XL Fleet (the “Company”), a leader in vehicle electrification solutions for commercial and municipal fleets, today announced that Essential Utilities, Inc. (“Essential”) (NYSE: WTRG), one of the largest publicly traded water, wastewater and natural gas providers in the U.S., serving approximately 5 million people across 10 states under the Aqua and Peoples brands, is launching a pilot program to electrify its two most popular commercial GM vehicle platforms with the XLH™ hybrid electric drive system.
The initial pilot will include installing an XL Fleet hybrid system onto a GMC Sierra 2500 HD pickup truck and GMC Savanna Express van, two of Essential’s most widely deployed vehicles in its water and natural gas divisions for applications including Customer Service, Field Service, and Distribution. Essential, headquartered in Bryn Mawr, PA, deploys a fleet of approximately 2,500 of these vehicles across 10 states. If the pilot is successful on the first two platforms, Essential plans on electrifying a larger percentage of its fleet with XL Fleet’s hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric drive systems beginning in 2021.
“Essential has a strong and growing commitment to sustainability, and XL Fleet’s hybrid system provides an innovative way for us to reduce emissions without sacrificing the mission-critical performance of our fleet vehicles,” said Charles Stevenson, Vice President of Fleet Operations at Essential. “I personally drove XL Fleet’s hybrid-equipped Silverado 3500 HD demo unit during our preliminary trial and recorded a fuel economy improvement of well over 30%, which is impressive for a vehicle of that size and weight. If this pilot program is successful, we will be able to substantially reduce our fuel costs and lower emissions by scaling our deployment of these vehicles starting next year.”
“XL Fleet’s electrified powertrain technology is a perfect fit for companies like Essential, who are looking to immediately electrify their fleet vehicles, but also have demanding drive cycles and performance requirements that need to be met,” said Brian Piern, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at XL Fleet. “We are excited to be partnering with Essential as they begin their journey toward a more sustainable fleet.”
Business Combination Update
XL Fleet remains on track to complete its previously announced merger agreement with Pivotal Investment Corporation II (NYSE: PIC), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, by the end of December 2020. Upon closing, the combined company will be named XL Fleet Corp. and its common stock and warrants will remain listed on the New York Stock Exchange under new ticker symbols, “XL” and “XL WS”, respectively.
On December 8, 2020, Pivotal announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has declared effective its registration statement on Form S-4 (as amended, the “Registration Statement”), which includes a definitive proxy statement/prospectus in connection with its annual meeting of stockholders to consider the merger agreement with XL Fleet (the “Annual Meeting”). Pivotal recently announced that the Annual Meeting has been set for December 21, 2020. Stockholders of record as of December 7, 2020 (the “Record Date”) will be eligible to vote at the Annual Meeting.
Pivotal encourages all PIC stockholders to vote “FOR” ALL PROPOSALS in advance of the Annual Meeting scheduled for 9:00 a.m., Eastern Time, on December 21, 2020, by telephone, via the Internet or by signing, dating and returning the proxy card upon receipt by following the easy instructions on the proxy card.
If you have any questions or need assistance voting, please contact D.F. King & Co., Inc., our proxy solicitor, by calling (800) 249-7120 or by email to [email protected].
