http://revengeoftheelectriccar.com The Film : The Blogs : The Revolution Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:50:52 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://revengeoftheelectriccar.com The Film : The Blogs : The Revolution Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:50:52 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://revengeoftheelectriccar.com The Film : The Blogs : The Revolution Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:50:52 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://revengeoftheelectriccar.com/bring-on-the-ev-trucks/ http://revengeoftheelectriccar.com/bring-on-the-ev-trucks/#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:08:54 +0000 Lisa Rein http://revengeoftheelectriccar.com/?p=1860 EVI Lauches Electric Delivery and Work-Truck Sales in U.S. by John Dell. Here's the full text of the entire article in case the link goes bad: http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/2009/03/evi-lauches-electric-delivery-and-work-truck-sales-in-us.html EVI Lauches Electric Delivery and Work-Truck Sales in U.S. (Note: modified 3/6/09 to add approximate cost of battery lease.) There's a new player in the mid-duty electric vehicle segment, and even though most of us will never want to park a 10,000- to 26,000- pound truck in our garages, the company's U.S.  launch is worth noting. ---------- EVI's Class 3 truck (white) on display at Chicago truck show. ---------- After all, a large truck is the perfect platform for trying out and proving the worth of electric drive and battery systems. And if (or as) battery-electric trucks catch on, the charging infrastructure that will be developed to keep the fleets in operation could provide the foundation for a charging infrastructure for rechargeable electric passenger vehicles as well. Plus, electric intra-city delivery trucks such as those Electric Vehicles International hopes to sell here - in competition with several other electric truck makers including Smith Electric Vehicles U.S. - can help reduce noise and air pollution caused by diesel and gasoline trucks that idle in parking lots, streets and alleys for hours a day while cargo is being loaded and unloaded. Electric Vehicles International isn't new. According to its website, it is a California-based manufacturer of battery-electric and hybrid-electric trucks that was founded in 1989, spent years or development and has been building and selling its vehicles in Mexico for several years now. A spokesman said the 20-year-old company has delivered more than 1,000 trucks, trams and shuttles, mostly battery-electric models although it also sells hybrid-electric versions and does conventional-to-electric or  hybrid conversions for customers. Although funded as a startup with money from the California state government, EVI, as it is called, began marketing in Mexico because the U.S. market wasn't quite ready for electric trucks, a spokesman said. The the company took the opportunity to perfect its technology and manufacturing systems in a more forgiving Mexican market . Now EVI believes cash-strapped U.S. businesses that need small- to mid-sized intra-city delivery and work trucks are willing to look beyond conventionally fueled models in hopes that alternative energy models will save fuel and maintenance money in the long-run. It showed off its wares at the Work Truck Show in Chicago this week, two models that span the range from low-speed, lightweight to large delivery truck. Part of EVI's market strategy is to sell the truck and lease the batteries, enabling the buyer to order a customized battery configuration ad to have the option of altering it to fit a businesses' changing needs as the years pass. Pricing for the company's full line of Class 3 (10,000-14,000 pounds) to Class 6 (19,001-26,000 pounds) trucks wasn't available, but a spokesman told us that a Class 3 model would run $50,000 to $55,000 plus the cost of a five-year battery lease. The trucks can be supplied with lithium phosphate batteries (right) from Valence Technologies, or lead-acid batteries from Trojan. Costs would depend on the number of batteries needed to meet a customer's needs, the spokesman said. While each lease is negotiated individually, the approximate lease cost of the lithium polymer batteries displayed on EVI's Class 3 truck displayed at the Chicago show would be $86,000, or $1,400 a month, the company said.  The would bring the total 5-year cost for truck and batteries to between $136,000 and $141,000. Approximate range on a single charge of a rack of lithium phosphate batteries would be 60 miles. Lead-acid batteries would provide less range. Total costs can be reduced with federal tax credits for electric work trucks that range from $7,500 for Class 3 trucks to as much as $15,000 for a Class 6 truck. In addition to the highway-legal trucks, EVI said it will be marketing a low-speed truck, primarily for use on closed campuses such as airports, hotel grounds and factory complexes, that will sell for $15,000 to $20,000 including batteries. Posted by John O'Dell March 6, 2009, 4:01 AM]]> http://revengeoftheelectriccar.com/bring-on-the-ev-trucks/feed/ 1