- Lightning eMotors completes expansion of manufacturing facility
to more than 226,000 square feet, doubling its production
capacity
- Expanded production capacity expected to support up to 1,500
complete zero emission vehicles and powertrain systems annually by
the end of 2022 in order to support Lightning’s strong order
backlog and sales pipeline
- Expansion includes installation of welding collaborative robots
and augmented reality systems, highly automated workstations for
enhanced productivity and quality control
- Lightning eMotors operates on a campus with a total area of one
million square feet, which it believes can scale to support a
capacity of 20,000 zero emission vehicles and powertrain systems
per year
Lightning eMotors (NYSE: ZEV), a leading provider of zero
emissions medium duty commercial vehicles and electric vehicle
technology for fleets, has completed the expansion of its
manufacturing campus in Loveland, Colorado by 102,000 square feet
to a total of over 226,000 square feet and reconfigured
workstations throughout the plant to incorporate advanced
automation and augmented reality systems across multiple
workstations and assembly areas.
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the full release here:
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Manufacturing Engineer Austin Laurel
programs a collaborative welding robot for automated production of
volume parts. (Photo: Lightning eMotors)
The expansion and investment in new plant equipment is part of
the company’s effort to improve efficiency and increase production
capacity. The investment of more than $5 million includes the
installation of sophisticated collaborative robots and man-machine
interface stations to enable technicians to increase throughput and
consistency throughout the assembly process and improve overall
safety and quality.
Lightning eMotors’ retooled and expanded manufacturing
operations will increase the production capacity up to 1,500 zero
emission complete vehicles and powertrain systems annually by the
end of 2022 and keeps the company on track to its previously
announced plan to produce up to 20,000 vehicles and powertrain
systems by 2025. Lightning eMotors believes it can readily expand
and add the additional square footage needed on its one million
square-foot campus to potentially allow it to support capacity for
up to 20,000 complete vehicles and powertrain systems per year.
“Our experience building vehicles and powertrains has provided
us with unique insights about how to build zero-emission vehicles
with industry leading quality and cost control, and we’ve applied
what we learned to the investments we’ve made in the expansion and
automation,” said Lightning eMotors’ CEO Tim Reeser. “This
expansion at our headquarters here in Loveland not only helps us
increase our production capacity – but the additional tooling and
automation enables our technicians to do their jobs more safely,
more efficiently, and with a focus on quality and consistency.”
The plant expansion includes the addition of collaborative
robots (Cobots) to assist technicians with the fabrication and
welding process. Lightning eMotors is also using projected
augmented reality (AR) software to transform the manual assembly
and manufacturing processes. The projected AR platform projects
virtual step-by-step work instructions directly onto an employee’s
work surface, delivering immediate impacts on quality and
productivity.
An additional 3,700 square feet on the campus is also being
renovated to become Lightning’s new vehicle research and
development annex and battery testing center with a commercial
vehicle rated dynamometer and advanced battery testing
equipment.
“As we expand Lightning eMotors’ production capacity we are
incorporating advanced manufacturing processes,” said Brian Barron,
Lightning eMotors’ chief manufacturing officer. “We have also built
a manufacturing and operations team that includes a number of
talented executives who bring a wide range of experience and
expertise from some of the world’s best manufacturers including
BMW, Nissan, and Tesla.”
Currently more than 50 highly skilled technicians build and
customize medium duty commercial vehicles at the company’s
manufacturing campus. That number is expected to more than double
by the end of 2022 as the company continues to expand.
“I am very proud of the team for completing this phase of our
manufacturing operations expansion, and am excited by the
improvements in production efficiency we have been able to achieve
and the new jobs we are creating as we continue to grow,” Reeser
said. “The jobs we are providing are at the higher end of pay and
benefits for manufacturing jobs at this skill level and will
benefit our local community.”
A video of Lightning’s expanded facility and automation tools
can be viewed at https://youtu.be/TTJryY5VePk.
About Lightning eMotors
Lightning eMotors (NYSE: ZEV), based in Loveland,
Colorado, has been providing specialized and sustainable fleet
solutions since 2009, deploying complete zero-emission-vehicle
(ZEV) solutions for commercial fleets since 2018 – including Class
3 cargo and passenger vans, Class 4 and 5 cargo vans and shuttle
buses, Class 4 Type A school buses, Class 6 work trucks, Class 7
city buses, and Class A motor coaches. The Lightning eMotors team
designs, engineers, customizes, and manufactures zero-emission
vehicles to support the wide array of fleet customer needs
including school buses and ambulances, with a full suite of control
software, telematics, analytics, and charging solutions to simplify
the buying and ownership experience and maximize uptime and energy
efficiency. Lightning eMotors also offers charging technologies and
“charging as a service” (CaaS) to commercial and government fleets
via its Lightning Energy division. To learn more, visit
https://lightningemotors.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, as amended. Such forward-looking statements include, but are
not limited to, the expected production capacity by the end of 2022
and 2025, the expected doubling of Lightning eMotors’ workforce by
the middle of 2022, and Lightning eMotors’ expectations, hopes,
beliefs, intentions, plans, prospects or strategies regarding the
future business plans. Any statements contained herein that are not
statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking
statements. In addition, any statements that refer to projections,
forecasts or other characterizations of future events or
circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are
forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,”
“continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,”
“might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,”
“should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify
forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not
mean that a statement is not forward-looking. The forward-looking
statements contained in this press release are based on certain
assumptions and analyses made by the management of Lightning
eMotors in light of their respective experience and perception of
historical trends, current conditions and expected future
developments and their potential effects on Lightning eMotors as
well as other factors they believe are appropriate in the
circumstances. There can be no assurance that future developments
affecting Lightning eMotors will be those anticipated. These
forward-looking statements contained in this press release are
subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and
other factors that may cause actual results or outcomes to be
materially different from any future results or outcomes expressed
or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks,
uncertainties, assumptions and other factors include, but are not
limited to: (i) those related to Lightning eMotors’ operations and
business and financial performance; (ii) the ability of Lightning
eMotors to execute on its business strategy and grow demand for its
products and revenue; (iii) the potential increases in costs or
shortage of materials required to develop and manufacture Lightning
eMotors’ products; (iv) the potential severity, magnitude and
duration of the COVID-19 pandemic as it affects the business
operations, global supply chains, financial results and position of
Lightning eMotors and on the U.S. and global economy; (v) current
market conditions and federal, state, and local laws, regulations
and government incentives, particularly those related to the
commercial electric vehicle market; (vi) the size and growth of the
markets in which Lightning eMotors operates; (vii) the mix of
products utilized by Lightning eMotors’ customers and such
customers’ needs for these products; (viii) market acceptance of
new product offerings and whether this will be a catalyst for
others to purchase electric vehicles and (ix) the rate at which
customers deploy its electric vehicle. These and other risks are
described more fully in Lightning eMotors’ filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission and other documents that it
subsequently files with the SEC from time to time. Moreover,
Lightning eMotors operates in a competitive and rapidly changing
environment, and new risks may emerge from time to time. You should
not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of
future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate
indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or
results will be achieved, if at all. Should one or more of these
risks or uncertainties materialize or should any of the assumptions
being made prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material
respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements.
Lightning eMotors undertakes no obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, except as may be required under
applicable securities laws.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220224005359/en/
Nick Bettis (800) 223-0740
pressrelations@lightningemotors.com
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