Company History
In the last round of private funding, Daimler truck led the $155 million series C round with Tao Capital a Silicon Valley VC firm.
Why Proterra?
Proterra is a perfect match for the Ideanomics business model as their client base is primarily municipalities for public transit and school buses. The company sells vehicles, batteries, charging infrastructure, and even prepaid energy.
Proterra just unveiled an easier way to convert the current combustible engine to EV (something MEG does in China)
Daimler is already using them in their products with intentions to expand the lineup
Proterra has a steady order book of American and Canadian schools and municipalities
Proterra recently appointed Jack Allen as CEO
Jack Allen came out of retirement to take over as CEO of Proterra, former CEO Ryan Popple is now CTO. (former Telsa VP of manufacturing) CEO Allen formerly worked as COO for Navistar which is a heavy-duty truck manufacture with heavy ties to China. During Allen’s time at Navistar, the company began its joint venture with JAC Motors which it maintains still today.
In my opinion, the appointment of Jack Allen to CEO from Chairman is very similar to how Vector IQ (VTIQ) utilized Steve Girsky when merging with Nikola earlier this year.
House Bill Proposes Uniform Federal Framework, CFTC Oversight For US Cryptocurrency Exchanges
Ideanomics Blockchain financing will benefit Proterra’s customers primarily schools and cities. As America comes to terms with the blockchain as they have been a late adopter. However, Canada recently passed blockchain exchanges, and with IR pointing to Canada that makes sense.
Bruno Wu’s Polo to me screams the Mercedes Benz logo
The Wrap-up
Ideanomics partners/mergers/acquires Proterra out of California. Ideanomics uses its China partner with heavy ties to Hyundai and Daimler to get it done. Send it…