Shares of Lordstown ( RIDE ) rise as the company begins deliveries

Electric truck startup Lordstown Motors It said on Tuesday that it has started shipping its pickup truck to customers after receiving final regulatory approval to sell the vehicle in the United States.

Shares of Lordstown rose more than 7% in premarket trading.

In a major milestone for the company, Lordstown said it was certified for sale by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board following a series of successful tests, including crash testing. It is now a first shipment The initial batch is 500 trucks to customers.

The Endurance is an electric pickup truck designed for commercial-fleet use.

Lordstown previously said it plans to slowly ramp up production of Endurance. The company said the cost of building the Endurance is “materially higher” than the selling price of the truck and will be until the company achieves economies of scale. On November 8, Lordstown said It expects to build about 30 trucks by the end of the year. It plans to complete that first batch of 500 by the end of June 2023.

Endurance builds Foxconn Taiwan contract manufacturer in Ohio factory Purchased from Lordstown Earlier this year. Lordstown is actively seeking automaker partners to develop and manufacture the Endurance.

At the end of the third quarter, Lordstown had about $204 million in cash.