Lordstown Introduces ‘Endurance’ All-Electric Van with Wheel Motors

Lordstown Motors’ Endurance electric truck is unlikely to dazzle like the Tesla Cybertruck. Doesn’t ooze adventure like a Rivian R1T or GMC Hummer EV it probably will. Than Lordstown Motors Endurance What he’s working to achieve is serving fleet customers with the best electric collection they’ve ever managed.

On Thursday, Lordstown Motors Corporation unveiled its first ready-to-assemble vehicle at its Lordstown, Ohio factory, a plant formerly owned by General Motors. The startup has high hopes of revitalizing the Mahoning Valley, where GM once produced hundreds of thousands of cars.

LMC is not ready to talk about its homemade battery pack and how much energy it stores, but the startup says the Endurance EV will travel 250 miles on a full charge. Additional specs like power, trailer, and payload aren’t available yet, but LMC CEO Steve Burns says the truck looks more like an enthusiast car than might be expected, thanks to its electric hub motors on wheels and their low center of gravity. .

“We designed the suspension and the chassis for the hub [motors] from scratch, and as a result, we have a truck that drives like a sports car, “Burns told me before the truck’s debut. Electric hub motors put weight on the ground at all four corners to create a truck that must be driven. well, maintaining the characteristics of a traditional harvest.

“We put all of our funds into the uniqueness of the broadcast. We don’t have leather details, stuff like that,” says Burns. The drive train is truly unique, with hub motors that reduce the total number of moving truck parts by a large number. In fact, there are only four moving parts in the Endurance: the hub motors. In turn, Burns says, this makes the Endurance cheaper to build than a normal vehicle. “There is nothing simpler [than hub motors]Burns stressed in our discussion. He continued to compare Endurance with the stacks of electric scooters prevalent in dozens of major cities in the United States.

Although the Endurance looks like it will have quite incredible engineering, the LMC lane, if you like, is the “traditional pickup”, albeit battery powered. Burns says he didn’t want the company to chase competitors looking at the luxury trucking segment or the outdoor adventure market. In fact, there is not even a final decision on whether the company will accept orders from private customers. Instead, the truck is primarily intended to serve commercial fleet operators. The Endurance hopes to be an electric van with a shoe for companies ready to make the change to internal combustion.

“Because we are little, we are not trying to be everything to everyone,” Burns said.

LMC hopes to facilitate the change of interested companies, promising that the dimensions of the Endurance match the typical full-size diesel and gas pads of today. Bed covers should line up perfectly and other bed accessories should fit seamlessly. The company also plans to include a PTO, eliminating the need to transport a generator to get tools on job sites, etc.

Production of the Lordstown Endurance is slated to begin in January 2021. That is certainly an ambitious time frame, but the CEO believes that being first on the market could foster true leadership for the brand in the long term. Burns says his company will soon hire 600 line workers to start, with the goal of producing 20,000 pills during the first year of production.

Maybe, just maybe, LMC can bring a spark back to Ohio’s Steel Valley.