Think Tesla’s Cybertruck Is Too Much? Lordstown’s New Electric Pickup Is Aimed at Traditionalists
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Welcome to 2019, when pickup trucks have somehow become a preferred canvas for automakers’ wildest fever dreams. From Tesla’s oddly geometrical Cybertruck to Bollinger’s brick-like pickup, it seems like marques are either trying to out-future or out-retro each other when it comes to EV truck design. For traditionalists who may not want to look like they’re driving inside a dystopian sci-fi flick, however, a new battery-powered pickup from Lordstown Motors hopes to offer an appealing alternative.
Lordstown claims that its all-electric Endurance truck will be the first production vehicle to utilize a 4-wheel-drive hub-motor system—a design that reduces the number of moving parts and subsequently decreases breakdowns, as well as running and maintenance costs. The marque is sourcing the electric motors from Workhorse Group in the hopes of beating its rivals to market.
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The under-the-hood specifics are still to come, but the renderings show a traditional four-cab with modern front end, closed-off front fascia, slim headlamps, and simple lines. “The truck is engineered to be lightweight, with all-wheel drive and a low center of gravity, while maintaining ground clearance,” according to a representative for Lordstown. Of course, all that engineering will cost you. The Lordstown Endurance is priced at $52,500, before tax credits, which is almost $13,000 more than the base price of the Cybertruck.
Lordstown acquired a General Motors factory in Ohio earlier this year, paving the way for the marque to begin production of EV truck. The Endurance is now slated for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2020, which means that it will beat Elon’s polygonal creation to market by a few months.
While there’s a solid team behind the new pickup—Steve Burns is the founder of both Workhorse and Lordstown, plus ex-Tesla manufacturing chief Rich Schmidt and former senior executives from General Motors, Volkswagen, and Karma are also onboard—the promised delivery date seems aggressive. We have yet to see a prototype—even if the window shattered, we still saw a Cybertruck—which means the marque will have to develop a full-fledged production vehicle in 12 months. If you’re a gambling man, Lordstown is now taking $1,000 deposits for late-2020 delivery.
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