With the W-15 the US manufacturer Workhorse wanted to launch an electric pickup with a range extender. As the company has now confirmed to electrive, it had discontinued the pickup project several months ago.

The W-15 was offered at prices starting at 52,500 dollars, and according to the company, there were already over 6,000 pre-orders. The W-15 should be able to drive up to 130 kilometres with the power from the battery, and the range extender should increase the soft range by up to 500 kilometres with one tank filling. The W-15 was designed for craftsmen and other professional users: A 7.2 kW socket was to be used to power electrical machines on remote construction sites, for example, using the current from the drive battery.

But this is not going to happen. When asked by electrive, a spokesman confirmed that the W-15 was “no longer an active project for Workhorse”. “We had a change in management about a year ago, and the decision was made to continue our core business with vans and last-mile delivery systems,” the spokesman continued.

The change in leadership mentioned above concerns Steve Burns. The manager has not only founded Workhorse but in the meantime, also launched Lordstown Motors. Workhorse, which now wants to build its vans for UPS, among other things, has experienced financial problems. But Burns has stuck to the electric pickup project with Lordstown – and took his previous knowledge with him. As Daniel Zito, Vice President of Business Development at Workhorse confirmed to electrive, and the company has licensed the technology from the W-15 program to Lordstown Motors Corporation.

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According to American reports, Lordstown has also taken the pre-orders from Workhorse. The acquisition of the technology also explains how Lordstown can achieve the relatively short time between the announcement of the project and the targeted start of production in November or December this year. However, the W-15 will not only be redesigned, but the technology will also be rebuilt: The Endurance will be a pure E-pickup with four E-motors and a total output of 450 kW. The range extender has been cancelled without replacement.

By the way, Workhorse also has an interest in Lordstown bringing the Endurance to the market – firstly because of the license fees, and secondly because Workhorse has a ten per cent share in Lordstown.

According to a US report, Lordstown Motors had already transferred 12.2 million dollars to Workhorse last year. According to the report, Lordstown pays Workhorse a license fee of one per cent of the gross sales price for the first 200,000 vehicles sold. For the first 6,000 vehicles – the transferred pre-orders – Workhorse also receives a commission of four per cent of the gross sales price.

businessjournaldaily.com, greencarreports.com