Lightning eMotors leases additional 107,000 square feet of production space

LOVELAND — Electric vehicle maker and retrofitter Lightning eMotors Inc. added 107,000 square feet of new space to its current home in Loveland’s Rocky Mountain Center for Innovation and Technology as it prepares for a major scale-up in production.

In a statement, the Loveland company said it now holds 231,000 square feet in the RMCIT and has the first right of acceptance for more than 500,000 square feet of additional space in the business park.

The new space will initially be used for research-and-development purposes ahead of a second phase to add automation equipment to meet the company’s goal of producing 3,000 vehicles in 2022.

“The expansion will enable our team to work both faster and smarter, with more testing equipment and automation,” Lightning director of research and development Keith Lehmeier said in a statement. “As we hire engineers, it gives us room to have top-notch facilities for them to work.”

CEO Tim Reeser previously told BizWest that the company had arranged to acquire more space in the area as needed and based on demand levels.

Lightning focuses on installing electric powertrains to light-duty vehicles such as buses, ambulances and delivery vans, either by installing them on new chassis from a factory or retrofitting them onto existing vehicles.

Lightning is continuing its efforts to become publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange within the next several months after announcing the plans in December. The company intends to merge with a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company in a move that could add around $270 million in cash to its coffers and value the company at $823 million.

The company claims to have about $350 million in backlogged orders and believes it can produce $2 billion in revenues by 2025 when including its analytics and fleet charging products.

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