• Lordstown Motors has paused production and deliveries of its Endurance pickup truck.
• Quality and performance issues with some components has led to the temporary halt.
• Since September, the company has produced only 31 of the 50 models it wanted to assemble.
When it comes to electric pickup trucks, the picture is slowly taking shape across the industry. We already have two models on the road – the Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T - and three more will be joining them in the next two years.
Those are the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV , set to launch by the end of this year, and the Ram 1500 Rev, which won’t debut until late 2024.
We should thus have five electric pickups in circulation by 2025. Others have been announced, but in some cases, no one knows when they might launch. Case in point, Tesla's Cybertruck.
Another company working on an electric light-duty truck is Lordstown Motors. In its case, however, things are dragging on and the problems are just piling up for the fledgling company. So far, it has built 31 units of its Endurance pickup since production started… last September. Now the company has announced a temporary suspension of production and deliveries of the Endurance, citing performance and quality issues with certain components.
The news was not well received in the markets. Shares fell 11.8 percent to $1.08 USD in early trading Thursday after the firm also said it would voluntarily recall 19 vehicles (some already delivered to customers, others used internally).
Lordstown had set a goal of delivering 50 vehicles in 2022 and more in 2023 from the planned first batch of 500 units.
The company did not specify when it would resume production and deliveries. Trucks waiting to be shipped and others in the middle of the assembly process will, of course, be repaired before then.
Growing pains are to be expected when a new company enters the fray. Lordstown itself expected the pace of production to be slow in its first quarter of production because of the adjustments that would have to be made, but also because of supply chain constraints.
The good news is that production has begun. We can only hope for success for this venture, because ultimately it means more choice for consumers.