ZeroTruck will be unveiled at AFVI expo in Las Vegas
Electrorides Inc., a company based in California, will debut the ZeroTruck, an all-electric medium duty truck, at the 2008 AFVI National Conference and Expo in Las Vegas in mid-May. The ZeroTruck can go 100 miles per charge using an EIG lithium polymer battery pack and a UQM brushless permanent magnet elecgtric motor. The highway-speed truck can capture energy through regenerative braking and has an on-board charger to suck power from the grid. The first ZeroTrucks will be released in the Los Angeles area later this year - deliveries should start in August - with a national roll-out planned for 2009. More details after the jump.
The ZeroTruck is a converted Isuzu N Series and Greentechmedia.com says that the pure EV version will be joined by a series-hybrid version that uses a modified diesel engine that can burn biodiesel or pure veggie oil. Electrorides has invited AutoblogGreen to test drive the ZeroTruck at the AFVI show, so we'll have a much better idea about what this truck is about in a few weeks.
Press Release:
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 12:40PM (4/23/2008)
This sounds like a fantastic local delivery & services truck.
Reply
kert 12:51PM (4/23/2008)
once again, you guys need to see this report:
http://gwiz.myfastforum.org/about1191.html
Plenty of new commercial electric vehicles, trucks and others coming out.
Reply
KarenRei 3:11PM (4/23/2008)
Let's hope it's a thing of quality and inspires lots of purchases and competitors. Truckers put an awful lot of miles on their vehicles; it'd be a big deal indeed to see conversions, and could potentially pay off big for trucking companies that switch. Assuming that the economics of use works out. Which brings me to my big question: why on earth LiPo?
Reply
eddy 3:37PM (4/23/2008)
Sounds good, but this will need a lot of good operations research and route planning for the buyers of the truck. 100 miles is not that much for a delivery truck in a big city. But i think it could do very well if it's use is well planed. The range-extended version could be nice for companies which can't plan their routes perfectly. All in all trucks like this one are big leap ahead.
@KarenRei LiPo has very good storage capacity. If it is newer liquid-free LiPo-cells (similar to the ones from Evonik or the Fraunhofer institute) they are very safe and have longer life expectancies than normal LiIon-cells.
Reply
Peekoyle 7:50AM (4/24/2008)
Maybe they could wring a few more miles of range if they dispensed with the 'brick with wheels' aerodynamics.
Reply
David Wright 10:41AM (4/24/2008)
Check out this earlier autobloggreen report http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/04/23/video-all-the-smith-electric-vehicles-from-the-cv-show/
Smith Electriuc Vehicles already have several hundred all-electric vans and trucks out there on UK streets and highways - bought by parcel delivery firms such as TNT and DHL, and by UK supermarket chain Sainsburys.
The 100-150 mile range is not a problem for depot-based delivery fleets in urban areas, where stop-start routes are the norm.
Smith is owned by engineering company Tanfield Group, whose shares can be bought on the London stockmarket.
At the UK's big Commercial Vehicles Show last week, Smith did not have the floor to themselves. There were at least half a dozen makers of all-electric highway-capable delivery vehicles. Electric cars may still be a couple of years away from mass production, but in the commercial field EVs are taking off.
Incidentally, though electric vehicles are dearer than their diesel equivalent (roughly four times the price in Zerotruck's case, and twice the diesel price in Smith's case), they are selling to fleet owners who see a reasonable payback in terms of drastically reduced fuel and maintenance costs. In other words they are buying on grounds of economic viability, not just for the green image.
Reply