The Lion Electric Company has announced several key partnerships with truck upfitters to provide new fully electrified refrigerated, dry freight and aluminum stake body options for its Lion6 zero-emission urban truck.
The new partnerships include equipment upfit options from Morgan Truck Body, Thermo King, Knapheide and CM Truck Beds.
“Electrification has arrived for a broad range of truck fleet customers, from dry cargo fleets to those with temperature-sensitive requirements. We are pleased to be working in close collaboration with four industry leaders as we continue to move toward a zero-emission future in trucking, and look forward to continuing to introduce new applications to our highly flexible class 5 to class 8 chassis vehicles,” says Brian Piern, chief commercial officer of Lion Electric.
The Lion6 is a class 6 zero-emission urban truck built on the experience Lion has gained from putting over 550 heavy-duty all-electric vehicles on the road, which have covered over 9 million miles to date. Offering 200 miles of range on a single charge, the Lion6 is designed and built to be 100% electric from the ground up, with none of the engineering compromises and waste inherent to platforms retrofitted from traditional internal combustion engine designs.
The Lion6 also benefits from Lion’s proprietary battery thermal management system (BTMS), which keeps battery temperatures in the ideal operating range. The result is optimal performance in extremely hot and cold environments with minimal impact on range, as has been proven by Lion truck customers currently operating in harsh conditions in some of the coldest regions of both the US and Canada.
Now, this battery technology can be leveraged not only for propulsion, but to simultaneously power a vehicle refrigeration unit, as well. Mounted on a Lion6 chassis and utilizing a Thermo King all-electric refrigerated unit, the company’s concept vehicle also features a 24-foot truck body that is seamlessly integrated with Lion Electric’s vehicle systems and powered by the vehicle’s onboard batteries – eliminating emissions and noise pollution caused by diesel refrigeration units.
Lion’s new partnership with Knapheide brings work fleets the option of an electrified lightweight aluminum 18-foot platform stake body, which also features an enclosed storage pack behind the truck cab to secure work equipment. Lion has also debuted a larger stake upfit option for the Lion6 with a new 26-foot aluminum platform body in partnership with CM Truck Beds. Additionally, an innovative dry freight body from Morgan Truck Body leverages lightweight materials for improved payload.