Even though there isn't a huge demand for them yet, a lot of players, big and small, are readying battery-electric pickup trucks. One of them is a newcomer called Lordstown Motors, which only a couple of weeks ago announced it acquired a former General Motors plant located in Lordstown, Ohio, to build the Endurance electric pickup.

Now, in the same week that Tesla unveiled its own Cybertruck electric pickup, Lordstown has announced pricing and the start of pre-orders for the Endurance. Mind you, Lordstown hasn't actually shown us its truck, apart from a couple of drawings.

The Endurance starts at $52,500 and anyone interested in reserving an early build slot can place a $1,000 refundable deposit via Lordstown's website. In comparison, the Cybertruck starts at $39,900.

The Endurance will apparently beat the Tesla to production by about a year, with Lordstown promising to start deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2020, with the first examples to arrive as 2021 models. Lordstown said the first deliveries will be to fleet customers.

Teaser for 2021 Lordstown Endurance

Teaser for 2021 Lordstown Endurance

Full details on the Endurance will be revealed in due course but we know the truck will feature in-wheel motors, a design the company said reduces the number of moving parts and will help to reduce breakdowns and maintenance costs for owners compared to conventional trucks. The Endurance will also feature a power take-off.

Lordstown is responsible for the design but the powertrain technology will be licensed from Workhorse, which manufactures electric vans and had planned to launch an extended-range electric pickup. It now appears Workhorse will focus on vans and Lordstown on the pickup.

The founder of Workhorse, Steve Burns, is also the CEO and founder of Lordstown. He's joined at Lordstown by former Tesla manufacturing chief Rich Schmidt, as well as former senior executives at GM, Volkswagen and Karma.

There's soon going to be a lot of competitors in the electric pickup space. In addition to the entries from Lordstown and Tesla, Ford has an electric F-150 is in the works, GM is working on at least one electric pickup of its own, maybe more, and EV startups Rivian and Bollinger plan to start production of their respective R1T and B2 pickup trucks in 2020.