2023 Lordstown Endurance: EPA Range Rating Reveals Terrible Efficiency

Only 48 MPGe? It falls far behind the least efficient Audi e-tron and other pickups.

The Lordstown Endurance is one of only a few all-electric pickup trucks introduced in the United States. It was brought to the market by Lordstown Motors – a start-up company named after the former GM Lordstown Complex plant, which is located in the Voltage Valley in Lordstown, near Youngstown, Ohio.

Initially, it was promised that the Lordstown Endurance would become the first modern, series-produced, all-electric pickup on the market, but things happened to be significantly more difficult and ultimately we saw the GMC Hummer EV Pickup, Rivian R1T, and Ford F-150 Lightning earlier.

Lordstown Motors appeared to be cash-constrained from the early beginning, which forced the company to sell its production facility to Hon Hai Technology Group (aka Foxconn) for $230 million in late 2021. The Chinese company engaged in the project as a partner, supplier, and owner of the production site called “the Foxconn EV Ohio plant.”

Production of the Lordstown Endurance started in September 2022 but at a very low rate. The plan was to initially produce the first batch of up to 500 saleable vehicles, including 50 by the end of 2022 and 450 in the first half of 2023. In November, the company also announced a broadened strategic partnership with Foxconn, which was expected to invest up to $170 million in Lordstown Motors.

However, things went south quite quickly. In February 2023, Lordstown Motors announced that production and deliveries of the Lordstown Endurance were paused. The company issued a recall of 19 vehicles, due to a risk of “loss of propulsion while driving.”

In March 2023, Lordstown Motors announced that through February 2023, only “approximately 40 Endurance vehicles have been completed or are in process and we have sold a total of six vehicles.” A few days later, there was another recall (related to the electric parking brake) of five out of 31 vehicles.

Once problems were solved, production and deliveries of the Lordstown Endurance resumed in April. This was good news, followed by bad news in May that production might be halted due to cash constraints.

That brings us to where we are now, checking out the Lordstown Endurance’s EPA range and efficiency ratings.

EPA Range

The 2023 Lordstown Endurance is equipped with a 109-kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery (cylindrical lithium-ion cells), which according to the initial forecasts was expected to be good enough for 250 miles (402 km) of range “(EPA cycle).”

However, the production version has an EPA Combined range of just 174 miles (280 km), which is one of the lowest range results among BEVs, and the lowest range for BEVs with 100+ kWh battery.

By the way, the EPA Highway range is even lower at less than 169 miles (271 km).

The reason behind a relatively low range is pretty terrible efficiency of the vehicle. Energy consumption, including charging losses, was estimated at 48 MPGe: 702 watt-hours per mile (436 Wh/km), which is the absolute worst result out of all of the BEVs that we have seen since December 2010.

Even the sporty Audi e-tron S (with 21-inch wheels) looks like an efficient BEV with its 63 MPGe: 535 Wh/mi (332 Wh/km) and a range of 181 miles (291 km), using a 95-kWh battery.

On the EPA Highway cycle, the energy consumption is even slightly higher, so it’s probably better to stick around town.

2023 Lordstown Endurance 20-inch

We are not aware as to what exactly elevated the energy consumption of the Lordstown Endurance to such a high level. It definitely would be great to see an independent range test to make sure that it’s not solely bad on paper, but since there are only a handful of vehicles delivered and only for commercial customers, we have to be patient.

One of the main reasons might be the unique, all-wheel-drive system with four in-wheel hub motors, described a few years ago as Elaphe’s L-1500 Endurance In-Wheel Motor with custom in-hub motor brakes. That would be the first thing to check, in our opinion.

Range and efficiency is not the only thing that is below the initial expectations. For example, the acceleration from 0 to 60 miles per hour (mph) is 6.3 seconds according to the final specs, compared to 5.5 seconds in the initial info.

By the way, the onboard charger is rated at 11 kilowatts (kW), while the DC fast charging is capped at 150 kW (20-80 percent of state-of-charge in 45 minutes).

Prices

Lordstown Motors does not include prices for the 2023 Lordstown Endurance on its website, at least we can’t find it. A few years ago, it was promised that the vehicle will be offered from $52,500, which later changed to $55,000.

We guess that those prices are not available anymore, because the prices of vehicles (especially pickups) went up quite significantly. To make things worse, the Lordstown Endurance probably is also not eligible for the $7,500 federal tax credit (it’s not listed among the models that were confirmed, like the Rivian R1T or Ford F-150 Lightning).

Gallery: 2023 Lordstown Endurance

Comparisons

The primary competitor for the Lordstown Endurance is the entry-level Ford F-150 Lightning Pro (Standard Range battery), which is offered at around $60,000 ($54,369 after deducting the federal tax credit).

As we can see below, the difference in terms of range and efficiency is quite significant, while other stats (onboard charger, DC fast charging, or towing) are very similar.

In the case of the quad-motor Rivian R1T, the difference in efficiency is also staggering. Let’s just note that Rivian does not use in-wheel hub motors, but on-board motors in close proximity to the wheels.

The upcoming’s dual-motor versions to be even more efficient and offer a higher range, when combined with the same battery.

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