EV startups Fisker and Lordstown Motors are now publicly listed companies, though neither has delivered a product yet.
They followed in the footsteps of fellow EV startup Nikola by entering a so-called “reverse merger” with a special purpose acquisition company whose shares are already publicly traded. And more EV-related deals are in the pipeline, including from Canoo and Mullen.
Lordstown merged with DiamondPeak Holdings Corp. and started trading on the Nasdaq on Monday under ticker symbol “RIDE.” After initially jumping 20% to reach a high of $21.75, the shares sold off during this week’s market rout and closed Thursday at $14.74.
Fisker Ocean
Fisker has merged with Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp. and starts trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday under the ticker symbol “FSR.”
By going public, Fisker and Lordstown are expected to receive $1 billion and $675 million, respectively. Both companies will use the bulk of the funds to get their first products to market.
While Fisker doesn’t expect to have its first product, a Tesla Model Y rival called the Ocean, in production until late 2022, Lordstown expects its first product, the Endurance, a full-size pickup truck with in-wheel motors, to be in production by late 2021.
Lordstown Endurance
The Endurance will be built at a former General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, and could be followed by SUVs and a mid-size pickup truck. Lordstown said it has over 40,000 pre-orders, which would equate to about $2 billion in revenue.
As for the Ocean, Fisker plans to outsource production to Magna Steyr in Austria. Magna Steyr will also supply Fisker with a platform for the Ocean and possibly other models the company has on the drawing board.
Fisker said it already has 9,000 reservations for the Ocean, and unlike Lordstown which plans to launch in the North American market, Fisker plans to launch in North America and Europe. One of Fisker’s first European customers is a Danish ride-hailing company called Viggo which this week announced it will purchase 300 Oceans for its fleet.