Josh Anderson is the Executive Vice President of Operations for Workhorse, the North American electric truck manufacturer. We spoke to Josh to find out more about Workhorse, how rising oil prices are causing more businesses to consider making the switch to EVs, and more.
Workhorse’s Stables operation in Ohio puts electric and gas trucks on identical routes side by side. You studied the cost difference and determined a savings of $10,000 a year per vehicle in fuel alone in 2025. For a typical fleet of 20, that’s $200,000 in savings. What’s the one data point from that real-world comparison that you think will most change the way fleet managers calculate the business case for EVs over ICE?
A lot of people tend to focus on the absolute number – like X thousands of dollars saved on gas. I look at it through the metric that’s most important to me – and probably most businesses: profitability. For example, delivery and other fleet businesses have extremely tight margins. As a manager, anything I can do to save money or reduce costs gives me a better shot at hitting my numbers.
Electric helps in two key ways; first, the operation savings on fuel and maintenance. For example, on an operating budget of a little more than $1 million, if I could save $220,000 on fuel that is a huge benefit on my overall earnings, and the money and labor saved by removing engine maintenance adds additional savings. Second, uptime. Every minute my truck is not delivering a package is revenue lost. So the fact that my electric trucks don’t need oil changes, typically don’t need brake jobs as frequently, and just require less maintenance in general, means they spend more time on the road generating income.
Rising fuel prices over the last few months have further pushed the cost of ownership argument in favor of EVs. How are you finding that rising fuel costs are actually shifting the conversations you’re having with prospective fleet customers?
Nobody likes high gas prices. But what we’re hearing is that it’s the volatility that is really the killer. With prices rising and dropping by up to a dollar per gallon in a week, each week, it’s hard for companies like Stables by Workhorse to plan effectively for our costs. I think our customers are beginning to appreciate the relative price stability of electricity costs as much as, or maybe even more than, the cost savings compared to fuel.
We took a look at 2025 numbers in Ohio, where we operate Stables. Over the course of 12 months of operations, our cost per mile for our ICE trucks was about 53 cents compared to about 10 cents per mile for EV. Perhaps even more important for fleet operators is fuel-price volatility. Following the geopolitical developments in the Middle East in May of this year, our estimate indicates the cost per mile for ICE jumped to 85 cents per mile compared to 12 cents per mile for EV. That kind of volatility for ICE is untenable for any business that runs a fleet.
Your partnership with InCharge Energy promises a single point of contact for fleet customers, covering vehicles, charging infrastructure, and the wider electrification ecosystem. Why was this partnership the chosen solution, rather than building such a system in-house?
Supporting an electric fleet is very different from an ICE fleet. With an ICE fleet, if there’s an issue, it’s generally easier to determine the source of an issue. Customers generally don’t call customer service if they have an issue with the fuel pump. Fleet electrification brings together the vehicle, charging infrastructure, and supporting software in ways that are different from traditional fleets. When technical issues arise, it isn’t always obvious who to call. Is it a charger issue or a battery issue? Is it a software issue on the truck or on the charger?
Sorting that out quickly requires genuine expertise in both the vehicle and the charging ecosystem around it. We chose to partner rather than build because A, InCharge’s deep knowledge of EV charging hardware and software is a real asset in helping Workhorse customers find and resolve the root cause of issues faster and B, It allows us to focus on our core product focus, and by being the experts in our trucks and buses, not the entire ecosystem, we can offer better, directed support.
For a fleet operator who’s been affected by issues such as charging downtime during an EV trial, what does the InCharge model actually look like in practice – and how do you measure whether it’s working?
We’ve begun building the full and formal workflows in support of a Q4 launch. In general, though, when a customer has an issue and contacts support, they are connected with an InCharge specialist who is already familiar with the broader charging and electrification ecosystem, but is also trained specifically on Workhorse vehicles.
Based on their initial assessment, the ticket is routed to one of three destinations: to a Workhorse regional field technician if the issue is vehicle-related; to the customer’s authorized Workhorse dealer if the issue involves an upfit or aftermarket component; or to the relevant third-party provider if the issue involves charging equipment, telematics, or other external hardware or software. In every case, the customer makes one call, the right expert is engaged, and Workhorse is always aware of the issues in the field.
What do scalable and modular commercial EVs unlock for fleet operators that purpose-built EVs can’t offer?
The two aren’t mutually exclusive. We design and engineer our vehicles to be purpose-built to meet the real-world needs of our customers. Our modular design enables us to be highly efficient and cost effective in production and after-sale support. Commonized hardware and software systems reduce the need for parts as well as enable us to purchase in bulk, reducing costs and helping us compete more closely with traditional gas and diesel vehicles. Together, we can make purpose-built EVs in a highly cost-effective manner, giving our customers the vehicle they want at a price they need.
Some states are implementing incentives for switching to electric commercial trucks, such as California’s new $1 billion rebate program. Has this fed into the areas and states that you are most heavily targeting sales?
Incentives drive interest, so we of course focus our sales efforts in markets where there are either generous incentive programs, mandates, or both (although there are not too many places where both mandates and incentives are in play). That said, we’re seeing interest in our vehicles from across the country, especially with small businesses that operate as independent service providers contracted with FedEx for package delivery.
At the same time, we’re aggressively pursuing design, engineering and supply chain strategies to reduce the bill of materials (BOM) costs of our vehicles to better compete with gas/diesel. Our goal is to be able to offer a truck that is ICE-comparable in cost without incentives.
What are Workhorse’s key goals throughout 2026 as the EV transition continues?
As the EV transition shifts from pilot programs to standard fleet procurement, we entered 2026 with three defining priorities: complete our post-merger integration with Motiv Electric Trucks, expand our product portfolio, and strengthen our financial position.
We continue to make good progress on our integration, with facility consolidation complete, all three production lines operating in Union City, Indiana, and we continue to work towards our goal to exit 2026 at a $20 million annualized cost synergy run rate. That manufacturing base – capable of producing 5,000+ vehicles per year on a single shift – gives us the capacity to scale without significant additional capital investment.
On the product side, we are developing a new proprietary modular chassis that standardizes hardware and software across our Class 4–6 vehicle portfolio, along with a new Class 5/6 cab-chassis designed for efficient upfitting and broad market applicability, with prototype validation targeted for later in 2026 and a planned production start in 2027.
Reducing upfront vehicle cost is our highest priority. We believe that the redesign of our next-gen powertrain and software architecture to reduce cost, the development of a modular chassis (which will commonize components and drive volume-based pricing), and strategically sourcing key components (at the most advantageous pricing) will all help us reach this goal and move us closer to cost-comparability with ICE in the not-too-distant future.
