UTICA, N.Y. (BRAIN) — eBliss Global plans to invest more than $4.1 million in an e-bike assembly and logistics factory here, the company announced Wednesday.
The Austin, Texas-based company has committed to state and local development officials to create at least 40 direct jobs at the facility, which will have capacity to produce as many as 100,000 e-bikes annually for eBliss and the company’s other private label brands.
The initial goal is to produce 15,000 e-bikes annually.
“This endeavor has been years in the making,” said Bill Klehm, the CEO of eBliss Global. “This factory represents a significant and crucial step in our mission to build e-bikes in the USA. Utica, Oneida County, and Upstate New York have historically been known as a hub of blue-collar industry, and we’re thrilled to be part of its next chapter and to build the green transportation revolution right here in Upstate New York.”
Klehm is the former CEO of Fallbrook Technologies, the developer of the NuVinci variable transmission drivetrain. EBliss’s chief design officer is Tony Ellsworth, the founder of the Ellsworth mountain bike brand. Industry veteran Steve Richey is a vice president at eBliss.
According to a release from the company, the project “has already attracted interest from other companies looking to relocate manufacturing operations to the United States, signaling strong momentum toward reshoring clean mobility production.”
Empire State Development, the state development agency, is supporting the project and the company's job creation goals with up to $500,000 in performance-based Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits.
The facility will be in downtown Utica’s Harbor Point development. ESD has previously committed more than $12.7 million into the infrastructure and redevelopment of Harbor Point, including nearly $480,000 into the recently opened promenade, and $1.25 million into apartments and commercial space currently under construction.
Utica, a city of about 65,000, is at the foot of the Adirondacks on the Mohawk River about 95 miles northwest of Albany.
