TU-TESL

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(photo source: China official website) according to foreign media reports, the electric truck company named Lordstown motors in Ohio, USA, bought a highly political factory from GM. The deal, announced Thursday, ends an era GM created in 1966, when it officially opened the plant. Last month, UAW signed a new labor contract with GM. however, UAW was unable to persuade GM to keep the plant. At that time, the fate of the plant was basically determined. At present, both parties have not disclosed the terms of this transaction. Work horse, the parent company of Lordstown motors, rose 12 percent to $2.75 a share on the New York Stock Exchange, but it did not own the plant. GM announced a year ago that it would not produce at the plant, which has since become a tool of recrimination among politicians. A year ago, President Donald Trump promised to boost jobs in the region and dissuaded local protesters from selling their homes. After GM decided to shut down the plant, Democrats seized the opportunity to use the incident as a symbol of Trump's inability to deliver on its promise to voters in key states. Trump was so supportive of GM's plan to sell the plant that he announced in May that the two sides were about to start negotiations ahead of GM and workhorse. After the completion of the plant acquisition, Steve burns, CEO of Lordstown motors, is focusing on the second stage: seeking funds to transform the facility from a Chevrolet Cruz fuel vehicle production plant to an electric pickup plant. Lordstown motors named its first vehicle endurance, and its target customers are commercial fleet buyers with a large share of the truck market. GM said on November 7 that it believed "the plan of Lordstown motors to launch the endurance electric pickup truck has the potential to create a large number of jobs and make the region an electric vehicle manufacturing center." But GM will not invest in the project. Workhorse group is also one of the bidders for the lucrative contract, after the U.S. Postal service launched a bid for companies to produce electric trucks for them. Burns said the two sides share intellectual property rights related to the electric drive system. He also said that if workhorse can obtain a contract for the US postal service, the acquired factory may be responsible for the production of these vehicles, but the company cannot guarantee this at present. Lordstown motors did sign an agreement with workhorse to hand over 6000 existing orders to Lordstown motors, an electric truck called w-15. Burns said that if he could raise enough money to produce the endurance model, he would work with UAW to hire employees who are reluctant to move to other GM plants. Burns hopes to get experienced vehicle assemblers to build the company's electric trucks. Burns said endurance will have a motor on each wheel for all wheel drive. Compared with the existing pickups in the market, endurance has fewer active parts, which helps reduce the maintenance cost of fleet operators. In addition, the vehicle will be equipped with sockets to facilitate the use of electric tools through the vehicle. Lordstown Motors has enough money to acquire the plant and develop vehicles, but burns needs more money for ongoing development, crash and safety testing, truck approval for sale, and plant renewal. UAW is opposed to GM selling the plant because of the risks. First, after the sale, the fate of the plant will be tied to a small start-up with tight funding. Secondly, there is uncertainty in the future market demand for electric vehicles. Several start-ups of electric vehicles have failed before, including Fisker automotive, which was acquired by a Chinese auto parts group after bankruptcy, and even struggled to make sustainable profits. Burns said he has hired a number of experienced employees from general motors and other companies. Rick Schmidt, the company's chief Production Officer, previously served as Tesla's production director for three and a half years. "We have a solid team and I am confident in financing," Burns said