When it comes to electrification, things haven’t gone so well for Wordstown Motors. This is to put things mildly. Now, the electric truck manufacturer has suffered another setback. It’s recalling nearly every truck it sold last year. Yes, you read that correctly, 19 trucks are facing a recall.
What’s going on with Lordstown Motors?
If you pay attention to the news, there’s a lot going on. Unfortunately, most of it is not very good. Starting an automobile company is not an easy task, and starting an electric truck company is probably even harder. It seems that at every turn, Lordstown has run into some kind of snag.
Endurance trucks in 2022, and now 19 of them have been recalled. That’s not exactly the best track record in the auto industry.
The Lordstown Endurance continues to run into problems
When Lordstown first announced its all-electric Endurance truck, it was met with some skepticism. Accordingly, the company acquired GM’s Lordstown plant in 2019, but things didn’t really improve after that.
Along with recalling most of its trucks, the company has now announced that it will discontinue production of the Endurance. This will likely be a disappointment to the people who made the reservation.
In today’s world, callbacks seem to be becoming the norm. This isn’t entirely a bad thing, as it means that problems are being caught and remedied. But when you’ve only delivered 30 trucks and need to call 19 of them, it doesn’t bode well.
Are electric trucks any good?
For a while there, EV trucks seemed fairly new. But now, brands like Ford, Ram, and Chevy have plans to produce electric trucks or are already producing them. In fact, it’s so popular that Ram had to close down for reservations just five days after it opened. Obviously, there are people interested in a pickup truck with an electric powertrain.
Even industry newcomers like Rivian are seeing success with EV pickup trucks. Depending on where you are, chances are you’ve seen a road around the year. For Lordstown Motors, that was not the case. And it’s not clear if the endurance will hit the average consumer.
I understand that electric trucks are not for everyone. If you live in a cold climate or already tow in your car, petrol or diesel may be the way to go. But since models like the F-150 get electrified, automakers are investing heavily in the technology.
At the same time, Lordstown isn’t the only company struggling with electric vehicles. Recently, Ford announced that the F-150 Lightning is having problems with its batteries. If a giant like Blue Oval is having production problems, it’s no surprise that Lordstown Motors feels the same.
