LORDSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — Commercial electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors has received approval to ship the first batch of its first model, the Endurance pickup.

The company announced Tuesday that the first units of the initial batch of 500 trucks were leaving the plant after they passed safety tests and hit several key benchmarks needed to be sold. It did not state how many of the pickups have been made.

The trucks were built in an old General Motors small-car assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio, near Cleveland, that was purchased last year by Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest electronics maker.

"I am very proud of the Lordstown Motors and Foxconn EV Ohio team for their hard work, grit and tenacity in achieving this milestone," said Edward Hightower, the company's president and CEO. Production of the vehicles remains slow, though, but the company reiterated that "volume will accelerate as we resolve supply-chain constraints."

Earlier this year, Lordstown said it expected to produce 3,000 of its flagship Endurance electric trucks before the end of 2023.