Ohio’s Lordstown Motors announced that it “has experienced performance and quality issues with certain Endurance components.” That’s led to a temporary stop to both production and customer deliveries, and it will lead to the company’s first recall.
According to the company, it’s already filed paperwork with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to voluntarily recall affected trucks due to “a specific electrical connection issue that could lead to a loss of propulsion while driving.”
That issue affects 19 vehicles already delivered to customers or in use by the companies. Additional vehicles at the plant will also need the recall remedy.
Lordstown appears to explain that it’s not just that particular recall but multiple issues behind the production stop.
2023 Lordstown Endurance
“The team is diligently working with suppliers on the root cause analysis of each issue and potential solutions, which in some cases may include part design modifications, retrofits, and software updates,” said Lordstown.
Lordstown didn’t provide any further detail regarding the nature of the issues, and as of publication time the company hasn’t provided any additional insight from the issue to Green Car Reports.
The company stated that it intends “to provide a more detailed update on the status of these matters on its upcoming earnings call.”
The Endurance is noteworthy from a technology standpoint as it’s the first such electric truck—and the first light truck or passenger vehicle for the U.S. market—to use in-wheel hub motors. But there’s no indication that’s the technology affected by the recall.
Lordstown Endurance wheel hub motor
Lordstown also didn’t mention Taiwan’s Hon Hai Technology Group, which builds the Endurance at GM’s former Lordstown plant. Lordstown obtained the cornerstone, still equipped for vehicle manufacturing, in 2019 for about $20 million. Then it sold the plant to Foxconn as part of a $230 million deal announced in November 2021 and completed last May.
Foxconn plans to build vehicles based on its MIH platform for EVs at the plant, as well as vehicles that are being conceived together with Lordstown. Products already announced (or likely) for the plant include the Fisker Pear, the Indi One, and a self-driving tractor—in addition, potentially, to products from the company’s Foxtron EV brand.
Lordstown’s founding CEO Steve Burns was pushed out in 2021 after an SEC inquiry found that the company had been inflating order claims. Although the company originally said that there would be a consumer version of the Endurance, it has since emphasized that it will only be building it for fleets.
