US President Donald Trump has taken a look at the Endurance, a fully electric pick-up from Lordstown Motors, in the garden of his official residence. Trump is quite complimentary about the company and the pickup. He is especially pleased with the jobs Lordstown is creating in the Ohio town of the same name.
Lordstown Motors acquired General Motors’ factory in Lordstown, a city in the state of Ohio, in late 2019. According to the White House, President Trump helped ensure that GM eventually sold the factory, rather than closed it down, which allowed the “ hundreds of employees abandoned by GM ” to keep their jobs. On closer inspection of the Lordstown Endurance in the White House yard, the president still seems positive. The first copies should roll off the production line this fall. According to Lordstown, 20,000 reservations have already come in for the Endurance.
Earlier we saw this fully electric pick-up from the outside and inside. Lordstown Motors seems to be a lot more serious than, say, Nikola, another start-up that has been under heavy fire lately. The Lordstown factory, with a floor space of some 576,000 square meters, is large enough to facilitate mass production. In addition, the company has already received the necessary presidential attention: Vice President Mike Pence was at the launch of the Endurance of the party. Lordstown promises a power of over 600 hp for the Endurance, which is transmitted to all wheels via four electric motors. The target driving range is 250 miles (402 km) and the maximum towing weight is 3,400 kg.
In the US, the Endurance should cost $ 52,500, or € 44,850. This starting price is higher than conventional pickups, but Lordstown promises that the Endurance will be cheaper in the long run thanks to savings on maintenance and fuel costs. All in all, it seems to be getting quite busy on the playing field of electric pickups. Start-up Rivian presented the R1T at the end of 2018 and Tesla is working on the much-discussed Cybertruck. In addition, Ford will soon be launching a fully electric F-150.