Lordstown Endurance electric pickup truck to race Baja
The electric truck will make its racing debut in April in the San Felipe 250.
Ohio-based electric truck startup Lordstown Motors announced Tuesday it will campaign the upcoming Endurance full-size electric pickup truck's skateboard platform in the grueling San Felipe 250 desert race this April in Baja, California. And y'all, I'm so excited for this -- even though this isn't the first time we've seen an electric truck enter a major motorsports event. I drove the Rivian R1T in the Rebelle Rally last October and Kyle Seggelin raced a garage-built Toyota 4Runner with the heart of a Nissan Leaf in the Every Man Challenge at King of the Hammers earlier this month.
Before we dive into Lordstown Motors' task at hand, a bit about the Endurance, if you don't know about the ambitious EV yet. A 109-kilowatt-hour battery provides 250 miles of range and the truck's four in-hub electric motors produce 600 horsepower. The company claims 4,400 pound-feet of torque, but much like how the Hummer EV produces 11,500 lb-ft of torque, that's most likely the number after the torque has been multiplied by the final drive. It's not really how we talk about torque. I expect the motor torque to be closer to 700 or 800 lb-ft. Also, this won't be a final production truck hitting the dirt. Like the company said, it's simply the skateboard architecture Lordstown Motors will build the final pickup with. Still, it sounds rad.
As for the race, the San Felipe course will be a 290-mile loop and pros consider it one of the roughest sections of Baja. The Endurance will have to, um, endure miles and miles of whoopings, and without a long-travel suspension, drivers will have to take it slow or risk breaking suspension components. The truck will also have to navigate a few rocky sections and yes, there will be silt. That four-wheel drive and 37-inch BF Goodrich tires will be put to the test for sure.
Even though the truck gets 250 miles of range, remember that's in ideal conditions. Having driven a Rivian R1T off-road for seven days, I can tell you these will not be ideal conditions. For some context, I managed an average of 167 miles on a single charge and I wasn't racing. The Endurance will also likely be loaded down with safety equipment and extra tires. I think the team will have to charge at least once if not twice on course.
Lordstown says that the truck may have to quick charge during the race, but won't know until they get further into the build. From my experience taking an EV off-road, unless they have a much larger battery than the stock 109 kWh pack, they won't get much further than halfway before needing a charge. I hope I'm wrong though as I would love to see the Endurance make the full loop on a single charge.
The San Felipe 250 will be much rougher than the terrain pictured here.
We'll see how things shake out for the Endurance's electric bones on April 17 when the San Felipe 250 kicks off the Score World Desert Championship. The truck will be racing in the Baja-e class as #E414. The production Lordstown Endurance launches in September as a crew cab with a medium-length bed at a starting price of $52,500.