Lordstown Motors Test Vehicle Catches Fire at Foxconn Plant

LORDSTOWN, Ohio – Lordstown Motors Corp. confirmed this morning that a non-salable Endurance pickup test vehicle caught fire Sunday evening at Foxconn’s manufacturing plant here.

The all-electric Endurance was in storage at the site, and the company is investigating the cause, according to a statement.

“Emergency protocols were followed and the Lordstown Fire Department was called to the scene,” according to Lordstown Motors. “No one was injured and the company will investigate the cause of the fire.”

Firefighters were called to the plant at 7:32 p.m. Sunday, said Travis Eastham, chief of the Lordstown Fire Department. “I had help from three different jurisdictions, mainly for water supply,” he said. Fire departments from Warren Township, Newton Falls and North Jackson were called to the scene.

The vehicle was stored in a separate building apart from the assembly and manufacturing plant and was specifically used for crash-test purposes, Eastham said. 

It took approximately one hour to contain the blaze, which engulfed the entire pickup, Eastham said. “It was a total loss. There’s nothing left of the truck.”

Four other crash-test vehicles were also damaged, the fire chief reported. “These vehicles were already crash-tested and wrecked prior to this incident,” he said.

There were no injuries to employees or firefighters, Eastham added, and there was no damage to the building.

Lordstown Motors has been beset with problems since the launch of the Endurance late last year. Since deliveries began in November, the company has issued three recalls on the vehicle and has limited its production because of cost concerns.

On Jan. 13, 2021, an Endurance EV caught fire during its first road test drive in Michigan, resulting in a total loss for that vehicle, according to earlier reports.

Foxconn purchased Lordstown Motors’ plant in May 2022 for $230 million. The Taiwanese company, the largest electronics contract manufacturer in the world, builds the Endurance for Lordstown Motors at the plant, formerly a General Motors complex.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.