Why Small-Cap EV Stock XL Fleet Is Surging Today

What happened

Shares of XL Fleet (XL -0.18%), which builds electrification solutions like hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric drive systems for commercial vehicles, surged Wednesday morning. As of 10:50 a.m. ET, the EV stock was trading up 8.8%, marking one of its strongest days in the month of December yet for the small-cap stock with a current market capitalization of just under $500 million.

XL Fleet is a relatively unknown stock in an industry chockablock with highfliers, but you'd be surprised to know the names of automotive companies XL Fleet has collaborated with. On Wednesday morning, XL Fleet finished installing an EV charger network for one clean energy company.

So what

XL Fleet has just finished deploying 12 EV chargers across six wind farms in Texas, Oklahoma, and Illinois for Apex Clean Energy, a company that operates utility-scale wind and solar energy facilities and produces green hydrogen. Apex Clean Energy has long-term power purchase agreements with some big global names, including Starbucks, Walmart, and Samsung.

Image source: Getty Images.

Notably, XL Fleet's charging infrastructure will be used power 10 Ford F series pickups that are retrofitted with XL Fleet's plug-in hybrid electric drive system and were deployed by Apex Clean Energy in its fleet earlier this year.

"XL Fleet is committed to helping Apex and other sustainability-minded companies to accelerate their path to electrification, even in rural areas where access to EVs has been extremely limited. This is a great example of how XL Fleet is leveraging our experience and our solution suite to help customers remove barriers to electrification, gain access to charging infrastructure and move forward on achieving their comprehensive sustainability goals," CEO Eric Tech said in a statement.

Now what

Ford is just one of the leading automakers using XL Fleet's EV systems. XL Fleet has also partnered with Stellantis to electrify its Ram 2500 and 3500 heavy-duty pickups and Isuzu to electrify its Isuzu NPR-HD, as well as General Motors to turn Chevrolet and GMC fleets into hybrids.

Despite the promising lineup, XL Fleet stock has been hammered in recent weeks after supply constraints cut the company's third-quarter revenue in half. Investors, therefore, found a much-needed respite in XL Fleet's news today. For its part, XL Fleet is looking beyond supply constraints and is focused on growth in 2022, with plans including international expansion and delivery of its first all-electric solutions for refuse and refrigerated trailers.