Lordstown Motors announced Nov. 29 the first production units of the Endurance all-electric pickup are leaving its Ohio factory and headed to customers.
The Endurance officially achieved full homologation earlier the same week and was fully certified by the EPA and the California Air Resource Board (CARB).
The first of 500 Endurance units are leaving the Foxconn EV Ohio plant for initial customer deliveries, Lordstown said in a press release. Production is expected to ramp slowly and will accelerate as the company works toward solving supply chain constraints.
“I am very proud of the Lordstown Motors and Foxconn EV Ohio team for their hard work, grit and tenacity in achieving this milestone,” company CEO and President Edward Hightower said. “We are very excited to start delivering vehicles to our commercial fleet customers. The Endurance will provide benefits to customers that use their vehicles for work. It optimizes key attributes of traction and maneuverability---with our in-wheel hub motors, safety---with our five-star crash performance, and value in the segment.”
Lordstown launched commercial production of the Endurance in late September. The company said it had built only two vehicles just days after manufacturing had started, with a goal of 500 total units produced by the end of the year.
After initial commercial production began, Lordstown still did not have the essential EPA green light needed to begin customer deliveries. The EPA and CARB both needed to certify the Endurance’s emissions and range through testing. Certifications were recently received and were followed by FMVSS crash and non-crash testing, which the vehicle also passed.
In just one short year, Lordstown has gone from being on the verge of financial ruin to having customer-ready units of its first vehicle roll off production lines.
Last year, Lordstown was bailed out by Foxconn, the iPhone manufacturer, when the company bought the automaker’s Ohio production facility in a joint partnership. Production began after financial stability and corporate restructuring occurred at Lordstown. Hightower took over as CEO after Steve Burns was ousted from the position.
Lordstown and Foxconn recently made their partnership all but permanent as Foxconn pumped in an additional $170 million in equity investments earlier in November. Of that, $100 million of the additional investments will be used to fund Lordstown’s “development and design activities for a new electric vehicle program in collaboration with Foxconn.” The remaining $70 million will be used to fund general corporate activities.
Some of Foxconn’s funding is pending Lordstown’s ability to achieve EV program milestones.
Technically, Lordstown and Foxconn’s joint venture was terminated, and all project developments are now expected to fall under Lordstown Motor Company.
