Hitachi and REE Automotive Agree on Collaboration to Advance and Simplify the Adoption of Sustainable Electric Vehicles Globally

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hitachi America, Ltd. ("Hitachi") and REE Automotive (NASDAQ: REE, "REE") announced today a newly formed strategic agreement to ease and accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) across the entire EV value chain, including enabling EV manufacturing at scale, delivering commercial vehicle charging infrastructure and energy management, and providing comprehensive digital fleet management and operations for full visibility across EV fleets as organizations transition over the next decade.

Hitachi and REE will accelerate the development of advanced digital solutions for REE customers by co-creating a highly scalable Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) and Analytics-as-a-Service (AaaS) platform, which will enable next-generation connected commercial EVs. Leveraging Hitachi's Lumada data platform and REE's platform modularity and horizontal business strategy, the companies aim to bring to market a truly modular, smart EV solution to serve all segments, including delivery, logistics, and mobility-as-a-service.

"We are excited to partner with REE to help accelerate the transition to EVs globally," said Hicham Abdessamad, Chairman and CEO, Hitachi America, Ltd. "Hitachi is deeply committed to sustainability, and with our long history of innovation in energy, mobility, manufacturing and digital, together with REE's transformative, innovative approach to EV and autonomous vehicles (AV), we are well positioned to accelerate and ease the transition to zero-emission commercial vehicles at scale, a mission that we both share."

Through this partnership, Hitachi and REE are committed to bring data-driven, scalable, sustainable electric vehicle, commercial mobility solutions to market that deliver value while helping to achieve carbon emissions goals and which will enable a complete, connected ecosystem of services for commercial mobility and transportation.

"This alliance with Hitachi comes at an ideal time for REE as we value their best-in-class innovation and experience in data science and analytics, enabling us to provide a complete solution to our customers," said REE Co-founder and CEO Daniel Barel. "With Hitachi's innovation and invaluable expertise in EV and digital technologies, REE is primed to build on our early leadership position as the leading e-Mobility platform across the globe. In addition, Hitachi is a well-known and respected player in the automotive, energy and digital industry which can drive customer orders, and we are looking forward to benefiting from their extensive sales network and relationships."

About Hitachi America, Ltd. 
Hitachi America, Ltd., headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, is a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501). Hitachi America – the North American regional headquarters of Hitachi, Ltd. – and the 101 Hitachi Group companies in North America, employs over 35,000 people as of March 2021. As a responsible corporate citizen, Hitachi Group is focused on its Social Innovation Business, which combines information technology (IT), operational technology (OT) and products to deliver solutions that increase social, environmental and economic value across six domains; IT, Energy, Industry, Mobility, Smart Life and Automotive Systems. This is made possible through Lumada – Hitachi's advanced digital solutions, services, and technologies turn data into insights to drive digital innovation.

Hitachi, Ltd. is a Principal Partner of COP26, playing a leading role in the efforts to achieve a decarbonized society and become a climate change innovator. Hitachi strives to achieve carbon neutrality at all its business sites by fiscal 2030 and across the company's value chain by fiscal 2050.  

For information on other Hitachi Group companies in North America, please visit https://www.hitachi.us  (the United States), https://www.hitachi.ca (Canada) and https://www.hitachi.com.mx/en (Mexico).

About REE Automotive  
REE (Nasdaq: REE) is an automotive technology leader whose mission is to empower companies to build any size or shape of electric or autonomous vehicle – from Class 1 through Class 6 – for any application and any target market. REE aims to serve as the underpinning on top of which EVs and AVs will be built and envisions a future where EVs and AVs will be 'Powered by REE'.

REE's revolutionary technology – the REEcorner™ – packs critical vehicle components (steering, braking, suspension, powertrain and control) into a single compact module positioned between the chassis and the wheel, enabling REE to build the industry's flattest EV platforms with more room for passengers, cargo and batteries. REE uses x-by-wire technology to control each of the corners of the vehicles with full drive-by-wire, brake-by-wire and steer-by-wire.

REE's EV platforms afford complete freedom of design, enabling auto-manufacturers, OEMs, delivery & logistic fleets, Mobility-as-a-Service providers and new mobility players to design mission-specific EVs and AVs based on their exact business requirements and significantly reduce their time-to-market, lower TCO and meet zero-carbon regulations.

Headquartered in Herzliya, Israel, REE has an Engineering Center in the UK, as well as subsidiaries worldwide including Japan and Germany, and plans to open its U.S. headquarters and first Integration Center in Austin, Texas. REE's unique CapEx-light manufacturing model leverages Tier-1 partners' existing production lines; the company's extensive partner ecosystem encompasses leading names including Hino Motors (truck arm of Toyota), Magna International, JB Poindexter, Navya and American Axle & Manufacturing to provide a full turnkey solution.

REE's patented technology, together with its unique value proposition, position it to break new ground in e-Mobility. For more information visit https://www.ree.auto.

Forward-Looking Statements  
This press release includes forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "projects," "intends," "should," "seeks," "future," "continue," or the negative of such terms, or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to: our limited operations and need to expand in the near future to fulfill product orders; risks associated with obtaining orders and executing upon such orders; the ability to protect our intellectual property; the potential lack of market acceptance of our products; potential competition; our inability to retain key members of our management team; our inability to raise additional capital to fund our operations and business plan; our inability to satisfy covenants in our financing agreements; our inability to maintain our listing of our securities on the Nasdaq Capital Market; our inability to satisfy our customer warranty claims; our ability to continue as a going concern; our liquidity and other risks and uncertainties and other factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. REE expressly disclaims any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Hitachi Media Contact: 
Roxana Moolla 
roxana.moolla@hal.hitachi.com

REE Media Contact:  
Caroline Hutcheson 
carolineh@ree.auto

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SOURCE Hitachi