Automotive

Lordstown lights up $52,500 quad-motor Endurance electric pickup

Lordstown lights up $52,500 quad-motor Endurance electric pickup
Up front, Lordstown inverts the typical face by moving the vents to the outside and the solid body panel to the inside
Up front, Lordstown inverts the typical face by moving the vents to the outside and the solid body panel to the inside
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Lordstown gives the Endurance a traditional pickup silhouette but with a little more flair
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Lordstown gives the Endurance a traditional pickup silhouette but with a little more flair
Lordstown puts motors in each of the hubs
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Lordstown puts motors in each of the hubs
Up front, Lordstown inverts the typical face by moving the vents to the outside and the solid body panel to the inside
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Up front, Lordstown inverts the typical face by moving the vents to the outside and the solid body panel to the inside
Lordstown plants the truck on its simple skateboard chassis
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Lordstown plants the truck on its simple skateboard chassis
Interior sketch
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Interior sketch
Lordstown prepares to get its namesake assembly plant back up and running with the introduction of the Endurance pickup
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Lordstown prepares to get its namesake assembly plant back up and running with the introduction of the Endurance pickup
A look into the Endurance truck's focused gaze
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A look into the Endurance truck's focused gaze
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There's another electric pickup truck in the mix ... or at least on its way to being in a mix of others that will arrive one day. Hopefully. Lordstown Motors has unveiled its launch vehicle, the Endurance. Aimed first and foremost at fleet buyers, the new all-electric truck relies on four hub motors for up to 600 hp and 250 miles (402 km) per charge. Unlike Tesla's off-the-wall Cybertruck styling, the Endurance shares its shape with the typical pickup – but it looks a little different inside the lines.

Lordstown, which is partially owned by Workhorse Group, promises a simplified truck design with the fewest moving parts of any motor vehicle out there. The entire powertrain is just four in-hub motors that double as the brakes. Fewer parts mean less maintenance and breakage, which mean lower operating costs, something that should help pique the interest of commercial buyers.

Lordstown plants the truck on its simple skateboard chassis
Lordstown plants the truck on its simple skateboard chassis

The four Endurance motors inside the 20-in wheels attached at the corners of the skateboard chassis help balance weight distribution for better handling. Lordstown goes so far as to say the truck handles like a sports car, though that's a claim we'd have to verify to believe, especially when we're talking about a truck that tops out at an electronically mandated 80 mph (129 km/h). The 5.5-second 0-60-mph (96.5 km/h) looks much zippier, though, and while not quite Rivian- or Tesla-grade, it's more than enough giddy-up to get a contractor on the highway safely on the way to Home Depot.

Along with the 600 peak horsepower mentioned previously, the Endurance e-engine quartet twists out 2,000 lb-ft (2,712 Nm) of continuous torque and up to 4,400 lb-ft (5,966 Nm) of peak torque, helping the truck tow up to 7,500 lb (3,400 kg). The motors also deliver torque-vectoring four-wheel drive.

Styling-wise, it feels like Lordstown's designers got a little too into their heads about what an electric pickup should look like to stand out from the ICE pack. The design meets our eye as the type of retrofuturistic pickup the 80s Hollywood sci-fi scene might have thrown out ... Marty McFly would look more than comfortable taking the wheel to speed away from Needles in 1985's version of 2015.

Lordstown prepares to get its namesake assembly plant back up and running with the introduction of the Endurance pickup
Lordstown prepares to get its namesake assembly plant back up and running with the introduction of the Endurance pickup

Still, the Endurance is downright conventional compared to that other electric pickup folks are talking about. Lordstown sticks to the classic truck profile, adding a bit of slope at the front. Where its designers get a little too hands-on, in our opinion, is in the black grooves running the length of the upper and lower sides, wrapping around into the headlamps and tail lamps. We think the design would look much more tasteful with plain, basic sides. In that case, the hovering face plate surrounded by beefy toothed intakes might present more of a commanding presence rather than just adding to the bumper-to-bumper busyness.

Lordstown hasn't revealed much about the battery that switches the lights on, outside of showing it sitting comfortably inside the skateboard chassis. The 250 miles of range come between fast-charges that take 30 to 90 minutes. External tools or appliances can tap into that battery via a 120V-/30-A outlet.

Lordstown plans to launch the US$52,500 five-seat Endurance in 2021. It will build the models at the 6.2-million-sq ft (576K-sq-m) Lordstown, Ohio plant it purchased from GM last year.

Source: Lordstown Motors

View gallery - 7 images
11 comments
11 comments
paul314
If I had any excuse for this thing I would be on it in a minute. Enough zip to carry pretty much anything, enough range to just not worry, and I can run a compressor and a chop saw in the middle of nowhere. I can see the ad now where they fill the bed with tools, attach a trailer with lumber, sheathing and other supplies, and just drive out to a site and build a small house. (OK, you'd need the footings.)
zr2s10
Needs more towing capacity, and hopefully the bed capacity (not listed?) is a little more impressive. I'm a little anxious about hub motors for anything that may ever see off-road or snow/ice. My personal favorite of all the future trucks that I can't afford would have to be the Nikola Hydrogen hybrid
vince
Tesla's Cyber truck has a 300+ mile range for $49,000. Far faster, tows more (10,000 versus 7500), more room, more features, super charger network, etc, etc. Poor excuse for a truck just like Ford and GM !!
Nobody
Looks good to me but running power tools could be a problem. Some tools could no doubt use enough battery power to leave you stranded when it's time to go home.
Derek Howe
This truck could sell very well, after the federal tax rebate, she'll cost ya 45k, that's pretty much standard these days for a new truck, plus your getting one that should require next to nothing for maintenance over the life of the vehicle. The biggest downsides is that it's from a startup, so they have little experience in making vehicles, which are incredibly complicated. Dyson spent nearly a billion dollars before they threw in the towel, Faraday is dead, Lucid is on life support, Bollinger's still struggling to make it to market, Nikola looks to be a scam, and Byton can't even pay it's workers. So while EV's are simpler vehicles to make them ICE vehicles, they are NOT easy.
I'm rooting for Lordstown Motors, Might even buy one in a couple years...if they are still around (which I think they will be).
Username
Since there is no motor up front why is there a long nose? if they brought the cab forward they could have a standard size box without having a longer vehicle.
uneekware
Love the reviews. Please spend more time on features that would take advantage of being able to bring power to campsites, work sites and tailgating. Also, is anyone building towable batteries to extend mileage or drop at campsite etc.? Expensive but uhaul could rent to city evs that don't go far for occasional longer trips. Thanks.
Jinpa
Describe the battery (kwh, battery chemistry, who makes it and how many of what is in it) and the charging system.
oldpistachio
Yes, I agree with Username, "cab-forward" could lead to a real useful truck, one that could carry 4'x8's flat in the bed, but still not have a humongous wheelbase. ALSO :-) in future, the absence of power shafts to the wheels COMBINED with caster-like connection of the wheel to the body would allow a hub-motor vehicle to spin in place! zero-turn, right? or go perfectly sideways into a very tight parking space. The caster tech to rotate each wheel might be similar to the tech rotating a military tank's turret (except upside-down and a lot smaller) In the meantime, more power to Endurance and everybody in Lordstown!
ljaques
Good luck, Lordstown. I'm leery of how they'll seal hub motors from the crap we drive through. The towing specs are funny, as in "250 mile range (or 37 miles with full tow load.)"
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