LORDSTOWN — Becoming a publicly traded company on Nasdaq will ensure Lordstown Motors Corp. will be able to meet its initial orders in 2021 and into the future, according to the company’s Chief Executive Officer Steve Burns.

“It is a celebration,” Burns said. “This shows there is confidence in what we are doing. We are attracting workers from all over the country. This will enable us to have the resources in the bank, which helps to justify the decisions of potential employees in packing up and moving here.”

Lordstown Motors is now a wholly owned subsidiary of New York-based DiamondPeak, a special purpose acquisition company, or “blank check” company, but it retains the Lordstown Motors Corp. name. It began being traded publicly on Monday.

On its first day, the stock price rose as high as $20.75, before leveling off to about $19.30 per share.

Lordstown expects to achieve break even or better operational earnings margins in 2022.

“We always expected to be publicly traded, but this is ahead of schedule,” Burns said.

The coronovirus pandemic slowed down conventional lending opportunities, he noted.

“We are happy with Wall Street’s response,” Burns said.

Lordstown Motors’ Class A shares are trading on the Nasdaq Global Select market under the ticker symbol “RIDE,” and its warrants will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “RIDEW.”

The company’s first vehicle, the Endurance truck, will sell at a price point of about $52,000 before incentives.

Last September, the company announced it had pre-orders for about 40,000 vehicles.

“This area is known for manufacturing,” Burns said. “It is not necessarily known for innovation. It is really cool to be able to show innovation and manufacturing can both come from the Midwest.”

Lordstown Motors already had a number of investors prior to it opening on Nasdaq, including General Motors. Being traded publicly will add $675 million to the company’s coffers, increasing its value to about $1.6 billion.

The company currently has about 236 employees and another 150 contractors. It has raised its projections for the number of workers it will have by next September from 600 to 800 employees.

Despite the fact it may one day become a competitor in the making of electric cars, GM is investing $75 million into the startup.

The pickup will deliver the equivalent of 75 miles per gallon and has been engineered and priced for the large commercial fleet market.

Lordstown Motors is expected to be one of the first light duty electric trucks on the market. Burns said he expects the truck to sell well.

“The pick-up truck is the first-, second- and third-fastest selling vehicles on the market,” he said. “Drivers will feel the power of this vehicle.

From the outside, the Endurance will look like any other truck, but it will have fewer moving parts and will have the power to operate in many of the same ways as gas-powered vehicles currently on the market.

DiamondPeak went public in 2019.