Lordstown Motors has plans to build multiple different models at the Lordstown Assembly plant it purchased from General Motors late last year.
GM Lordstown plant in 2017
Lordstown Motors had previously disclosed its plans to build its new, battery-electric Endurance pickup at the Lordstown Assembly plant, which is expected to go on sale sometime later this year or in early 2021. According to The Detroit Free Press, the company also plans to build an electric SUV and a mid-size pickup at the plant starting in 2022, which will fill up the sprawling, 6.2 million-square-foot facility.
“We didn’t buy a mass volume plant like this and not to fill it up,” Lordstown Motors CEO Steve Burns told the Free Press. “This is a gem of a building built for volume manufacturing.”
Lordstown Endurance hub motor
The Lordstown Endurance is being developed mainly for fleet use and features a solid rear axle suspension design and four electric hub motors enabling 4WD. It is expected to have a maximum range of around 250 miles and will be prived from $52,500 before government incentives.
Lordstown Endurance ladder frame
Burns told the Free Press he has received over 1,000 orders for the Endurance so far, despite the fact that it has not officially shown the production version of the truck. The COVID-19 pandemic prevented Lordstown Motors from showing the Endurance at the 2020 Detroit Auto Show, but the company plans to debut the truck virtually sometime in June, at which point it expects to receive another 20,000 orders for the truck.
“We think the electric pickup is the new normal,” Burns said.
Chevrolet Cruze on the production line at Lordstown Assembly in 2012
Details on the electric SUV or mid-size pickup are scarce, but they will likely also be developed with fleet customers in mind and will feature a similar hub-motor set up with a similar amount of range. Burns said he expects to hire around 600 workers to help build the Endurance and will need 4,000 to 5,000 workers once the factory is up and running at full capacity. GM laid off around 1,600 workers when it closed Lordstown Assembly in March of last year, so Lordstown Motors can help recuperate those job losses if it can meet its goals.
GM recently started construction on a new battery assembly plant in the Lordstown area, which it is operating with battery supplier LG Chem. Lordstown Motors does not currently have plans to use the Ultium battery cells GM is producing at the plant in its trucks, but Burns says it would may be open to such a partnership one day in the future.
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Comments
If I was Lordstown Motors I would try and get the upcoming USPS Contact. That would be huge for them and for the Community of Lordstown, OH
I think this is a distinct possibility. There are only four teams remaining for this $6.3 billion program, Mahindra an Indian company proposing a mild hybrid, Katsan a Turkish company proposing a plugin hybrid possibly based on the BMW i3, Ford/Oskosh proposing a modified Ford Transit, and Workhorse proposing an EV using in-wheel hub motors. These competitors completed 2 1/2 years of real world testing in 2019. The results are secret but I’m willing to bet Workhorse did well as they, and GM were confident enough to transfer the fully equipped Lordstown plant to Lordstown Motors Corp. which is closely affiliated with Workhorse. The USPS vans will be manufactured at Lordstown. Acquisition of this plant is important because it gives LMC the ability to produce the USPS trucks in mass and cheaply.
There’s also a political component to this. I don’t see the Trump administration allowing this contract to go to a foreign bidder. In addition the plant is in Ohio and will be staffed by members of the UAW. Ohio is a key state for Trump, and he promised the UAW workers the he will brings their jobs back.
Larry,
So how’s that job thing that Trump promised working out? Deficit has increased substantially, manufacturing continues to leave or crumble, 20% unemployment, the worse pandemic response in the world and now 10 days of continuous riots…
Vincent,
You’re right. Things are not going well for Trump and his poll numbers are showing it. Particularly in Ohio where he went from a commanding lead to essentially dead even. I don’t think he can win without Ohio. That’s why I think it’s more likely than ever the USPS contract will be awarded to LMC. That will allow him to keep his promise to tell laid off auto workers.
BTW, since writing my original post Workhorse bought out their partner and is competition under their own name. Workhorse owns 10% of LMC who will build the mail vans if they win. The USPS has requested proposals for production. LMC’s acquisition of the fully equipped Lordstown plant from GM will allow them to manufacture very cheaply, much less than essentially hand building which Workhorse would have done without the plant. LMC has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Elaphe to manufacture their hub motors and controlling electronics that will be used in the mail van and the Endurance electric pickup. GM and LG Chem have started building a $2 billion battery plant right next to the Lordstown plant and LMC has begun transitioning 200,000 sq ft of the plant to manufacturing hub motors and completed battery assemblies.