Lordstown Motors Surges on Biden’s Plan to Make US Fleet Electric
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Stocks for Lordstown Motors Corp. and Workhorse Group are surging following President Joe Biden’s announcement Monday that he intends to have the entire federal fleet of vehicles be electric powered.
According to the Federal Fleet Report, issued by the U.S. General Services Administration, there are 645,000 vehicles, including 225,000 post office vehicles, 245,000 civilian vehicles and 173,000 military vehicles.
“The federal government owns an enormous fleet of vehicles, which we’re going to replace with clean electric vehicles made right here in America by American workers,” Biden said in a press conference Monday, forecasting the creation of a million jobs. “Together, this will be the largest mobilization of public investment in procurement, infrastructure and R&D since World War II.”
Following Biden’s late afternoon announcement, the stock price for Workhorse rose 7.4% to $26.54 in after-hours trading. The company is a finalist for a contract with the Post Office to provide 180,000 electric-powered mail trucks. A decision on the contract is expected to be made in the second fiscal quarter. The company is licensing Lordstown Motors’ battery technology for its vehicles.
Lordstown Motors, meanwhile, rose 5.2% in after-hours trading to $24.40.
Also on Monday, the startup shared its first pictures of a service center in Irvine, Calif., (pictured at top) that will serve the southern California market.
“The company has chosen California as the location for its first service center outside of Ohio due to the favorable regulatory backdrop in the state, which is aggressively promoting more widespread adoption of electric vehicles,” Lordstown Motors said in November when it announced the creation of the service center.
Biden’s “Buy American” executive order will apply to about a third of the $600 billion worth of goods and services the federal government guys. A key part of the plan is revitalizing the manufacturing sector, which accounts for about 12% of the national economy.
“America can’t sit on the sidelines in the race to the future. Our competitors aren’t waiting,” Biden said. “To ensure the future is made in America, we need to win not just the jobs of today, but the jobs and industries of tomorrow.”
Pictured: Lordstown Motors’ service center in Irvine, Calif. Image via Lordstown Motors.
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