Lordstown stuffs its trucks with data monitors so owners can track their trucks - and it’s equipped with all-season tires to discourage off-road forays. I flogged it harder, I’m sure, than any utility employee will be allowed. With its smooth, instant torque, it felt like other EVs I’ve driven from Tesla to Hummer. The Endurance was not unpleasant to drive, however. The same routes that say, a utility service truck, would take on daily rounds of less than 200 miles - which happens to be the $65K Endurance’s range, well shy of a $75K Rivian’s claimed 314 miles. My time in the Endurance was spent in its natural habitat - urban Ann Arbor, navigating city streets and secondary roads. When asked if Rivian had looked at hub motors, Rivian engineer Kenneth Tsang replied matter-of-factly: “I can see where that fits Lordstown’s commercial model, but we are a brand focused on off-road enthusiasts.” Endurance is a vehicle to be driven efficiently, within the lines - not pushing the boundaries of speed (the Lightning will do an insane 4.0 second 0-60 run) or off-road performance (dude, Rivian can go deep into America’s national parks with 34-inch Pirelli Scorpion All Terrain Plus off-road tires). Indeed, even as I tested the Endurance, a semifinalist for Truck of the Year in my duties as a North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year juror, the Endurance is the only vehicle nominated that will not be sold to retail customers.Īs its customers’ 0-60 mph concerns reflect, Endurance is not a vehicle gym-toned for performance - unlike EV pickup peers such as Rivian R1T and Ford F-150 Lightning. The arrangement is key to Lordstown’s pitch to commercial clients. The Endurance is motivated by electric motors on each hub, the driveshaft space replaced by huge cables carrying current to each corner. Gone are the gearbox and driveshafts and u-joints found on other automobiles, including EVs. Tesla simplified the auto interior Lordstown has simplified the drivetrain. Peer underneath the Endurance and it doesn’t look like any other vehicle on the market. “So, as we talked about hub motors at the corners without that extra hardware, it became very attractive to them.” They are aware of the complexity of a traditional EV powertrain that requires gear reduction (transmission), lubrication, various shafts and u-joints that need to be kept up. “If they can adopt technologies that will bring down significant operating and maintenance costs of a vehicle, then that becomes a significant advantage. “Fleet customers are interested in the cost of ownership,” said Post. If Lightning pioneered the mega-frunk, Rivian the gear tunnel, and Hummer crab-walking, then Endurance wants you to know about hub motors. It also means Lordstown is synonymous with yet another novel electrified term for our auto lexicon. That means Endurance is obsessed with efficiency. Unlike Hummer, Rivian, Lightning, and Tesla Cybertruck (0-60 mph in 3.0 seconds!), the Lordstown Endurance is singularly focused on commercial truck fleets - not wealthy motorheads at M1 Concourse race track. “They worry their drivers will drag-race.” “About 6.3 seconds, but our clients want us to slow that down,” smiled Post. “How fast does the Endurance do 0-60 mph?” I asked chief engineer Darren Post who was riding shotgun as I stomped the Endurance’s accelerator onto West Huron River Drive northwest of Ann Arbor. The Lordstown Endurance pickup truck is different. Go zero-60 mph in the GMC Hummer EV in three seconds! The Rivian R1T has neck-snapping torque! The Ford Lightning is quicker to 60 mph than a Ford Raptor! And so on. Electric trucks these days are supercar wannabes. It delivers up to a 200-mile range and 550 horsepower.ĪNN ARBOR, Mich. The Lordstown Endurance is a full-size, all-electric pickup truck that is perfect for the commercial fleet market.
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