A Tesla Cybertruck Rival will be emerging next year from a small village in Ohio, United States.
The village of Lordstown has been a popular hub for manufacturing cars from General Motors. The Lordstown village was in the news last year when GM decided to close down its plant in the region, thus eliminating thousands of jobs.
The devastating news came around the Christmas holidays of 2018 when several families were left without a paycheck. Almost a year later, the village is readying itself for the arrival of a new vehicle manufacturer, dubbed Lordstown Motor Company.
The new company will now start manufacturing electric vehicles, specifically electric pickup trucks, to compete with the likes of Tesla Cybertruck and the upcoming Ford F-150 electric.
Lordstown Motor Co. will be joined by former Tesla executives and leaders who will guide the company’s CEO, Steve Burns, in making a successful Tesla Cybertruck killer. Also joining the company’s employee list will be officials from VW, Karma Automotive, and Formula One.
The electric pickup truck manufacturer will also hire former GM employees. A total of 1,100 new jobs will be created in the region, and among them, 400 hires will begin work immediately to start production in Q4 2020.
The first vehicle from Lordstown Motor Co. and a possible Tesla Cybertruck rival will be called Endurance electric truck. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
Tesla Cybertruck Rival: Endurance Electric Pickup Truck
Speaking of its design, the Endurance electric pickup truck will look similar to the semi-modern line of EVs, including the likes of Rivain R1T, Neuron T-ONE Electric pickup, etc.
The reason I said “semi-modern” is because the Tesla Cybertruck has completely changed the way a pickup truck is designed.
Anyway, moving onto its internals, this Cybertruck killer will most probably come with a dual electric powertrain coupled with a battery pack big enough to offer more than 250 miles of range.
Similar to other electric trucks, the specs of the Endurance electric car do not specifically mention whether what is its “laden” range. The 250+ mile range is most likely based on an EPA cycle, which does not take into account any additional payload other than the passengers.
From the looks of it, the Endurance electric car will seem to use the traditional ‘body-on-frame’ design similar to how the Rivian R1T electric pickup uses. In the Rivian truck, the entire setup comprising the battery pack, the cooling system, the electric powertrain, and the suspension setup is made into a single module. And different types of upper frames, including that of an SUV or a pickup truck, can be attached on top of this module.
It is a clever use of the decade-old ‘body-on-frame’ architecture that I expect Lordstown Motor Co. to also use in their Endurance pickup truck.
On their website, Lordstown Motor Co. states that their Cybertruck rival will have fewest parts, thus indicating a modular design.
Since Endurance is an electric pickup truck, you can expect features like Four Wheel Drive (FWD), regenerative braking, extra-large frunk along with big bed space, and a Tesla Cybertruck-inspired feature – power sockets for using electric tools.
Lordstown Motor Co. claims that the Endurance electric car will have a tight turning radius and higher traction. The company is also offering some form of ‘TELEMATICS’ for onboard system monitoring and a crash avoidance system for their pre-order batch of trucks.
The starting price of Lordstown electric pickup will be $52,500, and it will feature Four Wheel Drive as standard.
This Tesla Cybertruck Rival Is Also Fully Made-In-America
Lordstown Motor Co. will be operating in the old GM factory located in the Lordstown village. This small village in Ohio has produced 6 million vehicles since 1966. The GM factory is located in the Mahoning Valley, which will start functioning again at the end of next year.
Lordstown Motor Co. will take the help of Workhorse Technology, an expert in building electric vans in manufacturing Endurance electric pickup trucks.
The company plans to sell the Endurance pickup truck only to fleet operators, at least initially. They are trying to capture the commercial market by offering them a cheaper-to-operate alternative than conventional pickup trucks.
GM is also lending a helping hand to Lordstown Motor Co. by offering them a $40 million loan to kick start their production. GM does not plan to become an investor in the new EV manufacturer but wants to help it stick to its schedule.
Will you consider buying this Tesla Cybertruck competitor if it becomes available? Let us know in the comments.
