Cybertruck's Rival Lordstown Endurance Comes With 600 Tesla-Fighting Horsepower
2019 is a promising year for electric vehicles, but the war of the electric pickup truck is just getting started with the lines already drawn in the sand. Ford will soon unveil the electric version of its popular pickup F-150, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk is investing big on the Tesla Cybertruck and its futuristic design. And, then, there is Lordstown Motors, a newcomer in the industry, which promises to introduce the traditional styling of Ford and the upstart thrill of Tesla with its Lordstown Endurance.
A view of the entrance to the West Plant at the General Motors Lordstown Complex, assembly plant in Warren, Ohio, U.S., November 26, 2018. (Photo: REUTERS/Alan Freed)
After a long wait, we now have some details of the upcoming electric pickup truck dubbed as Lordstown Endurance. It is a battery-electric pickup truck that would be produced at the Lordstown, Ohio, which is General Motor's old assembly plant. The most noteworthy figures about the upcoming pickup truck are the 600 horsepower and the estimated EPA of 200 miles of range or higher.
The Lordstown Motors is planning to sell the Lordstown Endurance at $52,500 or around $45,000 after federal tax credit. Along with the unveiling of the exciting specs and features of Lordstown Endurance is the opening of the pre-orders for potential buyers. Another notable feature of the upcoming truck from Lordstown Motors is the quadruplicity of its hub-mounted electric motors, reports CarBuzz.
Hub motors found in Lordstown Endurance will ought to enable awesome AWD torque-vectoring capabilities of the pickup truck but at the expense of the addition of unsprung mass. While greate unsprung mass could significantly contribute to a more insulated ride, it also affects poorer performance and impaired handling, particularly on rough pavements. The Lordstown Endurance has a towing capacity of 600 pounds with an 80 mph top speed.
Lordstown Motors claims that the Lordstown Endurance can recharge to 95 percent full in as fast as 30 minutes to one hour and a half using Level 3 DC charging. Fleet operators and not private are the target market for Lordstown Endurance. A unique and strikingly uncommon choice of a market segment among electric vehicles. But, this could very well explain the low 80-mph top speed of the vehicle.
The auto company would start the production of Lordstown Endurance in the later part of 2020 with the aid of a $40 million loan from GM. The company hopes to have its own place soon where it could manufacture 500K new electric vehicles every year. In terms of pre-orders, the company requires a fully-refundable deposit amount of $100 for the reservation of one Lordstown Endurance.