California Truck Equipment Co. (CTEC), in Downey, Calif., and Rockport Commercial Vehicles, in Elkhart, Ind., are now offering all-electric versions of their existing commercial vehicles – maintenance work trucks and box trucks, respectively – using the Motiv all-electric powertrain.
According to Motiv Power Systems, these builders join Morgan Olson, TransTech Bus, Ameritrans Bus and Cumberland Service Center as vehicle builders employing the Motiv all-electric powertrain to offer OEM electric versions of their vehicles. Motiv asserts that zero-emission vehicles equipped with its all-electric powertrains have shown a reduction of total operating costs by up to 87% compared with diesel trucks.
The first all-electric CTEC work truck, built on a Ford E450 chassis, was recently delivered to the City of Santa Ana, Calif., as a part of a California Energy Commission grant that also supplied the first three shuttle buses for the Mountain View Community Shuttle program. The all-electric work truck is used regularly by Santa Ana’s Parks and Recreation Department.
“We are excited to be offering all-electric versions of our existing work trucks to customers,” says Rick Anderson, president of CTEC. “The Motiv-powered work truck looks and functions just like its gasoline counterpart, making it simple for our customers to fit them into their existing fleets. The maintenance truck for the City of Santa Ana has proved to be very reliable, and we look forward to building more.”
Meanwhile, the first Rockport all-electric box truck will allow fleet operators in the San Francisco Bay Area to test drive the state-of-the-art, all-electric vehicle through demonstrations and short-term leases in order to encourage fleets to add electric vehicles.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to show fleets that going electric doesn’t have to mean a big change in operations. Instead a new, zero-emission vehicle can fit seamlessly within their existing infrastructure,” says Jim Castelaz, CEO of Motiv Power Systems.
“Commercial fleets rely on consistency within their vehicles and operations, so having familiar OEM vehicle builders like Rockport and CTEC now offering all-electric vehicles is a game-changer,” Castelaz adds. “It minimizes personnel training and maintenance on these new all-electric vehicles while maximizing fuel savings and reducing air pollution.”
Because the work truck and box truck share the same Ford E450 chassis, they have similar specifications, including 1,200 Nm of torque and a top speed of 60 miles per hour. Each has a GVWR of 14,500 pounds, and there’s a payload capacity of 7,890 for the maintenance truck and 7,600 pounds for the box truck. The on-board charger can charge the vehicles up to 50% within two hours and a full charge within eight hours, without the need to install costly charging equipment at the fleet depot.
