Lordstown Motors’ “Endurance” All-Electric Pickup Fails To Endure Baja Race

Lordstown Motors’ electric pickup truck, Endurance, did not endure too long in the SCORE San Felipe 250 in San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico, on Saturday. 

What a ride it has been leading up to race day. We did not cross the finish line, but we are proud of the work our team and partners put in to make entering this race possible. Read our full statement here: https://t.co/JJOSOamtDF #RideWithLordstown

— Lordstown Motors (@LordstownMotors) April 18, 2021

The electric vehicle startup hyped its entry into the Baja, Mexico event for weeks, only completed less than 40 miles of the 280-mile course before withdrawing. 

According to automobile news website Autoevolution, the Endurance only completed 14% of the course until it had to meet up with a portable charging truck. The vehicle was stationary for 2.5 hours. 

Before the 40-mile (64.3-km marker), GPS tracking on the Endurance showed the e-truck slowing down. Shortly afterward, it veered off the racecourse to meet up with the Lordstown truck carrying the charging station on a nearby highway. TFL Truck reports that it stayed in the same spot for 2.5 hours, recharging and/or undergoing repairs.

As for what happened next, we won’t know until Lordstown issues a clarification in this sense.

Shortly after, Endurance withdrew from the race. The exact reasons have yet to be provided by the company.

“What a ride we have had getting to the SCORE International San Felipe 250,” Lordstown’s Facebook page read. “The Endurance’s hub motors, battery pack and software performed very well today, and everything we did and experienced in Mexico has provided us with valuable insights into how the Endurance’s technology performed and responded to the demanding and treacherous conditions.”

“We are stopping here and taking our incredible learnings back to Lordstown. Thank you to everyone at Lordstown Motors, our partners at Brenthel Industries and Elaphe Propulsion Technologies, and all of our champions – your hard work, dedication and passion for the Endurance is the reason we made it to Mexico, and the reason we’ll keep going as we continue into our Beta builds ahead of start of production in September.”

Throughout April, Lordstown hyped its entry into the San Felipe 250 race. Perhaps, the hype was an attempt to attract new interest into the company’s stock, which has fallen 71% since mid-February. Shares on Monday slumped 8%. 

Lordstown Investors and future buyers of Endurance should question the company’s technology as it could barely finish an offroad race. After this past weekend’s race, Endurance might need a name change.

… and remember short-seller Hindenburg Research recently published pictures of the Endurance breaking down last year.

Hindenburg has also published a report titled “The Lordstown Motors Mirage: Fake Orders, Undisclosed Production Hurdles, And A Prototype Inferno,” which accused the company of “fake orders.”