Lordstown Motors acquires factory to manufacture EVs in Lordstown, Ohio
Lordstown Motors Corp. (LMC), a new original equipment manufacturer (OEM), announced the acquisition of the GM manufacturing complex in Lordstown, Ohio.
The move paves the way for LMC to begin production of the Endurance pickup truck, the industry's first all-electric pickup truck purpose-built for fleets starting in late 2020.
“We are committed to the people of Lordstown, we will locate our headquarters in the Lordstown plant, and we plan to build the Endurance pickup truck utilising experienced workers who helped produce millions of vehicles in this very same plant,” said Steve Burns, LMC CEO.
The 6.2 million square-foot Lordstown factory is a fully-equipped automotive plant that has produced over 16 million vehicles to date. The LMC entity was created in connection with, and for the purpose of, acquiring the General Motors manufacturing facility located in Lordstown, Ohio. LMC intends to manufacture electric trucks in Lordstown.
“The quality and precision of the production robotics and equipment in the Lordstown facility is evident,” said Rich Schmidt, Chief Production Officer, Lordstown Motors, and former Director of Manufacturing, Tesla, Inc. “Our team feels this is a factor to help us hit the ground running in building the Endurance pickup truck.”
Lordstown Motors will be licensing components of Workhorse Group's proven electric drive technology in building the Endurance electric pickup truck, a plan designed to achieve greater speed to market. The agreement with Workhorse also provides the opportunity to transfer 6,000 existing pre-orders received by Workhorse for its W-15 prototype to LMC.
Under the terms of the IPLA, Workhorse is granting LMC a three-year exclusive license of certain intellectual property relating to the Company's W-15 electric pickup truck in exchange for an initial equity stake of 10% in LMC, which will be anti-dilutive for two years. Going forward, Workhorse is entitled to a license fee equal to 1% of the gross sales price of each LMC truck sold, up to the first 200,000 units.
LMC has agreed to pre-pay a portion of the license fee in an amount equal to 1% of the aggregate debt and equity commitments LMC intends to raise. Once the pre-payment has been amortised over actual production, LMC will pay on a per unit shipped basis up to the 200,000 unit cap. Workhorse will receive an additional 4% commission on the gross sales price of trucks sold which fulfill the 6,000 pre-orders for the W-15 transferred from the Company to LMC.
“This long-term partnership allows Workhorse to benefit by both monetizing our existing technology and participating in the upside potential of this new venture without prohibitively diluting our existing shareholders,” said Company CEO Duane Hughes. “Having an affiliated company with significant automotive production capacity also provides us with beneficial manufacturing footprint options in the future, should Workhorse win substantially larger contracts as we scale our operations. We also appreciate GM's acceptance of our combined proposal and believe it represents the best opportunity to keep production in Lordstown.”
The Endurance pickup truck is designed to be the first production vehicle that utilises a 4-wheel-drive hub-motor system, a design that reduces the number of moving parts. With its hub motor design, Lordstown engineers have set out to re-invent the electric vehicle. Fleet managers benefit with less breakdowns, lower maintenance, and most importantly, less cost. The overall benefit is an attractive Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), which translates into a significantly lower lifetime operational cost compared to traditional pickup trucks.
The Endurance pickup truck is designed with features fleets want, like an onboard power export, allowing fleet workers to run power tools at the job site without the need for a portable generator or leaving the truck running. The truck is engineered to be lightweight, with all-wheel drive and a low center of gravity, while maintaining ground clearance. Lordstown Motors has set a goal to make the Endurance pickup truck the safest, most economical, and greenest electric pickup truck ever built.
“Lordstown Motors, along with other planned investments in the area and other start-ups, are positioning Northeast Ohio as a hub for technology, which completely reshapes the future trajectory of the whole Mahoning Valley,” said Jim Tressel, President of Youngstown State University. “Think of being in the epicenter of EV technology. We must take charge of our future.”
Burns added: “We're honoured to have the opportunity to build electric vehicles in Lordstown because the people of Lordstown and the plant are and will be the history and future of the auto industry. When the first Endurance electric pickup rolls off that line, it will be a great day for Lordstown, Ohio and America.”
Lordstown Motors acquires factory to manufacture EVs in Lordstown, Ohio
Modified on Monday 11th November 2019
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Lordstown Motors acquires factory to manufacture EVs in Lordstown, Ohio