(Bloomberg) — Lightning eMotors Inc. shares surged after the company that electrifies commercial vehicles announced a strategic partnership with a Berkshire Hathaway Inc.-backed bus maker.
Lightning, whose stock started trading in May after a merger with a blank-check company, will build fully electric powertrains and provide charging products and services to Berkshire’s Forest River Inc., according to a statement Tuesday. The companies said they’ll deploy as many as 7,500 shuttle buses.
Lightning shares soared 85% to $11.87 as of 10:11 a.m. in New York. The stock had slumped 26% since the close on May 7, its first day of trading.
Forest River will use powertrains from Lightning in Class 4 and 5 shuttle buses it plans to manufacturer at an existing plant in Goshen, Indiana. The companies estimated the potential value of their agreement at $850 million.
The deal with a business linked to billionaire Warren Buffett’s firm is a big win for Lightning after a series of setbacks for electric vehicle-related startups that have merged with special-purpose acquisition companies. The manufacturer formerly known as Lightning Hybrids buys commercial-vehicle chassis from companies including Ford Motor Co. and assembles electric versions at its 250,000 square-foot facility in Loveland, Colorado.
Forest River, which sells shuttle buses under the Starcraft, Glaval, and Champion brands, plans to market the battery-powered vehicles through its network of more than 100 dealerships in the U.S. and Canada.
(Upates with opening shares in third paragraph. An earlier version of this story corrected the spelling of Buffett.)
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