Electric truck startup Lordstown Motors is steering toward the future after reporting earnings on Thursday. The company reaffirmed plans to begin production of its first vehicle — the Endurance — which Lordstown bills as an all-electric work truck built for fleets and the modern worker. “We plan to start production in the third quarter of this year,” CEO Edward T. Hightower said in an interview with Cheddar News. “We plan for the vehicles to go on sale to our commercial fleet customers … in the fourth quarter of this year. So, it's a very exciting time. It's a very busy time.”


Closing Bell

Lordstown Motors Plans Q4 Delivery of Its First Electric Trucks

Welcome back to closing balance shadow news, everyone, electric truck startup, Lordstown Motors steering toward the future after reporting earnings this week, the company reaffirming plans to start production of its first vehicle called the endurance, which Lordstown builds as an all electric work truck built for fleets and the modern worker, the company also confirming the trucks roll out plan with customer deliveries expected to start by the end of the year and joining me now is Edward Hightower Ceo of Lordstown Motors Edward, thank you so much for taking the time. When is production going to kick off this quarter? Well, first, thank you for having me, Kristen we plan to start as we gave guidance yesterday. We plan to start production in the third quarter of this year. This year we're uh, completing all our preparations of the vehicle and the plant and we plan for the vehicles to go on sale to our commercial fleet customers after full home allegation and certification in the fourth quarter of this year. So it's a, it's a very exciting time. It's a very busy time. Anyone who's been around the automotive industry knows how busy and complex the vehicle launch can be. We have a great team and we're excited to get the vehicles in the hands of our customers and this is a huge obviously launch for you. It's your first vehicle that you're going to be sending out to customers Edward. How confident are you that it can go well and as planned, you know, I think we're, we're focusing on all the correct disciplines and the right fundamentals. Um, you know, since I've, since I joined the company in the late fall, we've been focusing and we brought in a really experienced team with with years and decades of vehicle development, vehicle engineering and vehicle launch experience from the global auto mode of industry, a number of OHms around the world and we've been focusing on all of the key elements of developing engineering, testing, industrialization, and launching the products so that we get it, get it right and in the hands of our customers as we promised, you know, it is pretty impressive. Your company Edward reaffirming its guidance and that coming at a time when actually some of your luxury counterparts and thinking of lucid motors for instance, earlier this week actually having its production forecast, citing supply chain challenges and logistics issues. How are you able to navigate this environment in a sense that you can reaffirm your projections? Yes, no, we we were we we face some of those challenges as well. But we have an excellent purchasing and supply chain team. We have an excellent engineering team and excellent manufacturing team. So we're really focusing on part availability, part pedigree and part part quantity as the guiding driver of our launch Along with obviously engineering readiness and quality. So we're managing those challenges within the global supply chain and you know, it's the part of the blocking and tackling that any successful automaker has to do and our team is up for, I'm going to share some numbers here because they did look through your earnings report? I did see 236 million in cash on hand That the company had at the end of the quarter. Actually also able to cut its full year capital needs to between 50 to 75 million down from 150 million, citing lower expenses. So that certainly is a positive as well. I know it does take obviously a lot of capital to get a start up in the automobile space off the road physically. Um, I'm just curious if you're looking to raise more capital down the road. Well, first of all the numbers you cited, we were able to control our expenses, which has been very important were by, by really focusing all of our resources on the launch. You know, getting this vehicle into the hands of our, our customers. But as we've said, we're going to launch very slowly and build an initial batch of vehicles. Um, to get them in the hands of our customers, we think our customers are gonna love them. And then we're going to, we're working on raising additional capital to scale the endurance, uh, beyond that. So we're excited to get them in the hands of our customers in the fourth quarter. Uh, we have some, uh, partnership and capital raising efforts ongoing, which will be a key part of scaling going forward. So Edward, we do know still that supply chain challenges are persistent in the automobile space, there's so many components and commodities to that go into these big heavy duty automobiles. How is your company handling inflation? And do you plan to pass down higher prices to your customers? Well, you know, we've, we plan to build a single configuration of the endurance at a price point of just, you know, as we've announced just under $63,500. And we feel it's important to launch at that competitive price point uh, in because our commercial fleet customers value total cost of ownership and we feel that the endurance will deliver on that total cost of ownership in addition to other attributes, its capability, it's handling, um, its responsiveness through the, in wheel hub motors and the low center of gravity driven by the it being a battery electric vehicle with the battery mounted low. So our plan is to get the vehicle in the marketplace at that price point and our team is going to continue to manage, manage those challenges in the supply chain which which we're all facing but wanted delivered to our customers. Okay, how confident are you in your working relationship with Foxconn? I know you actually sold your Ohio facility to Foxconn that allowed you to rake in some hefty dough there must, you must feel like that is on solid footing if you're able to reaffirm your guidance here for the rest of the year. You know, it's a part, it's a great partnership Kristen because it wasn't just about the sale of the plant, it's about creating that relationship with the Foxconn growing global electric vehicle ecosystem. In addition to the sale of the plant to Foxconn, we formed a joint venture with Foxconn which I lead as well to develop future electric vehicles alpha there, you know, growing ecosystem uh, parts that they will make internally themselves. Uh they're M. I. H. Consortium, Mobility and Harmony Consortium which they formed back in 2021 to uh increase more commonality across the industry. So it's a partnership that will go beyond the sale of the plant and the contract manufacturing agreement that we now have with with Foxconn and the Ohio plant uh into the future as well. So the endurance is not the end of our story, it's really the start of our story, it's very exciting to be working in this new new innovative business model in the automotive industry. The endurance I to forge ahead. I see where you're going there Edward. My last question due to timing is the biden administration making big investments in electric vehicles, public charging stations, Will those federal investments, billions of dollars of money going into this industry impact your company and if so how I think it will, I think, you know, all of the efforts that draw additional awareness to the E. V. Space uh the obviously the the financial incentives and the increased charging availability is a great thing for electric vehicle manufacturers like us. But it also, you know, reaffirms that we're at a tipping point where the industry is truly shifting towards electrification and the data suggests that customers that get into these vehicles, they really love them and I don't want to move back to ice. All right, Edward Hightower, newly appointed Ceo of Lordstown Motors Edward, thank you so much for joining.