Lordstown Motors has barely had a factory for a year, taking over the former GM plant in its namesake Ohio town last November, but the company is already testing moving prototypes of its Endurance pickup truck. The company uses a unique in-wheel motor with one motor at each wheel, each run from the same battery stack. In a recently-released video from the company, the new chassis, high voltage wheel motors, and battery stack get put to the test in a very wet and very cold run around Ohio.
As a basic chassis and suspension setup with some batteries and motors stacked up, it looks like it works pretty well. I, for one, would love to be strapped to an open-air seat and have ice cold water, snow, and mud flung at my face for a few hours. I grew up running snowmobiles and Yamaha Raptors through some nasty Michigan weather, so I’d be a great test candidate for Lordstown’s current skateboard. This video looks very cold and very wet, but also really freakin’ fun.
We still don’t know exactly what the batteries in the Endurance are, but the combined power output of the four hub motors is said to be 600 horsepower, and should provide a 250 mile range when complete. There’s a lot we don’t yet know about the Lordstown Endurance, but that doesn’t mean a romp through the wilds of Ohio isn’t intensely interesting.
And before you ask, I made sure to confer with Erik Shilling to see if this increased Lordstown’s standings in the upcoming 2021 Guide To The Car Startups That Matter. He still rates the company at less than one hyperloop.
If you want to impress me with your electric startup, definitely do some testing with just a roll cage and a seat bolted to the skateboard and give it a rip. I’ll always enjoy seeing that, and I’d enjoy even more the opportunity to rip it myself. Please, Lordstown, let me drive your ridiculous off-roady skateboard.