GLOBAL CHALLENGES

All-Electric Commercial Truck Has Zero Emissions, 100-Mile Range

R. Colin Johnson | Date: 05-25-10 | Comments

By this time next year, there will be nearly a dozen all-electric automobiles and commercial trucks rolling on U.S. streets, but the first one you are likely to see will be the Navistar eStar, which Federal Express will start using for urban deliveries later this year.

Navistar's all-electric delivery truck�the eStar�heralds a new breed of green trucks and cars for getting around town. Last year, Smith Electric Vehicles (U.K.) began importing its all-electric truck, the Newton, which is a much larger vehicle�eight tons with separate cab compared with the two-ton walk-in eStar. Navistar claims its eStar is the first all-electric delivery-sized vehicle.

The Navistar eStar all-electric delivery vehicle has been adopted by FedEx for its around-town deliveries.

FedEx will try out the eStar vehicle as part of its Los Angeles fleet and, if the truck performs as advertised, will expand its all-electric fleet to other cities starting next year. The eStar has a relatively tight turning radius of 36 feet, and provides nearly 180-degree visibility from the cab. The very quiet operation of the all-electric vehicle is predicted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 10 tons annually per truck.

The eStar is the first member of a new category of delivery truck�an all-electric, Class 2c-3, medium-duty commercial vehicle. With a range of 100 miles, it is suitable for making deliveries around town and can be plugged in at the end of the day to be fully recharged in 6 to 8 hours. For around-the-clock operation, the batteries are housed in a removable quick-change cassette that can be swapped out in about 20 minutes.

The eStar meets all Federal Motor Vehicles Safety Standards (FMVSS), and is the first all-electric walk-through delivery truck to receive both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) "clean fuel fleet vehicle" certification as well as the even stricter California Air Resources Board (CARB) certification as a zero-emissions vehicle.

The Navistar eStar is the product of the federal stimulus funding program that encourages environmentally responsible technologies to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. President Obama announced the $39.2 million effort to assist truck builders in making the transition to electric vehicles in 2009. Navistar's eStar is the first all-electric commercial vehicle to roll off the assembly line since the stimulus package was announced by Obama at the Navistar manufacturing plant in Indiana. (The eStar was produced by the Navistar-Modec EV Alliance, a joint venture between Navistar in the United States and Modec of the United Kingdom.)

The eStar was built from the ground up as an all-electric vehicle�not a retrofitted gas guzzler. For instance, by locating the batteries between the frame rails, it lowered the truck's center of gravity, provided more payload space and allowed the flat-floor, walk-through cab.

Navistar also markets a line of hybrid commercial trucks and school buses, and is designing all-electric vehicles for those markets too.