Hedge fund looks to acquire Volta Trucks from bankruptcy, potentially saving tons of jobs

Just over a month after Volta Trucks announced it was filing for bankruptcy, shareholder and lender Luxor Capital Group looks to breathe new life into the commercial EV startup, potentially salvaging hundreds on jobs in the UK.

Volta Trucks is a London-based commercial EV startup that operated for nearly four years with hopes of reaching deliveries of its flagship commercial truck, the Volta Zero. We’ve followed the company closely for much of that journey, from a mere vehicle design sketch in 2019 to a prototype launch less than a year later.

We saw several rounds of funding bolstered by a number of (soft) pre-orders for its expanding lineup of Zero Trucks, as well as comprehensive plans to expand into the US. Even as we kicked off 2023, Volta appeared poised to hit the European market (albeit a year late), following more purchase commitments and necessary certification in place to begin official sales.

As recently as April, Volta was beginning series production in Austria ahead of deliveries in Q3. That’s why it came as a bit of surprise that Volta announced it was filing for bankruptcy this past October, citing tight capital markets.

The company’s battery supplier Proterra had submitted its own bankruptcy filing in August, so that certainly didn’t help things. Volta shared the following insight at the time:

The recent news that our battery supplier [Proterra] has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, has had a significant impact on our manufacturing plans, reducing the volume of vehicles that we had forecast to produce. The uncertainty with our battery supplier also negatively affected our ability to raise sufficient capital in an already challenging capital-raising environment for electric vehicle players.

It appeared at the time, that Volta was out of runway on its path to profitability. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, “it’s hard out here for startups.” While the door on Volta Trucks is being pushed shut by the grim reaper of bankruptcy, one the startup’s shareholders is sticking its foot in the jamb, saying, “not so fast.”

Volta Trucks could soon be resurrected from bankruptcy

According to a report from Sky News, Luxor Capital Group – a shareholder in Volta Trucks and one of its largest lenders – is finalizing a deal to purchase the startup from bankruptcy and keep the operation going.

If completed, Luxor could save hundreds of jobs in the UK, where the startup mostly operates from. Before the bankruptcy filing, Volta employed around 600 people in the UK and another 250 across other footprints like its Swedish headquarters and offices in Paris.

Industry sources relayed that Luxor has emerged as the likeliest buyer of the startup and a substantial portion of those 600 UK jobs could remain. No word on the Volta employees in other regions.

Per one executive in the sector, an agreement is in the works and could be completed this week, but relayed that the timetable could certainly slip as things are finalized. Alvarez & Marsal, which has been handling Volta Trucks’ administration following the bankruptcy filing, refused to comment.