While no new projects are set in stone, the Taiwanese company said they're preparing the plant to produce 350,000 vehicles per year, as Foxconn looks to find new companies to contract with. 

The Ohio EPA has granted Foxconn a draft permit to install pollution control equipment for these operations.

Sam Abuelsamid, Principal Analyst of transportation research for E-Mobility and Guidehouse Insights told 21 News whether or not this kind of production happens all comes down to Foxconn's desire to invest and attract the right automakers.

"This would be the first major contract manufacturing plant in North America," Abuelsamnid said. 

Abuelsamid said it's clear to him that Foxconn is serious about investing in the EV market in Lordstown, and that this may be a step in the right direction, but an established partnership with additional EV makers remains to be seen. 

"The question is, can they [Foxconn] demonstrate that they can actually do it, and can they get the clients to come along and say 'Yeah, we want you to build these vehicles for us.'"

The draft permit indicates the production of a "variety of vehicles, including electric" and experts point out there are plans with companies like Fisker, but production for the Fisker Pear EV that is set to be made in the plant is still up in the air. 

He said it's possible however that Foxconn utilizes relationships it already has as an electronic manufacturer, as future projects could arise.  

"Fisker's having their own challenges with the development of that vehicle right now and it's unclear when that will be ready for production," Abuelsamid said, "Foxconn also has a long-standing relationship as a contract manufacturer for Apple and one of their long-term goals was to provide production for a potential Apple car, which is something that has been rumored and in development for nearly a decade if and when that vehicle will ever come to fruition."

He said while Foxconn does not have experience developing cars, the electronic manufacturing company does have deep pockets and a desire to expand its portfolio, so if Foxconn wants to, the company could invest in start-ups in order to prove itself in the EV market.

Foxconn said at this time, current production includes the Monarch electric tractor as they work to find more companies to partner with and are not ruling out the production of other kinds of products, such as electric vehicle parts. 

"If they see an opportunity either with one of these start-ups or potentially with an existing manufacturer that or a company that doesn't want to make a direct capital investment in building a factory, there are certainly opportunities there,"  he said, "Another potential client or group of clients for Foxconn would be some of the Chinese EV manufactures. There are a lot of EV start-ups in China. Right now, they would have a very hard time entering the U.S. market because of tariffs and as well as ineligibility for federal tax credits. If one or more of them decided to contract with Foxconn to build vehicles in Lordstown, that could be a potential entryway for them to get into the U.S. market, potentially have eligibility for tax credits and avoid the tariffs that currently exist on Chinese-built vehicles."

"I don't think we'll ever see any more Endurances built past the three dozen that they've made," Abuelsamid said.

As far as high volumes of production going forward in the plant, he said, "I would not expect to see any notable volumes of vehicles being produced in Lordstown until at least mid-2024, the first customer for that plant would be Fisker, and they've indicated that their next product, the pear, won't really be ready until sometime in 2024, and it's going to take some time for Foxconn with the environmental permits, to get the plant properly equipped to build the specific vehicles that the customers are going to want."

He said if Foxconn does expand to produce 350,000 cars per year, he estimates that could bring several thousand new workers to the assembly process.