SPAC Boom Propels Electric Carmakers to Public Markets
Bloomberg 1/22/2021 Ed Ludlow and Crystal Tse
(Bloomberg) Until June last year, Tesla Inc. was the only dedicated electric carmaker based in the U.S. on the stock market. Then special purpose acquisition companies took over Wall Street.
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SPACs, or blank-check companies, are shell vehicles that raise money to take a private company public via a reverse merger. Unlike traditional initial public offerings, SPAC deals allow listing candidates to market financial projections to investors, a perk for earlier stage companies that have yet to prove their business model.
Electric-vehicle companies, many of which are yet to launch commercial products, have taken advantage of that. Nikola Corp. was the first high profile one to go public via a SPAC listing, followed by others including Lordstown Motors Corp., Fisker Inc. and Canoo Inc.
Lordstown Motors Surpasses 100,000 Pre-Orders for the Lordstown Endurance, First Full-Size, All-Electric Pickup Truck for Fleets
LORDSTOWN, Ohio, Jan. 11, 2021; Lordstown Motors Corp. , (“Lordstown Motors”), an emerging OEM producing electric light duty trucks focused on the commercial fleet market, has received more than 100,000 non-binding production reservations from commercial fleets for its Lordstown Endurance™ all-electric pickup truck, with an average order size of nearly 600 vehicles per fleet.
“Receiving 100,000 pre-orders from commercial fleets for a truck like the Endurance is unprecedented in automotive history,” said Steve Burns, CEO of Lordstown Motors. “Adding in the interest we have from federal, state, municipal and military fleets on top of that, I think you can see why we feel that we are about to revolutionize the pickup truck industry.”
GM will build electric commercial delivery vans in Canada
$800 million makeover will see EV600 production by late this year 511 2 minutes read General Motors will invest $800 million to make over a plant in Ingersoll, Ontario to make its EV600 electric delivery van. (Photo: GM)
Editor’s Note:
Updates 6th paragraph with outcome of ratification voting
General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) will invest $800 million in a makeover of a plant in Ingersoll, Ontario to build its EV600 electric delivery vans.
Adding the EV600 along with the EP1 electric e-pallet, and a software platform for fleet and asset management, immediately makes GM a player among traditional and startup companies offering electrified commercial vehicles.
Staff writer
WORK PROGRESSES â This Jan. 7 photo of the Ultium Cells LLC plant in Lordstown shows the scope of the facility that will mass produce battery cells for General Motorsâ electric vehicles. The company wants to have 400 employees on board by the end of the year and plans to ramp up to 1,100 through 2022, the expected production start date. To the east is the natural gas-fired power plant Lordstown Energy Center.
LORDSTOWN Ultium Cells LLC an electric vehicle battery-cell manufacturing plant jointly backed by General Motors and South Korea’s LG Chem plans to have 400 employees on board by the end of the year.
Staff writer
LORDSTOWN Ultium Cells LLC an electric vehicle battery-cell manufacturing plant jointly backed by General Motors and South Korea’s LG Chem plans to have 400 employees on board by the end of the year.
The company has started with three so far with human resources, training and workplace safety assignments.
“Ultium Cells has just started employee hiring to begin employee training for initial leaders that will serve as key resources as we begin to install process equipment, set-up production areas, validate equipment and launch production equipment,” said Dan Flores, GM spokesman.
Ultium’s timeline is to ramp up to about 1,100 employees by the end of 2022. Also during that time will be phased equipment installation at the $2.3 billion facility on Tod Avenue, immediately east of GM’s former automaking plant.