A new Fontana EV truck plant bets on state programs as federal support fades

ZM Trucks opened a battery-electric truck assembly plant and North American headquarters in Fontana in late August 2025, and the timing tells the story. The company launched into a shifting federal landscape — EV tax credits winding down, emissions rules in flux — and has said plainly it isn't counting on Washington. Its strategy leans on state-level programs in California and a handful of other states instead.

That's a notable bet for the IE. The region's manufacturing base has been the larger share of its mass-layoff filings over the past year, so a new plant in the sector runs against the trend — but the scale is early-stage, not a wave of hiring. ZM said it started with a pilot line of about 39 workers and roughly 69 people across the plant and headquarters at opening, against a stated target near 200 if production scales as planned.

The plant is built to assemble several models on one line: the ZM8, a short-wheelbase electric truck for urban delivery, and the T75 terminal tractor for ports and yards, with heavier Class 7 and 8 models to follow. The company has said serial production of those larger trucks is targeted for the second quarter of 2026 — meaning the ramp that would move the headcount toward its target is just beginning now, not already underway.

Two facts qualify the "American manufacturing" framing. ZM Trucks is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based ZO Motors, and its vehicles are built on a platform from Weichai New Energy, part of a Chinese industrial group, under a 2024 agreement. The company has said the share of components made in North America is still unsettled as tariff levels move. So the Fontana operation is final assembly and headquarters for now, with a supply chain that reaches well outside the region.

For an IE workforce planner, the read is measured. This is a real zero-emission manufacturing foothold in a county actively courting the segment, and it could grow into a few hundred jobs if the production ramp holds. It is also a sub-100-person operation today, still in its pilot phase, placing its bet on state policy at a moment when the federal direction is pulling the other way. Worth tracking as production starts — not yet a settled win.