The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), California Energy Commission, South Coast Air Quality Management District and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) are coordinating a project whereby more than 50 fleets will deploy all-electric pickup trucks and vans in order to examine how fleet electrification affects vehicle fuel efficiency and emissions.
As a part of the project, VIA Motors has been contracted to supply the electric vehicles, representing $20 million in revenue, the company says. VIA will also install the proprietary technology that will record and transmit real-time vehicle data and allow researchers to quantify improvements in fuel economy and emissions. The data will be transmitted to the Idaho National Laboratory for analysis by the DOE and EPRI.
Ultimately, the DOE will publish the data for use by government agencies, other fleets and the general public to help them examine their own electric vehicle deployments.
VIA's proprietary V-DRIVE powertrain is designed to integrate into new OEM vehicles, which are then sold directly to fleets under the VTRUX brand name. These vehicles deliver up to 40 miles of all-battery range.
