Navistar Presents Electric Truck

Navistar Commercial Electric Truck

Navistar recently unveiled their electric truck to Congress.  The company received $39 million in grant money in August from the US Department of Energy to develop the vehicle as part of a battery and electric vehicle development initiative.  Navistar expects to build 400 of the commercial trucks in 2010.  Targeted for light-duty stop and go applications such as intra-city delivery, the company expects to be producing thousands of vehicles as the market grows.  Learn more:  Autoevolution.com

Electric Vehicles International Moving Headquaters To California

Mexico based Electric Vehicles International is moving their headquarters to Stockton, CA where they will also be building a manufacturing facility for their electric powered light truck.  The EVILightTruck has a top speed of 45-60 mph, depending on the version, and is available as a class 3,4,5 or 6 truck.  There is also a hybrid  option.  The all electric model has a 100KW motor and is powered by a lithium phosphate battery supplied by Valence.  EVI also sells drive trains and controllers for electric vehicles.  Since its founding in 1989 the company reports selling over 1,000 vehicles.  Production in the new facility will begin in 2010 and will employ up to 100 people when operating at peak production.  Learn more:  Centralvalleybusinesstimes.com

Modec & Navistar Forming A Joint Venture

Modec and Navistar recently announced that they will soon finalize a joint venture that will produce class 2c-3 commercial trucks.  The trucks will have the Navistar brand and will be assembled in Indiana.  Navistar recently won a $39.2 million grant from the US government’s Recovery Act funds targeting battery technology and electric vehicles.  The grant will be used by the joint venture to develop 400 electric commercial trucks in 2010 with a range of 100 miles.  In the following years the JV is expected to produce thousands of vehicles annually.  Modec currently sells electric trucks to companies such as Fedex, UPS and supermarket chains.  Learn more:  Autogreenmag.com

Smith Electric Vehicles US & Altec Partner On Utility Truck

First Test Vehicle Revealed: Smith Electric Vehicle US and Altec Industries Utility Truck

Smith Electric Vehicles US (SEVUSA) and Altec Industries will work together on the development of an all electric utility truck with an aerial bucket. SEVUSA will use their Newton truck produced in Kansas City as the basic vehicle and Altec will integrate their aerial product. The utility truck is targeted for utility companies and Pacific Gas and Electric will be involved in the development of the vehicle as well. The utility company will take delivery of the first test unit and provide feedback and test data. Learn more: utilityproducts.com

ZAP Completes Made In USA Electric Pickup Engineering Project

ZAP reports finishing an engineering project to develop an electric pickup truck where most of the parts and components will be made in the United States.  The project is an extension of the company’s efforts to shift vehicle production back to the US. Learn more:   marketwire.com

Boshart EV’s Prototype Tersus Electric Truck

Boshart Tersus

The Boshart Tersus is an electric powered general utility truck that can carry up to four people and is designed for closed campus and private property environments. What I find interesting about the Tersus is that it looks more like a typical gas powered truck.

The truck has a top speed of 25 mph and a payload capacity of 1,000 lbs. It uses a 72 volt system that powers a 28Kw AC motor and can be charged to 80% in one hour using a fast charger. A standard charger will recharge the AGM battery pack in six hours. I contacted the company and they told me that the vehicle is not available yet and didn’t provide a timetable or estimated price.

The company is also planning a heavy duty electric utility truck for 2010 that will have a payload of 3,000 lbs. Learn more: boshartev.com

Update: I received some more information from the company.  the vehicle can be purchased directly from Boshart Engineering and costs from $20,000 to $26,000 depending on options.  The vehicles has 220 ah capacity AGM battery pack and operates on a 72 volt system.

More Smith Electric Vehicle News

Smith All Electric Newton for the North American Market

Smith Electric Vehicles US Corporation, currently headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, is planning on producing all electric trucks for depot-based delivery fleets in North America. In the UK companies like Starbucks and DHL use the vehicles in dense urban areas.

The Newton model will be the first Smith vehicle available in this market. This is a class 5,6 o 7 vehicle with a payload of up to 16,280 lbs. While not quite a highway speed vehicle, the Newton is not a low speed vehicle either can reach speeds of up to 50 mph and has a range of over 100 miles depending on the battery option chosen.

The Newton originally used anywhere from two to six Sodium Nickel Chloride batteries produced by Zebra and each battery cost $16,000 and provided 22KW hours of power. However the company expects that most of the models sold in the US will use this Lithium ion type batteries. The 2007 version of the truck costs $150,000 with the Zebra batteries accounting for $64,000 or just over 40% of the cost. Additional batteries also reduce payload capacity.

Learn more and at Autobloggreen.com

Update:  See some video interviews from some people in the industry that drove the truck at Autobloggreen.com