Detroit — Electric utility company FirstEnergy plans to purchase 250 of Lordstown Motors Corp.’s electric pickup truck, the start-up company said Tuesday.
Lordstown Motors purchased the former General Motors Co. Lordstown Assembly complex in northeast Ohio last fall and has since been working to prepare the plant, the product and to persuade customers to purchase the Endurance electric truck.
“Over the past couple of months, we have worked to better understand the needs of local residents and businesses,” Lordstown Motors CEO Steve Burns said in a statement. “The ultimate goal is to continue to prioritize relationships, like the one we’ve developed with our partners at FirstEnergy, which drive innovative developments for this community.”
Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy, with customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York, will deploy the Endurance trucks to provide service to its customers.
“We remain committed to embracing new ideas and opportunities that better serve our customers and contribute to a sustainable energy future,” said Dennis M. Chack, senior vice president of product development, sales and marketing at FirstEnergy. “We’re proud to partner with Lordstown Motors to enhance our operating fleet and support continued electric vehicle growth throughout our service area.”
Lordstown Motors is focused on attracting commercial customers for its electric truck that features a four-wheel-drive hub-motor system, which reduces the number of moving parts and decreases the cost of the vehicle over its lifetime, the automaker has said. The truck is priced at $52,500.
Production of the Endurance will begin in late 2020 at the sprawling Lordstown plant.
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