Born from the ashes of a former General Motors factory, Lordstown Motors developed the Endurance to compete in the burgeoning electric pickup truck segment. While many of the battery-powered trucks announced in 2020 put a big focus on adventure, the Endurance was developed primarily for fleet operators. It’s more at home taking a crew of workers to fix a power line after a storm than taking a family of four on a weekend camping trip off the grid.
Lordstown hasn’t launched Endurance production yet; the truck shown in our images is a preproduction prototype. It plans to manufacture about 20,000 pickups in 2021 in the Lordstown, Ohio, factory it purchased from General Motors, and it has started taking reservations. As the firm prepares to start production, we’re looking at the Endurance’s specifications, features, and price. Keep in mind these numbers might change in the coming months.
What is it?
Lordstown took a more conventional approach to designing an electric pickup than Tesla and Rivian. Nothing about the Endurance is intentionally shocking or off-beat; it looks like a standard pickup that just happens to be electric. It wears a tall front end with air vents on either side of and below a body-colored insert. Out back, it receives thin horizontal lights that stretch into the tailgate, and steps integrated into the bumper. Its silhouette falls in line with what you expect from a four-door pickup. If you ask us, the coolest part of the truck’s design is the alloy wheels.
What’s it like inside?
Lordstown hasn’t revealed the truck’s interior yet, but a design sketch suggests it receives a function-oriented dashboard with a wide screen that combines the instrument cluster and the infotainment system. We don’t see many buttons, so most functions are likely accessible via the screen, and the driver sits in front of a four-spoke steering wheel. The Endurance seats five passengers, and it offers a generously sized storage bin under the front armrest.
What’s under the sheet metal?
Lordstown developed the technology that powers the Endurance in-house. Instead of putting one electric motor over each axle, which is the configuration used by a vast majority of electric cars sold in 2020, its engineers chose to give each wheel its own motor. This layout gives the truck a through-the-road four-wheel drive system, and allows each wheel to be controlled individually. The rest of its specifications are rather vague: on its website, the company quotes a 600-horsepower output (which is on par with many sports sedans), a top speed electronically limited to 80 mph, a 7,500-pound towing capacity, and up to 250 miles of range. Details about the battery pack haven’t been released yet.
How much will it cost?
Pricing for the Lordstown Endurance starts at $52,500, though buyers will be eligible to claim a one-time tax credit of up to $7,500. Executives still haven’t figured out how to sell the truck, according to the Detroit Free Press. They could enlist a group of franchised dealers, or they might sell vehicles directly to consumers, Tesla-style.
When can I drive one?
Lordstown delayed production of the Endurance due to the coronavirus-related lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. This isn’t unusual; the pandemic turned the entire automotive industry on its head and wreaked havoc on start-ups. Deliveries are now scheduled to start in the summer of 2021, and the firm plans to build 20,000 trucks that year. It has received about 14,000 pre-orders as of writing, mostly from utility companies across the nation.
There’s a catch: Although you’ll theoretically be able to drive the Endurance in 2021, Lordstown stressed the truck is aimed at fleet operators, not private buyers. It’s not too far-fetched to speculate the company will sell trucks to private buyers sooner or later, especially as it expands its lineup, but it’s too early to tell when that will happen.
