FedEx has been quite serious about adding electric vehicles to its fleet, saying in 2011 that it would more than double its number EV vehicles.
Of course, all that meant was going from 19 to an expected 43, but it's
the start of removing some tailpipes. Plus, with overall big green vehicle ambitions, FedEx
In some cases, going EV means using the Nissan NV200 EV prototype in London. In others, it means partnering with upstart Amp Motors
to convert two 14,000-pound GVW trucks for FedEx to test in Washington,
D.C. This proof of concept, all-electric step van could be a huge first
step, as FedEx has said it hopes to convert 9,000 vehicles to EV power.
Amp also has a contract with Navistar for a similar van project.
Steve Burns, Amp founder and president, sent an email to AutoblogGreen
explaining why the company is interested in these sorts of delivery
trucks:
As I know you are keenly aware, it has been a tough year for
smaller EV companies (Aptera, Bright, Azure, Think) because the
passenger EV market has been a bit slower to evolve than first thought.
It is moving nicely, and is actually doing better than hybrids did in
2000 when they first came out, but it is proving to be a slow process to
unwind 100 years of an oil based economy that is so tightly woven into
the fabric of this great country.
To that end, we began to look for areas that might be more receptive
to adapting EVs with our technology in the shorter term. Earlier
adoption would provide both learnings and revenue while the passenger EV
market to ramps up.
The two major factors that appear to influence EV adoption are:
1) Price
2) Limited Range
We looked for applications that got very poor gas mileage (so that the
payback would be quicker) and traveled less than 100 miles per day so
that range was not an issue. So, re-powering fleets that utilized larger
vehicles for urban deliveries came into focus. And the clearest
vehicles that emerged were the step vans used by the likes of FedEx,
Navistar. The chassis and bodies on these types of vehicles are
typically used for 20 years. So, removing the diesel based drivetrain
and re-powering 10-year-old vehicles with all electric drivetrains
looked to be the most cost effective manner to get tens of thousands of
these vehicles converted from very dirty old style diesel to zero
emission electrics. The key was to get the payback under 5 years.
Preferably 4 years.
Our ML EV drivetrain pushes around a 5,000-pound
vehicle spiritedly. So, the task of moving a 14,000-lb vehicle somewhat
spiritedly was not too daunting of a task. So, essentially we utilized
our dual Remy model model with large scale cells and our same control
software/hardware and we had the formula and the price point.
In other Amp news, the company's first dealer had a launch party
recently and, says Burns, "we are about to sign up our second dealer who
is one of the top Mercedes-Benz dealers in the country."
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment