UQM UQM Technologies Inc

ITEM 1A.         RISK FACTORS  

We operate in a challenging and changing environment that involves numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could materially affect our operations. The risks, uncertainties and other factors set forth below may cause our actual results, performances or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements. If any of these risks or events occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations may be adversely affected.

The Merger is subject to several future conditions, including conditions that may not be within the power of UQM to complete and may not be completed on a timely basis, if at all.

The consummation of the Merger is subject to several closing conditions that may make the timing and completion of the Merger uncertain. The conditions include, among others, obtaining the approval of our shareholders, obtaining consent from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), which in 2018 declined to approve an investment transaction involving the Company and its Chinese investor CNHTC, and the absence of any order or law of any governmental authority that enjoins or otherwise prohibits the consummation of the Merger. Failure to obtain the shareholder approval or CFIUS approval would prevent us from consummating the Merger.

Failure to complete the Merger in a timely manner, or at all, could negatively impact our future business and our financial condition and liquidity.

If the Merger cannot be completed, no merger consideration will be transferred until the conditions to closing are satisfied or waived, including the approval of our shareholders and the receipt of required approvals from CFIUS. The Merger Agreement provides that either party may terminate the Merger Agreement if the Merger is not consummated on or before October 31, 2019.  If the Merger is not completed for any reason, the holders of our Company Common Stock will continue to hold their shares in the Company and we will remain an independent public company.

If the Merger is not completed a timely manner, or at all, our ongoing business may be adversely affected, including with regard to the following risks:

In addition, in response to the announcement of the Merger, customers or suppliers of the Company may delay or defer product purchase or other decisions. Any delay or deferral in product purchase or other decisions by customers or suppliers could adversely affect the business of the Company, regardless of whether the Merger is ultimately completed. Similarly, current and prospective UQM employees may experience uncertainty about their future roles with the Company until the Merger is completed and until the Danfoss’ strategies with regard to the integration of operations of the Company and the Danfoss are announced or executed. This may adversely affect the Company’s ability to attract and retain key management, sales, marketing and technical personnel.

The Proposed Merger may disrupt our business and operations.

Under the Merger Agreement, we must generally operate our business in the ordinary course pending consummation of the Merger.  The Merger Agreement restricts us, without Danfoss’ consent, from taking certain specified extraordinary corporate actions until the Merger is completed. These restrictions may limit our flexibility in executing our business strategies and may impact our financial position and ongoing liquidity.

We also are subject to litigation related to the proposed Merger, which could result in significant costs and expenses and create a further diversion of time for our management and advisors or affect overall shareholder sentiment.  We will also incur and will continue to incur other significant costs, expenses and fees for professional services and other transaction costs related to the Merger, which in some cases are not recoverable if the Merger is not consummated.

The Merger Agreement generally precludes us from pursuing alternatives to the Merger unless it is a “superior proposal”.

Under the Merger Agreement, we are restricted, subject to limited exceptions, from pursuing or entering into alternative transactions with other strategic investors.  In general, unless the Merger Agreement is terminated, we are restricted from, among other things, soliciting, initiating, causing, knowingly facilitating or encouraging any inquiries, proposals or offers from any person that is or could reasonably be expected to lead to an alternative transaction proposal. We have the right to terminate the Merger Agreement and enter into a new agreement with respect to a “superior proposal” by an alternative investor only if specified conditions have been satisfied, which would be generally subject to payment of a termination fee of $3.5 million to Danfoss. These provisions could discourage a third party that may have an interest in UQM from proposing such an acquisition, even if such potential investor or partner were prepared to pay a higher per share price, in cash and/or equities, than the merger consideration offered by Danfoss.

We have incurred significant losses and may continue to do so.

We have incurred significant net losses as shown in the following tables:

As of December 31, 2018, we had an accumulated deficit of $131,174,812.

In the future, we plan to make additional investments in product development, facilities and equipment and other costs related to the commercialization of our products. As a result, we expect to continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future.  

Our operating losses, anticipated capital expenditures and working capital requirements in the longer term may exceed our current cash balances.

Our net loss for the year ended December 31, 2018 was $6,503,562 versus a net loss for the year ended December 31, 2017 of $4,778,316. At December 31, 2018, our cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash totaled $2,214,884. We expect our losses to continue for the foreseeable future.

Our existing cash resources and cash generated from our revenues, are not expected to be sufficient to complete our business plan for the next twelve months.  Should those resources be insufficient, and we are unable to complete the Merger, we may need to renegotiate existing debt, secure additional debt or equity funding, which may not be available on terms acceptable to us, if at all.  Therefore, management believes there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

We may not be able to sell the remaining PowerPhase Pro ®   inventory and may recognize additional loss on the value of this inventory carried on our books.

We still have aged inventory of $579,824 in  PowerPhase Pro ® systems.  Based upon anticipated customer demand, we continue to believe there is still a market for this product.  If customers do not purchase the amount of inventory they have ordered or we are unable to find new customers for this inventory, it may become  obsolete, causing an adverse effect on our results of operations.

Our business depends, in part, on the expansion of the market for all-electric and hybrid electric vehicles.  

Although our electric propulsion systems may be used in a wide variety of products, the market for electric and hybrid vehicles is fairly new. At the present time, batteries used to power electric motors have limited life and require several hours to charge, and charging stations for electric motors are not widely available. Electric and hybrid vehicles also tend to be priced higher than comparable gasoline-powered vehicles. As a result, consumers may experience concerns about driving range limitations, battery charging time and higher purchase costs of electric or hybrid vehicles. If consumer preferences shift to vehicles powered by other alternative methods, or if concerns about the availability of charging stations cannot be overcome, the market for all-electric vehicles, and therefore our electric propulsion systems, may be limited. In addition, our electric propulsion systems are incorporated in buses used for mass transit in several U.S. cities. If passenger traffic in these mass transit systems declines or government funding to transportation districts declines from current levels, demand for our products may also decrease.

The popularity of alternative fuel based vehicles and “green energy” initiatives are highly dependent on macro-economic conditions, including oil prices and the overall health of the economy. When oil prices fall, interest in and resources allocated to the development of advanced technology vehicles and propulsion systems may diminish. We cannot predict how and the extent to which the recent substantial decrease of oil prices will affect the domestic interest in electric and hybrid vehicles.  Downturns in the world economy may also have a severe impact on the automotive industry, slowing the demand for vehicles generally and reducing consumers' willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly technology.

If our products do not achieve market acceptance, our business may not grow.  

Although we believe our proprietary systems are suited for a wide-range of vehicle electrification applications, our business and financial plan relies heavily on our introduction of new products that have limited testing in the marketplace. We have made substantial investments in manufacturing facilities and equipment, production and application engineering, among other things, to increase our production capacity in order to capitalize on the anticipated expansion in demand for electric propulsion systems and generators in the commercial truck, bus and automobile markets. We cannot be certain that our existing products will achieve broad market acceptance, or that we will be able to develop new products or product enhancements that will achieve broad market acceptance.  

Our sales cycle is inherently long.

We must go through lengthy processes to achieve supply contracts with our customers.  Our products must conform to the technical specifications of the customer and meet design requirements of the electric vehicle.  Typically prototype testing is required to ensure consistent system performance on an ongoing basis.  These steps can often take many months to multiple years until decisions are made on whether or not to take a vehicle to production.  We may spend considerable financial and human resources over an extended period of time and not end up with a completed supply contract.  Failure to secure volume production levels within a reasonable period of time could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and our liquidity.

A  reduction or elimination of government subsidies and economic incentives for alternative energy technologies, including our electric vehicle motor technology, could reduce demand for our products and services, lead to a reduction in our revenues and adversely impact our operating results.

We believe that the near-term growth of alternative energy technologies, including our electric vehicle motor technology, relies on the availability and size of government and economic incentives both in the United States and in other countries.  Many of these government incentives expire, phase out over time, exhaust the allocated funding, require renewal by the applicable authority, and/or could be reduced or discontinued for other reasons. The reduction, elimination, or expiration of government subsidies and economic incentives may result in the diminished demand from our customers and could materially and adversely affect our future operating results.

We are subject to risks inherent in international operations.

Since we market our products both inside and outside the United States, our success depends in part, on our ability to secure international customers and our ability to manufacture products that meet foreign regulatory and commercial requirements in target markets. In addition, we are subject to tariff regulations and requirements for export licenses.  We can face numerous challenges in our international growth plans, including unexpected changes in regulatory requirements, potential conflicts or disputes that countries may have to deal with, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, longer accounts receivable requirements and collections, difficulties in managing international operations, potentially adverse tax consequences, restrictions on repatriation of earnings and the burdens of complying with a wide variety of international laws. Any of these factors could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Changes in U.S. trade relations may have a negative effect on our business.

Changes to U.S. trade policies, treaties and tariffs could have an adverse effect on global trade and, in particular, trade between the impacted nations and the United States. These changes could result in increased costs of goods imported into the U.S. for the Company and our third party suppliers. As a result, where we are responsible for the costs related to such trade policy changes, our profit margins may decrease. Our third party suppliers may also limit their trade with U.S. companies generally, including us. Such changes may materially and adversely affect our sales and our business.

Our revenue is highly concentrated among a small number of customers.

A large percentage of our revenue is typically derived from a small number of customers, and we expect this trend to continue.

Our customer arrangements generally are non-exclusive, have no long-term volume commitments and are typically done on a purchase order basis. We cannot be certain that customers that have accounted for significant revenue in past periods will continue to purchase our products. Accordingly, our revenue and results of operations may vary substantially from period to period. We are also subject to credit risk associated with the concentration of our accounts receivable from our customers. If one or more of our significant customers were to cease doing business with us, significantly reduce or delay its purchases from us or fail to pay us on a timely basis, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.  

Our business relies on third parties, whose success we cannot predict.

As a manufacturer of motors, generators, and other component parts, our business model depends on the ability of third parties in our industry to develop, produce and market products that include or are compatible with our technology and then to sell these products into the marketplace. Our ability to generate revenue depends significantly on the commercial success of our customers and partners. Failure of these third parties to achieve significant sales of products incorporating our products and fluctuations in the timing and volume of such sales could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.  

Our electric propulsion systems use rare-earth minerals and unavailability or limited supply of these minerals could prevent us from manufacturing our products in production quantities or increase our costs.

Neodymium and dysprosium, rare-earth minerals, are key elements used in the production of magnets that are components of our electric propulsion systems. We currently source our magnets from China, and China has indicated its intent to retain more of this mineral for China use, rather than exporting it. During calendar year 2011, for example, we experienced significant price escalation in the cost of magnets used in our motors. This price escalation was primarily due to rare-earth government policy in China. Rare-earth prices have decreased substantially since peaking in the summer of 2011, and are now approaching the baseline prices (defined as the beginning of calendar year 2011). We have implemented a magnet surcharge process to recover these additional costs in the event of another price escalation. Although rare-earth magnets are available from other sources, these alternative sources are currently more costly. Reduced availability of neodymium and dysprosium from China could adversely affect our ability to obtain magnets in sufficient quantities, in a timely manner, or at a commercially reasonable cost. In the event that China's actions cause us to seek alternate sources of supply for magnets, it could cause an increase in our product costs, thereby reducing or eliminating our profit margin on electric propulsion systems if we are unable to pass the increase on to our customers. Increasing prices to our customers due to escalating magnet costs may reduce demand for our motors and make it difficult or impossible to compete with other motor manufacturers whose motors do not use rare-earth minerals.

Some of our contracts can be cancelled with little or no notice and could restrict our ability to commercialize our technology.

Our contracts with government agencies are subject to the risk of termination at the convenience of the contracting agency and in some cases grant "march-in" rights to the government. March-in rights are the right of the United States government or the applicable government agency, under limited circumstances, to exercise a non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable worldwide license to any technology developed under contracts funded by the government to facilitate commercialization of technology developed with government funding. March-in rights can be exercised if we fail to commercialize the developed technology. The exercise of march-in rights by the government or an agency of the government could restrict our ability to commercialize our technology.

Some of our orders for the future delivery of products are placed under blanket purchase orders which may be cancelled by our customers at any time. The amount payable to us, if any, upon cancellation by the customer varies by customer. Accordingly, we may not recognize as revenue all or any portion of the amount of outstanding order backlog we have reported.  

We face intense competition and may be unable to compete successfully.  

In developing electric motors for use in vehicles and other applications, we face competition from very large domestic and international companies, including the world's largest automobile manufacturers. Many of our competitors have far greater resources to apply to research and development efforts than we have, and they may independently develop motors that are technologically more advanced than ours. These competitors also have much greater experience in and resources for marketing their products. For these reasons, potential customers may choose to purchase electric motors from our competitors rather than from us.

Changes in environmental policies could hurt the market for our products.  

The market for electric and other alternative fuel vehicles and equipment and the demand for our products are influenced, to a degree, by federal, state and local regulations relating to air quality, greenhouse gases and pollutants and other environmental laws and regulations. These laws and regulations may change, which could result in transportation or equipment manufacturers abandoning or delaying their interest in electric or hybrid electric vehicles or equipment. In addition, a failure by authorities to enforce current laws and regulations or to adopt additional environmental laws or regulations could limit the demand for our products.

Although many governments have identified as a significant priority the development of alternative energy sources, governments may change their priorities, and any change they make could materially affect our revenue or the development of our products. 

If we are unable to protect our patents and other proprietary technology, we will be unable to prevent third parties from using our technology, which would impair our competitiveness and ability to commercialize our products. In addition, the cost of enforcing our proprietary rights may be expensive and result in increased losses.  

Our ability to compete effectively against other companies in our industry will depend, in part, on our ability to protect our proprietary technology. Although we have attempted to safeguard and maintain our proprietary rights, we do not know whether we have been or will be successful in doing so. We have historically pursued patent protection in the United States and a limited number of foreign countries where we believe significant markets for our products exist or where potentially significant competitors have operations. It is possible that a substantial market could develop in a country where we have not received patent protection and under such circumstances our proprietary products would not be afforded legal protection in these markets. Further, our competitors may independently develop or patent technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to ours. We cannot assure that additional patents will be issued to us or, if they are issued, as to the scope of their protection. Patents granted may not provide meaningful protection from competitors. Even if a competitor's products were to infringe patents owned by us, it would be costly for us to pursue our rights in an enforcement action, it would divert funds and resources which otherwise could be used in our operations and we may not be successful in enforcing our intellectual property rights. In addition, effective patent, trademark, service mark, copyright and trade secret protection may not be available in every country where we may operate or sell our products in the future. If third parties assert technology infringement claims against us, the defense of the claims could involve significant legal costs and require our management to divert time and attention from our business operations. If we are unsuccessful in defending any claims of infringement, we may be forced to

obtain licenses or to pay royalties to continue to use our technology. We may not be able to obtain any necessary licenses on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If we fail to obtain necessary licenses or other rights, or if these licenses are costly, our results of operations may suffer either from reductions in revenues through our inability to serve customers or from increases in costs to license third-party technologies. Finally, patents may not deter third parties from attempting to reverse engineer our products and discovering our intellectual property.

We rely, in part, on contractual provisions to protect our trade secrets and proprietary knowledge, the adequacy of which may not be sufficient.

Confidentiality agreements to which we are party may be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach.  Our trade secrets may also be known without breach of such agreements or may be independently developed by competitors.  Our inability to maintain the proprietary nature of our technology and processes could allow our competitors to limit or eliminate any competitive advantages we may have.

Use of our motors in vehicles could subject us to product liability claims or product recalls, and product liability insurance claims could cause an increase in our insurance rates or could exceed our insurance limits, which could impair our financial condition, results of operations and liquidity.  

The automotive industry experiences significant product liability claims. As a supplier of electric propulsion systems or other products to vehicle OEMs, we face an inherent business risk of exposure to product liability claims in the event that our products, or the equipment into which our products are incorporated, malfunction and result in personal injury or death. We may be named in product liability claims even if there is no evidence that our systems or components caused an accident. Product liability claims could result in significant losses as a result of expenses incurred in defending claims or the award of damages. The sale of systems and components for the transportation industry entails a high risk of these claims, which may increase as our production and sales increase. In addition, we may be required to participate in recalls involving these systems if any of our systems prove to be defective, or we may voluntarily initiate a recall or make payments related to such claims as a result of various industry or business practices or the need to maintain good customer relationships.

We carry product liability insurance of $10 million covering most of our products. If we were to experience a large insured loss, it might exceed our coverage limits, or our insurance carriers could decline to further cover us or raise our insurance rates to unacceptable levels, any of which could impair our financial position and results of operations. Any product liability claim brought against us also could have a material adverse effect on our reputation.  

We may be subject to warranty claims, and our provision for warranty costs may not be sufficient.  

We may be subject to warranty claims for defects or alleged defects in our products, and the risk of such claims arising will increase as our production and sales increase. In addition, in response to consumer demand, vehicle manufacturers have been providing, and may continue to provide, increasingly longer warranty periods for their products. As a consequence, these manufacturers may require their suppliers, such as us, to provide correspondingly longer product warranties. As a result, we could incur substantially greater warranty claims in the future.  

Our future success will depend on our ability to attract and retain qualified management and technical personnel.

Our future success is substantially dependent on the continued services and on the performance of our executive officers and other key management, engineering, manufacturing and operating personnel. The loss of the services of any executive officer, or other key management, engineering, manufacturing and operating personnel, could materially adversely affect our business. Our ability to achieve our growth plans will also depend on our ability to attract and retain additional qualified management and technical personnel, and we do not know whether we will be able to be successful in these regards. Our inability to attract and retain additional qualified management and technical personnel, or the departure of key employees, could materially and adversely affect our growth plans and, therefore, our business prospects, results of operations and financial condition.

The maintenance and security of our information systems are critical to our operations.

We rely on our information systems to be functioning at all times, and that the data in those systems is protected and secure from viruses, illegal access and any other form of unauthorized use.  Should our information systems be compromised in any way, our business operations could be severely impacted.

Threats to information technology systems associated with cybersecurity risks and cyber incidents or attacks continue to grow. Cybersecurity attacks could include, but are not limited to, malicious software, viruses, attempts to gain unauthorized access, whether through malfeasance or error, either from within or outside of our organization, to our data or that of our customers or our customers’ customers which may be in our possession, and the unauthorized release, corruption or loss of the data, loss of the intellectual property, theft of the proprietary or licensed technology, whether ours, that of our customers or their customers, loss or damage to our data delivery systems, other electronic security breaches that could lead to disruptions in our critical systems, and increased costs to prevent, respond to or mitigate cybersecurity events. It is possible that our business, financial and other systems could be compromised, which might not be noticed for some period of time. Although we utilize various procedures and controls to mitigate our exposure to such risk, cybersecurity attacks are evolving and unpredictable and we cannot guarantee that any risk prevention measures implemented will be successful. The occurrence of such an attack could lead to financial losses and have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our stock price has been and could remain volatile.

The market price for our common stock has been and may continue to be volatile and subject to extreme price and volume fluctuations in response to market and other factors, including the following, some of which are beyond our control:

In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of their stock, many companies have been the subjects of securities class action litigation.  If we become involved in securities class action litigation in the future, it could result in substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention and resources and could harm our stock price, business prospects, results of operations and financial condition.

Management believes completion of the Plan of Merger with Danfoss Power Solutions described above mitigates the substantial doubt raised by our historical operating result and fulfilling our estimated liquidity needs twelve months from the issuance of the financial statements.  The Plan of Merger with Danfoss Power Solutions is subject to approval by our shareholders and approval of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) prior to completion so therefore we are unable to predict with certainty the completion of the Merger.

Exchange Act, whether made before or after the date hereof and irrespective of any general incorporation contained in such filing.

2  The Company changed its fiscal year end from March 31 to December 31 in 2016.