Lordstown Motors to unveil Endurance electric truck this month
Lordstown Motors is making good on its promise to unveil the Endurance electric pickup truck this summer, announcing that its maiden product will be introduced during a company meeting the week of June 22, video of which will be released to the public by month’s end.
In a blog post, CEO Steve Burns explained that the original plans were to unveil the truck in June at the Detroit auto show, which was canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak. “It’s not how we’d envisioned unveiling the Endurance, but in the absence of being able to gather a large crowd to see it in-person, this is the next best thing,” Burns wrote.
Burns also used the post to provide updates on preparing the Lordstown factory complex for the start of pre-production later this year. He said workers were finalizing the prototype vehicle battery, with an integrator chosen that has started engineering the semi-automated equipment line. Integration work has also begun on areas like the body shop, general assembly, motor lines and paint shop, with demolition of around 200,000 square feet to make space for lines to build the battery and motors.
“The progress made so far is a testament to the fact that we started in a fully equipped 6 million square foot plant, which meant we were able to get to work right away creating the lines we need to build the Endurance,” Burns wrote.
Lordstown is retooling the idled former General Motors factory in Ohio after receiving a $40 million loan from the Detroit-based automaker in December. The Detroit Free Press recently reported that Lordstown currently employs around 70 people, mostly engineers, and including a team of 20 who work in a design studio in Ford’s backyard in Dearborn, Mich. making clay models of future vehicles, with the remainder working on retooling the plant. The goal is to make 30 pre-production versions of the Endurance by December.
The Endurance will feature four in-hub electric motors, making a combined 600 horsepower, and a battery of unknown capacity, with at least 200 miles of driving range on offer. The company has said that charging on a Level 2 charger takes 10 hours to replenish the battery to 90% capacity (full specs as known are here). It will start at $52,000 before $7,500 federal tax credits for EVs.
The company has also delayed its first deliveries to January 2021, from December of this year. It has already opened the books for reservations for private customers and fleet operators and is targeting production of 20,000 units in the first year.
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