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[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

I've generally heard from multiple sources that Lightning has ongoing revenue. I don't know any details.

It's probable that this manufacturing venture is not that risky for them, except obviously in terms of public credibility.

[HoodRichOG]

I've generally heard from multiple sources that Lightning has ongoing revenue. I don't know any details.

It's probable that this manufacturing venture is not that risky for them, except obviously in terms of public credibility.

Assuming they are indeed not running a massive meth lab operation in the factory, where could they possibly have revenue from?

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

It has been suggested about multiple small EV vendors that they have consulting contracts with larger companies. This could vary widely, but the hearsay is consistent across many sources, so I tend to treat the idea as corroborated.

[HoodRichOG]

It has been suggested about multiple small EV vendors that they have consulting contracts with larger companies. This could vary widely, but the hearsay is consistent across many sources, so I tend to treat the idea as corroborated.

That makes sense. They must be helping Tesla since they have so much experience in mass manufacturing of EVs...

[MVetter]

What's the backstory to this?

My dad is a known person in the industry, and it wouldn't be the first time someone has tried to tell on me via proxy. All I did was point out in the comments of an engineering.com article the facts of the white Strike that left the factory and all of its missing/incomplete components. The next day the comment had been removed, and I didn't really think anything of it. Then Richard emailed my dad and made up a bunch of shit. Dad forwarded it to me, thoroughly confused.

So I have the email.

[HoodRichOG]

That's insane. Looks like Richard has lots of spare time on his hands, business must be going great!

What did the email say?

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

[MVetter]

I’m not ready to post it publicly yet, but will if necessary. It was mostly that I was making false statements and he doesn’t understand why I have an agenda to hurt his company blah blah blah

[Crissa]

Well, when Tesla was setting up they were selling motors to Ford and others.

It's better to build something and sell something when you can.

But actually delivering a production product is hard.  Tesla's been successful but it hasn't been easy.  Other companies are still having trouble building factories even if they're surviving on VC.

-Crissa

[wavelet]

Though it also wouldn't be the first company to lure in a bunch of VC money, pay themselves ridiculous salaries for a few years, and retire when the project crashes and the money runs out.

When a company raises venture capital, they have to file a disclosure with the SEC.

So, it appears that money is coming from somewhere else.

That said, how much money do you need if you're not actually building anything? Making a few prototypes is just a fancy science project.

Lightning reportedly has 20-30 employees (17 are listed on LinkedIn, which is consistent).
In Northern California, the salary costs alone are a couple of million $ per year, and they've been doing it for several years now.
It adds up (company was founded in 2005), and someone's paying for it.
Standard banks don't give loans to startups with pretty solid revenue paths.
Investment banks do, but they don't hide their investments. Neither do VCs.

I have looked, and haven't found an investor list for Lightning.

[wavelet]

It has been suggested about multiple small EV vendors that they have consulting contracts with larger companies. This could vary widely, but the hearsay is consistent across many sources, so I tend to treat the idea as corroborated.

Tesla did this (more components & drivetrain systems than consulting, for Mercedes & Toyota, but they did both), as did Rimac.
But in both cases it was pretty clear who needed the consulting and why it was worth their while to pay for it;
That's not very clear in Lightning's case.

[wavelet]

It's hard to really know what's going on there. The fact that they did build prototype bikes that kicked ass to the extent of winning the Pike's Peak hillclimb outright vouches very strongly for the company's credibility and seriousness about the endeavor....but that's really all they got so far -- a few outstanding prototypes.

It says nada about commercialization & production -- or even doing prototype engineering well, if it was a one-shot effort which wasn't repeated. I haven't heard about them involved in other BEV motorcycle racing efforts, and there are more & more of these globally. They keep talking about that single hillclimb and the (fraudulent since it wasn't a production bike) and single land speed record.

Since the middle ages there have always been many thousands of inventors & tinkerers who tried to make a better plow / steam engine / hearing aid, but noone's ever heard of the vast majority of them. Only a very few also managed to popularize and/or commercialize their work (sometimes via a non-technical partner).

[ultrarnr]

Lightning is also GlassDoor. Some very interesting comments on what it is like to work for Richard. I think it also explains a lot of issues they are having. Here is the link to the original post on adrider: https://advrider.com/f/threads/lightning-strike.1362769/page-5#post-37928827

[JaimeC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmkBRvLEsZo&feature=youtu.be

[Fran K]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmkBRvLEsZo&feature=youtu.be

minute 2:18  says no one on this forum has a Lightning bike.  Prettt sure there is at least one who posted relatively lately.  Not a stock production bike but enough to think this guy likes making videos more than being totally right.

[MVetter]

There's the guy with the one-off 700 volt drag strip bike. Definitely not production.