Lordstown Motors a New Electric Truck manufacturer located in part of the old GM plant in Lordstown

[Mark Gregory]

Mike Pence rides onstage in Lordstown Motors' new Endurance electric pickup truck as Ohio startup unveils its rival to Ford, GM and Tesla

• Lordstown Motors unveiled its new Endurance electric pickup truck at an event in Ohio on Thursday
• Vice President Mike Pence rode onto the stage in the passenger seat during the unveil
• Production of the $52,000 electric pickup truck is slated to begin full scale early next year
• Lordstown hopes to beat competitors Ford, GM and Tesla to market with first electric truck

 

Founded just last year, Lordstown Motors has ambitious plans to compete with established rivals Ford, General Motors, and Tesla, all of which plan to release electric pickup trucks in the coming years. 

Lordstown plans to be the first to hit the market, however, and is already taking orders from fleet customers for its $52,000 Endurance.

Headquartered in an abandoned GM parts plant in northeast Ohio, Lordstown Motors hopes to be the anchor of what it is calling 'Voltage Valley,' a hub for electric vehicle and battery manufacturing.

Taking the stage at Thursday's event, Lordstown CEO Steve Burns touted the Endurance's innovative in-hub motor design.

Rather than a traditional drive train, the Endurance uses hub motors that independently power each wheel -- a design that has been used in heavy machinery and military equipment, but never in a commercial passenger vehicle. 

'Even a Model T had 700 moving parts in its drive train. We have four,' Burns said, touting the design as both simple and powerful.

'We will have the best traction of any pickup ever made. We will be the safest pickup truck ever made,' Burns vowed.

The Endurance will have a range of 250 miles per charge, a towing capacity of 7,500 pounds, and peak horsepower of 600hp. 

Earlier this week, Lordstown announced its first fleet customer, after Servepro, a fire and water restoration company, signed a letter of intent to purchase 1,200 Endurance electric pickup trucks. The vehicles will be delivered in early 2021 when full scale production begins. 

Also on Thursday, Goodyear Tire & Rubber announced a strategic relationship with Lordstown Motors and said it would acquire new Endurance vehicles for its fleet. Pence said Lordstown has presold 14,000 vehicles.

'For the folks we sell to, fleets, cost is king,' Burns said, pointing out that the lifetime costs of the Endurance beat combustion competitors when fuel costs are factored in. 

To fulfill Burns' vow to bring the first electric pickup truck to market, it will have to race on a very tight timeline.

GM plans to build its first electric pickup truck in 2021. Tesla plans to start building its electric Cybertruck in 2021, while Nikola Corp plans to build an electric truck by 2022.

Electric vehicle startup Rivian plans to build an electric pickup truck starting in late 2020, while Ford will introduce an electric F-150 truck in 2022.  

All will be competing for a slice of the U.S. pickup market, where last year, there were 2.5 million full-size pickups sold, according to Kelley Blue Book data.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2020 by Mark Gregory (see edit history)

[Fossil]

Looks a lot more interesting to me than the Telsa. 50 to 60K is nothing in today's pickup market. 

Quote

Endurance uses hub motors

I might be mistaken about this but I think the motor on hub principal is used to drive locomotives. 

Edited June 25, 2020 by Fossil (see edit history)

[Akstraw]

Motor on hub is not new to electric motorcars.  It was introduced by Ferdinand Porsche in 1900.

[Fossil]

I can remember spouting off this bit of wisdom to someone I worked with, "I will never pay $10,000.00 for a vehicle". Believe that was in 1990 when we heard what the new Ford Explorer was going to cost. Oh what a fool I was!

 

 

Edited June 27, 2020 by Fossil (see edit history)