Gillig to launch tech center at Lightning’s Loveland site

LOVELAND – Gillig LLC, a Livermore, California-based manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses, is launching a “Colorado Technology Center” in part of the space that had been occupied by the collapsed company Lightning eMotors at the Forge campus in Loveland.

Gerco LLC, a Gillig subsidiary based in Delaware, acquired select assets from Lightning eMotors and Lightning Systems through a receivership sale finalized Feb. 16 by Larimer County District Court Judge Laurie Dean and has hired a number of former engineering employees of Lightning to work in its new facility.

Marcie Willard, acting economic-development director for the city of Loveland, confirmed that Gillig had leased 55,000 square feet on the south side of Forge’s 140,000-square-foot Building A at 815 14th St. SW in Loveland.

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Willard and Mike Staheli, managing director at the Denver office of court-appointed receiver Cordes & Co., said 40 to 50 employees would continue developing the electronic drive trains there that Lightning eMotors had been creating.

Cordes & Co., appointed as receiver in December, had selected Gerco as the purchaser. Lightning’s business operations were not part of the purchase, and it discontinued them before  Gerco’s purchase, including the sale and servicing of commercial vehicles.

“This exciting acquisition focuses on a talented team of former Lightning employees and the tools they need to support Gillig’s roadmap,” said Derek Maunus, Gillig’s president and CEO, in a prepared statement. “Gillig’s mission to design, build, and support America’s safest, most reliable heavy-duty transit buses has not changed. This acquisition allows us greater engineering capacity to integrate quickly evolving zero-emission technologies. As we look to the future generations of Gillig’s celebrated Battery Electric bus, these additional engineering and technological resources will accelerate Gillig’s leadership in zero-emission buses by increasing our powertrain expertise, forging even greater capacity to innovate and execute with excellence.”

Lightning had unveiled a mobile DC charging station in 2022, partnered with Ricardo in the United Kingdom to produce electric trucks and last June had begun producing its ZEV4 platform for light electric-powered commercial vehicles. It had been retrofitting conventional commercial vehicles with electric powertrains and partnered with companies such as General Motors and Blue Bird.

According to an 8-K report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as a filing made last month in Larimer County District Court, receiver Cordes & Co. entered into an agreement with Gerco to sell all Lightning’s assets for $12.6 million in cash.

Lighting eMotors on Dec. 14 told the SEC that its assets would be sold, with proceeds going to creditors. That filing came a day after Greenwood Village-based private-equity firm Cupola Infrastructure Income Fund LLLP, which in October 2019 had provided Lightning with a $3 million working-capital line of credit as well as a $3 million term loan, sued in Larimer County District Court seeking appointment of a receiver to sell the company’s assets. Lightning said in its SEC filing that it “stipulated and agreed to the motion and proposed order to appoint Cordes and Co. as the receiver.”

Cupola was the plaintiff in the court case that was settled Feb. 16 with approval of the sale of assets to Gerco.

According to court documents, proceeds from the sale of assets of the company, a provider of zero-emission medium-duty commercial vehicles and electric-vehicle technology for fleets, would be distributed by Cordes & Co. to the creditors of Lightning eMotors (OTC: ZEVY)  and its subsidiary, Lightning Systems Inc., “pursuant to their applicable priorities and as ordered by the court.” 

Lightning’s 15-year journey was marked by rapid growth, pioneering innovations, major contracts, global acclaim and emergence into public trading using an alternative business tactic. In the final miles its underpinnings were damaged by supply-chain challenges, the failure of a pair of battery makers, massive losses and a bevy of lawsuits that all led to the collapse of its share prices and delisting by the New York Stock Exchange.

Gillig, family owned since 1890, manufactures a diverse range of clean-energy transit products including zero-emission battery electric, and low-emissions hybrid and compressed natural-gas motors as well as what it calls “clean diesel solutions.” According to its website, it was founded “as a carriage and wagon shop in San Francisco, but gradually evolved into a manufacturer of car bodies, hearses, trucks, and early model buses. In 1919, the Gillig Brothers patented the ‘Gillig Top,’ a hard-top automobile roof with sliding curtains. This innovation allowed open touring cars to be converted to comfortable, closed cars in minutes without stopping the car.

“In 1932, Gillig built our first school bus, which was our primary focus until the late 1970s. The Phantom heavy-duty, high floor transit bus debuted in 1980 and remained in production through 2008. In 1996, Gillig introduced our Low Floor model, which is now available in a variety of styling options and propulsion systems.”

The court case is Cupola Infrastructure Income Fund LLLP v. Lightning eMotors, case 2023CV31015 in Larimer District Court.