What electric car in the United States is now the least efficient? This is a question with no answer. Now that the Lordstown Endurance has an EPA grade, the company doesn’t need any more bad news. Because Foxconn’s funding, which stabilised the operation, is falling apart, the already unstable manufacturing flow at Endurance is in danger. And the few cars that the company has been able to make so far have terrible fuel economy and range. This is a problem for buyers who want to build a fleet. Lordstown is appealing because they already have choices from big, well-known companies and are driven by the cold maths of buying and running costs. This bad news may hurt the company’s chances since the risk of going bankrupt and the urgent need for more money scare away possible investors. Let’s look more closely at what the EPA says. The most important number is the expected range, which is 174 miles. This puts it at the bottom of the range scale, closer to the confusing Mazda MX-30 (ranked at 100 miles) than the EV pickup trucks with the most miniature range, like the F-150 Lightning, which can go 230 miles according to the EPA. Also, the overall capacity of the battery is different. There are 109 kWh of power available on the Endurance. The problem is that the Endurance doesn’t work well. The 48 combined mpg, 49 city mpg, and 46 highway mpg numbers tell the whole story. No matter what you think about how the EPA tests cars, comparing EPA numbers to other numbers gives you a sense of how efficient a vehicle is (if not accurate statistics). The EPA’s least efficient truck, the regular battery F-150 Lightning, gets a combined 68 mpg, 76 mpg in the city, and 61 mpg on the highway. This is a big difference. It still needs to be clarified if Lordstown can get past this, get some money, improve the car, and keep running an important factory to the community. But this news doesn’t make things any better.
