Taiwan manufacturer Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) said Thursday that Ohio will become its electric vehicle hub in North America, Kallanish reports.

The company confirmed the $230 million purchase of Lordstown Motors’ plant in Lordstown, Ohio, is a new milestone for the group. The deal completion comes a few days before the 18 May deadline set by the companies and gives Lordstown a lifeline to complete its Endurance electric pick-up truck.

As part of the acquisition, Foxconn plans to offer the 400 employees from Lordstown “exciting and challenging opportunities to develop their career paths in the field of electric vehicles” through collaboration with other automotive OEMs.

The companies also signed a contract manufacturing agreement and a joint venture agreement for product development. The latter, to be called MIH EV Design LLC, will be 55% owned by Foxconn. In addition to its $55m investment into the JV, Foxconn will loan Lordstown $45m to support its initial capital commitment in the venture.

The JV will use Foxconn’s MIH platform to bring Lordstown’s electric light-duty truck Endurance to mass production and to develop new commercial EVs for other OEMs internationally.

“By sharing expertise and integrating resources, the two parties will be able to help the OEMs in the supply chain to effectively and efficiently reduce time to market and time to cost, achieving the benefits of scale,” Foxconn says in a statement.

Earlier, Lordstown’s ceo Daniel Ninivaggi had defended the strategic partnership provides the company with a “flexible and less capital-intensive business model, access to broad supply chain and software capabilities and an effective vehicle development platform to bring EVs to market faster and more efficiently.”

The EV maker, which was reportedly running out of cash, has seen its share rise over 19% after the Foxconn deal confirmation. Lordstown said in February it was targeting commercial production and sales of 500 Endurances starting in Q3 2022. Volumes should increase to 2,500 units in 2023.