If all goes according to plan, Thomas Healy, 28, will become America’s youngest self-made billionaire next week when shareholders of publicly traded Tortoise Acquisition Group vote September 28 to acquire Hyliion, the Austin-based heavy-duty electric truck company that Healy founded. After that, the ticker symbol will change from SHLL to HYLN, and the new company will get $560 million cash with which to build out Healy’s vision for the future of electrified heavy-duty trucks…

He learned the mechanics behind the machines and began devising electric drivetrains in his dorm room at Carnegie Mellon, where he was also starting punter for the CMU Tartans football team. Studying mechanical engineering, Healy developed the “e-axle”—that’s an electrified axle, powered by lithium-ion batteries, that could be incorporated into the drivetrain of a traditional Class 8, long-haul truck.
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