Electric Commercial Trucks are Growing in Popularity

Large electric delivery trucks were quite popular in the early days of the automobile. Indeed, Walker built them well into the 1930s. Today, several manufacturers are embarking on building medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks in the U.S. Besides the advantages of early electric trucks like quiet operation and durability, there are additional reasons that truck builders see a market for electric delivery trucks. These include high fuel prices, concerns about climate change, and the advent of new battery technologies that give electric trucks the range they lacked in the past.

Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. has joined with Enova Systems to build an all-electric chassis that could be used for the MT-45 walk-in vans used by FedEx and UPS, among other applications. The electric vans would use Enova's 90 and 120 kW electric drive systems, have maximum payloads of 10,000 pounds, and be available to fleet customers as early as 2010. Production could be at Freightliner plants in Gaffney, South Carolina and Enova