Lordstown Motors finally delivers fabled electric pickup

Lordstown Motors has made 500 deliveries of the all-new Endurance, an electric pickup, and the automaker’s first commercial product. The fledgling automaker sent the trucks from its Ohio plant on Tuesday.

Electric pickups have been near mythological in the auto and tech-enthusiast communities, promising great utility but impossible to find. Many of the EV startups that attempted to create a battery-powered pickup failed to ever deliver a prototype. Electric vehicles require intense engineering, expensive components, large budgets and technological advancements. Developing an electric pickup that can haul heavy loads over long distances on a single battery charge proved too expensive and time-consuming.

Lordstown nearly suffered the same fate as its early competitors due to issues with management and COVID supply constraints. Worst of all, the company’s CEO was forced to resign after the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the company for misleading investors. However, thanks to a $280 million Foxconn buyout and new leadership, the brand was not only able to get back on track, but produce its first product, the Endurance. Finally, four years after Lordstown’s founding, the U.S. Department of Transportation officially certified the vehicle, allowing it to enter the market.

Lordstown’s first electric pickup features four-wheel drive and boasts a 250-mile driving range. In comparison to Tesla’s polygonal Cybertruck, which costs between $40,000-$70,000 the Endurance features a more traditional silhouette and starts at $64,000. The truck’s all-wheel drive is also included by default, whereas Tesla’s base model only has rear-wheel driving.

For most consumers and businesses, current EVs are too expensive, and don’t have enough battery life or enough power to handle difficult terrains and heavy loads. Although still somewhat costly, the Endurance presents a possible solution to the utility concerns, and if it can withstand its first commercial test, the model could very well hasten widespread EV adoption.

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