LORDSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Foxconn may be making another electric vehicle in Lordstown. It could be the fourth vehicle to be made here and the news put a charge through Voltage Valley.

The Endurance started it all, and a small number of them are already rolling off the assembly line. The PEAR and Monarch tractor have already been announced too.

“The fact that we’re creating the future, because this is the future of transportation. These aren’t the vehicles that you or I are used to,” said Guy Coviello with the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.

Electric vehicle designer INDIEV signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Foxconn on Wednesday to produce the first “INDI One” prototype electric vehicle in Lordstown.

The INDI One is a five-passenger family crossover electric vehicle with smart mobility. INDIEV founder and CEO Shi Hai described it as a “unique vehicle” that will “lead the way into the future of personal transit.” He also called the MOU “the beginning of many more discussions to come regarding the future of EV manufacturing in Ohio.”

The MOU also serves as the first step toward delivering vehicles to customers for INDIEV, which began the development of the INDI One in 2017 and revealed the vehicle publicly in October 2021.

Details of the potential collaboration, beyond the prototype build, will be disclosed later as both sides remain in negotiations.

“You know, we had hopes and we had hopes that the vision that they saw here and what they saw with this facility would be realized,” said Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.

Building EVs takes time, most of which comes in the development, but Foxconn has the space ready to work with.

“Electric vehicles don’t take near the assembly line length to be able to assemble vehicles,” said Lordstown Mayor Arno Hill.

It’s one step at a time, but Lordstown continues to hope this is a giant leap forward and that its future will be electrified.

“We’re trailblazing in Lordstown with Foxconn and Ultium. So it’s exciting to think about where this might go from here,” Coviello said.

Ohio is the number two state in the nation for the number of jobs created around electric vehicle manufacturing. The Regional Chamber believes our area is number one because of Foxconn and Ultium.