LOVELAND — Lightning eMotors Inc. (NYSE: ZEV) debuted on the New York Stock Exchange Friday after completion of the company’s merger with GigCapital3 Inc., with the company’s stock gaining 10.49% in its first day of trading, closing at $8.64.

The Loveland-based electric-vehicle company announced Thursday that it had finalized its merger with GigCapital3, assuming the publicly traded status of the special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. A SPAC is a shell entity formed with the intention of going public, then merging with another company, enabling that company to go public without its own initial public offering.

With the deal, Lightning eMotors’ ticker symbol of “ZEV” replaced GigCapital3’s “GIK” on the New York Stock Exchange. Warrants for Lightning are traded under the symbol “ZEV.WS.”

Lightning eMotors occupies 231,000 square feet in The Forge, the former home to Hewlett-Packard Co. and Agilent Technologies, in southwest Loveland, with an option for additional space.

The merger with GigCapital3 provided the electric-vehicle company with $268 million in gross proceeds, the company said.

“Lightning eMotors has the country’s largest commercial zero-emission fleet vehicle manufacturing facility in the U.S. with annual production capacity of 1,000 vehicles today and expanding to 3,000 in 2021 and over 20,000 by 2025,” the company said in a press release. 

The company has added 100 employees in the past year, including a chief financial officer, chief procurement officer and chief revenue officer.

Lightning has a contracted order backlog of approximately 1,500 vehicles for delivery in 2021 and 2022, the company said.

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