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Lordstown Motors, which hopes to start delivering the electric
pickup to customers by January 2021 and is still working to
raise additional capital, will face significant competition from
other automakers.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Energy Secretary Dan
Brouillette will attend the event featuring the pre-production
vehicle on Thursday in the politically important state of Ohio.
"Ohio has always been an auto state, an auto parts state... and
really this is the future," Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said of
Lordstown Motors' "Endurance" electric truck on Wednesday.
The fate of the sprawling GM plant became a political lightning
rod after the largest U.S. automaker announced its planned
closure in November 2018, drawing condemnation from U.S.
President Donald Trump and many U.S. lawmakers.
As recently as 2016, the GM plant employed 4,500 workers and its
March 2019 closure was devastating to the area.
Lordstown Motors, which is 10% owned by Workhorse Group Inc,
bought the former GM plant and equipment for $20 million as part
of its ambitious plan to begin delivering electric pickup trucks
to customers by year end - a goal which has since been delayed
to January.
The startup currently has 70 employees and about 100
contractors. Other firms are also preparing to enter the
electric truck sector.
GM plans to build its first electric pickup truck in 2021. Tesla
Inc plans to start building its electric Cybertruck in 2021,
while Nikola Corp plans to build an electric truck by 2022.
Electric vehicle startup Rivian plans to build an electric
pickup truck starting in late 2020, while Ford Motor Co will
introduce an electric F-150 truck in 2022.
In December, GM and South Korea’s LG Chem said they would invest
$2.3 billion to build an electric vehicle battery cell joint
venture plant near the Lordstown plant.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da
Costa)
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