If you read our article about the vehicle Alpha Motor Corporation presented at the Petersen Automotive Museum, you know it is not a prototype but rather a mockup. In other words, it is a design study – probably made of clay – with no interior and incapable of moving on its own. If you watched the presentation video, you might have noticed the company presented two people: Joshua Boyt and Jay Lijewski. Would they be Alpha executives? Green Car Reports discovered they are baristas from Seattle who have already worked for Volvo at events such as the New York Auto Show.
In the video (embedded to this article), they talk about Alpha Motor Corporations plans as “we,” which implies they are part of the company. Green Car Reports talked to Alpha Motor Corporation and they were told the baristas are part of what the company calls its “Move Humanity” initiative. The two mention "move humanity" in the video and also that Alpha Motor Corporation is raising money with the Michael J. Fox Foundation to research and try to beat Parkinson’s disease. However, a LinkedIn post from Lijewski makes that look like one more job from the company he founded with Boyt: Advanced Placement LLC.
The unusual move makes us wonder what the people behind Alpha Motor Corporation wanted to achieve by having two marketing professionals who love coffee represent their company. So far, the startup has not presented a single executive nor how or where it intends to produce six electric vehicles. With a deadline to get that going by 2023, Alpha Motor Corporation only has two years to go and no working prototype as far as we know.
When I worked for InsideEVs, I also tried to discover more about Alpha Motor Corporation. It was revealing multiple beautifully designed electric vehicles and was accepting pre-orders for them despite having presented only CGI. I tried to confirm if they were taking money deposits for these reservations and who the people behind it were, but all I found out just left me more intrigued.
Photo: Alpha Motor
The company was founded in Delaware but is established in Irvine, California. Its headquarters are in a rented office from Discovery Park Irvine Spectrum, located at 530 Technology Dr. Suite 100, Irvine, California. Inspecting Alpha trademarks, the only name that is associated with them is that of Edward Y. Lee, with a mailing address in Tustin.
Then I found an attorney in California with the same name, but he denied he was the same Edward Y. Lee from the trademarks. His law firm uses the internet address EYLLAw.com. In another apparent coincidence, the Edward Lee that established Alpha EV LLC with the Tustin mailing address also opened a company called EYLArt.
Green Car Reports checked the incorporation documents for Alpha Motor Corporation and found that an Edward Lee (not Edward Y. Lee) was listed as an executive along with a new name: Michelle Quan. They further discovered that those people and the headquarters’ address connect Alpha Motor Corporation to another enterprise: Neuron Corporation, a company that also said that it would make electric vehicles.
Photo: Alpha Motor
Neuron Corporation was created in California on September 10, 2018, by Edward Lee and Jonathan Leu. On August 12, 2019, an SI-550 (Statement of Information) form was filed to say Edward Lee would be its CEO and director and Michelle Quan its secretary and CFO. Neuron Corporation’s official address was changed to 530 Technology Dr. Suite 100, Irvine, California: the same one Alpha Motor Corporation currently has.
On April 28, 2020, an electronic SI-550 filing informed that the new CEO and secretary for Neuron Corporation would be Gang Zheng. This venture capital investor founded Neuron New Energy Vehicle in China. It seems that the American company is a subsidiary of the Chinese enterprise, but we did not manage to confirm that.
On June 3, 2020, Edward Lee dissolved Neuron Corporation. A little before that, on May 7, 2020, a person called Fang Chen incorporated Neuron EV. On August 5, 2020, an SI-550 form informed that Gang Zheng would be Neuron EV’s director, Edmund Chen would be its CEO, secretary, and CFO, and Fang Chen would remain as its agent for service of process. Its address is also in Tustin, but it is different from that presented on the Alpha Motor trademarks. Also, on August 2020, Alpha Motor Corporation was registered in Delaware.
Photo: Alpha Motor
To Green Car Reports, Alpha said it was not related to Neuron and is not funded by Gang Zheng. The Wolf electric pickup truck would not be based on any previous vehicle. If all the startup has to show is a mockup, we should add that it is based only on the CGI Alpha presented. Alpha Motor Corporation finally told Green Car Reports that, since it did not take money from any of its reservation holders, it has no obligation to disclose its plans.
Although that is a valid argument, why then is Alpha Motor Corporation so focused on revealing its six vehicles (so far) if it wants to keep things close to the chest? Why did it hire two baristas to present its first mockup? Why is it trying to associate with the Petersen Automotive Museum and Michael J. Fox Foundation to promote its EVs?
Most of all, what is the purpose of presenting products before any of them is anywhere close to being ready for delivery? That normally is a strategy for raising funds to develop these vehicles or to convince an automotive partner to join these efforts. It may also be something else entirely, but Alpha Motor Corporation already said it owes no one any explanation.
Despite that, it is fantastic to see that Green Car Reports also wants answers from Alpha Motor Corporation, adding pieces to this puzzle. If Alpha were talking only to potential investors as a private company in private talks, that would indeed not be any of our business. When it starts publicly presenting vehicles regular customers may dream about buying, it is our obligation to check how instead of just increasing the hype around CGI and tech specs that cannot be verified.
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