NOTE 9 – STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

In January 2021, the Company’s board of directors adopted the Volcon, Inc. 2021 Stock Plan, (the “2021 Plan”). The 2021 Plan is a stock-based compensation plan that provides for discretionary grants of stock options, stock awards, and restricted stock unit awards to employees, members of the board of directors and consultants (including restricted stock units issued prior to the adoption of the plan as further discussed below). The Company initially reserved a total of 3,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock for issuance under the 2021 Plan. On July 26, 2022, the Company’s stockholders approved an increase of 4,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock for issuance under the 2021 plan, which may be adjusted for changes in capitalization and certain corporate transactions. To the extent that an award, if forfeitable, expires, terminates or lapses, or an award is otherwise settled in cash without the delivery of shares of common stock to the participant, then any unpaid shares subject to the award will be available for future grant or issuance under the 2021 Plan. Shares available for issuance under the 2021 Plan as of December 31, 2022, were 3,106,808 shares. Awards vest according to each agreement and as long as the employee remains employed with the Company or the consultant continues to provide services in accordance with the terms of the agreement.

Restricted Stock Units

The following is the restricted stock unit activity for the year ended December 31, 2022:

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In January 2022, the Company granted 10,000 RSUs that vested over 3 months (vesting began in December 2021), to a consultant.

For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company recognized expenses for RSUs of $1,267,550 and $237,764 , respectively. The Company expects to recognize additional compensation expenses of $121,765 related to RSUs assuming all awards outstanding at December 31, 2022 will vest.

Performance shares

In January 2021, the Board of Directors authorized 250,000 of common stock to be reserved under the 2021 Plan for issuance to employees upon achieving multiple Company performance milestones. The allocation of the number of shares to be awarded was to be determined upon achievement of all the milestones. In July 2021, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors approved a grant of 162,507 shares since some of the performance milestones were met. The Company recognized share-based compensation expense of $594,775 related to the grant of these shares.

The remaining 87,493 shares not awarded in July 2021 were available for issuance to employees based upon achieving multiple Company performance milestones for the second half of 2021. On March 1, 2022, the Compensation Committee of the board of directors approved a grant of 44,623 shares for the achievement of some of the Company’s performance milestones, and the Company recognized share-based compensation expenses of $82,050 related to the grant of these shares in the quarter ended March 31, 2022. Certain individuals whose employment terminated subsequent to December 31, 2021 forfeited their share grants totaling 2,876 shares and such shares are available for future issuance under the 2021 Plan.

On February 6, 2023 the compensation committee of the board of directors approved a grant of 154,983 shares (154,332 will be issued due a forfeiture of 661 shares) for the achievement of some of the Company’s 2022 performance milestones to active employees as of February 6, 2023 who were employed as of December 31, 2022. The Company will recognize share-based compensation expenses of $258,821 related to the grant of these shares in the quarter ended March 31, 2023. The compensation committee also approved reserving the remaining 95,018 not issued for 2022 performance milestones for issuance to active employees on the date the first Stag is shipped to a customer. In addition, the compensation committee also approved reserving 250,000 shares to issue based on achievement of the Company’s 2023 performance milestones to employees who are employed in 2023 and are active employees on the date of approval in 2024 by the compensation committee.

Stock Options

The following is the common stock options to employees and consultants for services during the year ended December 31, 2022:

On September 14, 2022, the Company granted 856,000 stock options to employees, excluding Company officers, of which 50% of the options will vest on March 15, 2023 and the remaining 50% will vest on September 14, 2023 so long as employment continues as of each applicable vesting date. The remaining grants during 2022 primarily represent options granted to new employees with vesting terms primarily over three years, one third on the employees’ employment anniversary date.

The Company valued the options granted in 2022 using the fair value of the shares of common stock between $0.98 – $5.00, volatility between 71% - 105% based on peer companies, risk free interest rate between 0.77% - 0.85%, no dividends and an estimated life of 6 years. During the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company recognized expense of $1,966,958 and $544,069 related to these common stock options. The Company expects to recognize additional compensation expense of $3,683,936 related to these common stock options assuming all awards vest.

Total stock-based compensation recorded for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 for all stock based compensation awards, including warrants, has been recorded as follows: