Lordstown Motors To Start Building Beta Prototypes Of Endurance Pickup
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Lordstown Motors has started to prepare its Ohio assembly plant to begin production of beta prototypes for its upcoming Endurance battery-electric pickup truck.
In a statement, Lordstown Motors CEO Steve Burns revealed the company is “hard at work in the factory preparing to begin Beta builds in the coming weeks,” and expects the first beta prototype to be complete in early March.
“With this step on the horizon, we remain on track to meet our September start-of-production timeline while continuing to see indicators of strong demand for an all-wheel drive, full-size electric pickup truck with 250 miles of range from commercial, government and military fleets,” he said.
Lordstown Motors will build a total of 57 beta prototypes, which will be used for crash, engineering and validation testing. The company will also send a handful of these prototypes to some of its initial fleet customers to get their feedback on the truck’s design and performance.
The Lordstown Endurance is a fully-electric pickup truck designed for fleet usage. The pickup is powered by four in-wheel hub motors, which together have a maximum system output of around 600 horsepower, and can travel up to 250 miles on a single charge. The truck will at first be available in Crew Cab configuration with a medium length bed, with prices starting from $52,500 USD.
Lordstown Motors previously enlisted the help of Camping World to provide service support for the Endurance. The company says it is still “continuing its review of plans to utilize Camping World’s extensive footprint and service expertise to ensure nationwide service coverage for all Lordstown vehicles,” and will provide more details on the partnership in the near future.
The Endurance will be built at the former Lordstown Assembly plant in Ohio, which General Motors sold to the start-up for an undisclosed sum in late 2019. In addition to the main vehicle assembly line, the facility will also house full production lines for the Endurance’s advanced battery packs and hub motors.
The first production-ready Lordstown Endurance trucks are expected to roll off the assembly line in Q3 of this year.
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Why does every electric vehicle have to be ugly? GM take a look at the Tesla models, maybe get some artistic ideas….
The tesla so called truck is hedious and not very useful. GM is going to show their electric trucks shortly and i bet they blow away anything tesla has.
GM doesn’t WANT to sell EVs. It want’s to go through the motions, like Edith Bunker letting Archie climb on her unwashed.
LOL 😂
Lordstown should look elsewhere for servicing centers. Anyone with a RV can attest to the poor quality of service at Camping World locations.
What servicing does it need? It has no engine, transmission, differentials, C/V joints, half shafts, fuel pumps, belts, filters or clutches. That’s about 5,000 parts many operating under high stress or high temperatures that you don’t have to worry about.
It needs brakes, wheel bearings, tires/wheels, ball joints, glass, brake lines, electrical troubleshooting, lights, shocks/struts, body work, alignments, A/C service, battery replacement, replacement keys, accessory installation, believe they have cooling systems still which requires flushes, leak repairs, pump replacement, the list goes on…..
Point is yes there should be less to service, but it’s not service free.
There is no regularly scheduled maintenance on ANY ev.
Right, there is no oil changes. Thats the only scheduled maint. that is missing on a BEV. GM BEVs use Dexcool for the battery cooling and heater systems for HVAC. Dexcool has a 5yr/150k service life. Brakes can still wear out although not as fast. All that torque can wear tires out as fast if not faster than an ICE car.
Both still use wiper blades. Both still use headlights, tail lights, window motors, door locks, radios, steering and suspension, the list goes on. Electric motors have bearings that can fail. Battery cells can fail. GM BEVs still use a 12V battery that can fail just like an ICE car.
Therefore, a BEV can be subject to EVERY potential failure that an ICE car can other than ICE concerns and maintainence.
Dexcool in the battery and motor of an EV doesn’t get nearly as hot as an ICE. So it will probably last a lot longer than the interval listed.
There is no reason to replace brake pads in an EV if you use one-pedal driving for max regen.
Tires & wipers don’t need to be replaced by a dealer.
All of the above is why dealers HATE evs and OEMs are secretly planning to spin off EV brands into dealerless models and let the franchises that sell ICE contract and wither away.
Yet Tesla wants to buy an OEM so it can have access to what? A dealer network in countries that need them. Do they want the legacy costs, debts, eco & pension obligations? No.
So it’s an interesting and evolving industry!
True. But with a GM badge on it I’m sure they’ll come up with some creative ways of getting the customers into their service departments.
They did to my Bolt. It’s junk and had numerous warranty repairs.
But this didn’t hurt the dealer, it hurt GM!
That is a positive with ev’s
Its still a car/truck. Tires, brakes, suspension components can all wear/fail. Motors, batteries, wiring, coolant pumps, etc. The only difference between a current car/truck and a BEV is what powers it. They still both can have problems.
Look at Tesla’s. They’ve had how many problems? I’ve lost count.
Teslas don’t have as many problems as my Bolt.
GM is like Microsoft where every other version should be avoided.
Just like gen1 Volt being way better than gen2, my Spark EV was perfect and my Bolt is junk.
Funny, bolt has lest problems than tesla’s , tesla has many gaps all around and parts falling off
Yeah, Tesla has fit and finish problems. My Bolt has poor suspension, interior & electrical part quality. Many replaced under warranty, a couple small noises still left. Not happy.
Hub motors? I guess the ride and handling guys were kept out of that meeting!
Jeep will hopefully use hub motors and regain their offroading cred.
Let the customers have a lot of say in the drivetrain and suspension build.
I think you have to change the mufflers a lot.
That is one fugly truck.
While I wouldn’t call it fugly, I hope they tone down the “different” grille a bit.
Hopefully they redesign that ugly looking front before they start the production version
Not only is the truck ugly, the body design looks dated. And who would pay 52,000 dollars for only a 250 mile range.