By Karen Brune Mathis & Mark Basch | Staff Writers
Cenntro Electric Group Ltd. is in review for a $1.15 million build-out for its electric vehicle plant in West Jacksonville.
ARCO Design/Build is the contractor for a 30,000-square-foot space within Building 100 at 2240 Lane Ave. N.
The architect is ADB Design Services of Atlanta. Legacy Engineering Inc. of Jacksonville is the civil engineer.
Plans dated Oct. 19 said the improvements include a factory/vehicle assembly area, storage and office space.
There also is about 70,000 square feet for “future expansion.”
Cenntro makes light- and medium-duty electric vehicles for corporate and governmental uses.
Its project has been slower than projected.
The New Jersey-based company’s annual report in April said it expected to begin trial assembly operations at the Jacksonville facility by the end of the second quarter.
However, its midyear report released Sept. 13 said it expects those operations to begin by the end of 2022.
The company said in December it would open its first U.S. assembly plant for the vehicles in Jacksonville, with the help of $450,000 in tax incentives approved by City Council. It promised to create 34 jobs at the plant by the end of 2023
Two weeks after announcing the Jacksonville plant, Cenntro became public by merging with an existing public company.
Cenntro said it sold 337 vehicles in the first half of this year, up from 273 in the first six months of 2021.
Revenue doubled to $5 million in the first half of 2022.
“During the first half of 2022, we continued to execute on our strategic initiatives and grow our topline despite a challenging macroeconomic environment,” CEO Peter Wang said in a news release.
Wang said 132 of the vehicles sold this year were a new model with a higher sales price.
Cenntro’s midyear report said it began a 10-year lease in May for a 100,000-square-foot facility at Lane Industrial Park on Jacksonville’s Westside.
Annual rent on the facility starts at $695,000 and rises each year, it said.
Cenntro has outlined ambitious growth plans as it opens its Jacksonville plant and another plant in Germany this year.
The company was projecting 74,800 vehicle sales in 2023 when it announced the deal to go public in November 2021.
When it announced its decision to open its first U.S. plant in Jacksonville, it said the facility would support annual production levels of more than 50,000 vehicles within four years.
