Lordstown is focusing all of its resources on producing its all-electric truck. Image: Lordstown Motors
Lordstown Motors has stopped working on an electric van and other future projects in order to aim all resources at putting its first vehicle, a pickup truck called Endurance, into production later this year, according to a report by The Verge.
The startup previously announced in March that it was accelerating work on the van, but it has struggled since then, with CEO Steve Burns and CFO Julio Rodriguez resigning this week after an investigation into misleading claims about preorders for the Endurance.
Burns previously billed the van as a “high-top” recreational vehicle with up to 350 miles of range. He said that it would be the “first mass-produced all-electric RV,” and that Lordstown Motors believed “there will be many commercial use cases for an electric van of this size and capability.” But that will have to wait while the startup focuses on surviving.
“We do have a prototype van that’s been completed and it shares a lot of commonized parts with the Endurance. It will possibly be shown later in the summer, but at this point, we’re currently focused only on the Endurance,” Lordstown Motors president Rich Schmidt said during an Automotive Press Association event on Tuesday (June 15).
Schmidt also said that a collaboration with RV company Camping World is on hold, which is supposed to involve service centers that would support the van. “Again we’re just focused currently on the Endurance truck. That’s our next goal for the next three months, is to make sure we hit our production targets and stay within our budgets and drive forward to getting the vehicles ready for the market,” he said.
