Smith brings "world's largest all-electric truck" to the US

This one's been spreading its all-electric charm around Europe for a little while already, but it looks like Smith Electric Vehicles' Smith Newton truck is now finally making its way to the US market. According to the company, with a gross vehicle weight of over 24,000lbs, the vehicle is the "world's largest all-electric truck," with a rack of "suitcase-sized" 278 volt batteries and a 120 kilowatt motor required to push it along at speeds up to 50 mph. That combo also gives the vehicle a range of some 150 miles, and an acceleration from 0-30mph that the company says is faster than the equivalent diesel-powered truck. No word on what it'll set you back, but Smith is set to open a factory in Fresno sometime next year to accommodate its new US presence, with a larger factory capable of turning out 10,000 vehicles a year to follow in 2010.

[Via Far East Gizmos]

[eX @ Dec 7th 2007 4:47PM]

Nice that it's green and all, but 150 mile range isn't practical in trucking or delivery. Also seeing that it takes very long time to charge it will make it even less useful. Makes me also wonder what one would do if this thing runs out of juice, you can't fuel it up and going to have to find an outlet, somewhere. Hybrid while not completely clean would have made more sense. I guess if they'd put solar panels on its roof, that might help this overall.

[Michael LaFramboise @ Dec 7th 2007 5:17PM]

I'd have to agree with you there - atleast at this stage of the game full electric is pretty useless for vehicles which need to be able to travel hundreds of miles per day while fully loaded

[Nimesh @ Dec 7th 2007 5:25PM]

I completely agree with you, I own a business where we deliver our goods and services and currently have a few gas guzzling, Environment polluting, V8 Gas/Diesel delivery vans and would love to convert our fleet into a "green Fleet", but a range of 150 Miles would leave our drivers and goods stranded half way through their routes. Hybrid would make the most sense and be the most useful. If there were a hybrid delivery vehicle I'd place an order right away considering the current prices of fuel. Also it makes me wonder how much would my electric bill skyrocket if I switched to an all electric fleet, I'm sure that it would cost quite a bit more then my current fuel based fleet.

I'd like to know if there is anyone out there that would be able use an all electric delivery vehicle with a 150 mile range????

[Twitchy @ Dec 7th 2007 5:45PM]

I agree - add solar to the roof and make it a PHEV ala GM Volt to extend the range if necessary. The diesel engine could even run on Bio-Fuel, just for that added green touch.

Having said that, at least it is a step in the right direction. Let's hope it's not too little, too late.

*Opens door for anti-global warming trolls*

[Ian @ Dec 7th 2007 6:25PM]

i agree with u that its pointless for the trucks that go more than 150 miles a day.. but i know this would be great for the delivery of other goods that are always within the same 15 mile radius. i know it would be great for like say beer delivery trucks. i know in SF that the king of beers doesnt deliver farther than san mateo county. so this would be great for them. anyway for like short deliveries this would be great

[db @ Jun 3rd 2008 4:56PM]

On the website it says it has a diesel powered range extender which can be used to recharge the battery if on a longer distance.

That sounds like it could do double duty as a plug in hybrid but with excellent range.

In any event, if electric trucks take off one of two things will happen:
There will be fast charge outlets in gas stations to recharge in minutes not hours OR there will be battery swap stations where a fully charged battery can be swapped out for a discharged one.

This idea is already being implemented on a massive scale in Israel. It could work in the US too.

[Andy Shokry @ Dec 7th 2007 5:13PM]

starbucks !

[Charles Gooding @ Dec 7th 2007 5:41PM]

Clean and zero emissions?? Yeah right where does it get its power from? Very dirty and polluting coal power plants, or natural gas, hydro-electric? Most of the time it would be a coal burning plant and they are more polluting and less efficient at turning its fuel source in to usable energy than your typical modern car or truck.

[Brian @ Dec 7th 2007 6:35PM]

Why is Charles Gooding marked down? Isn't he right? Where do you think the majority of our energy comes from?

[peazley @ Dec 7th 2007 7:39PM]

Yes but in theory you could charge it from a renewable source like wind or solar. Thus further reducing emissions.

[CraigJ @ Dec 7th 2007 5:46PM]

I hate the whole "zero emissions" thing. Yes, electricity generated at a large power plant is more efficient than internal combustion (90%+ vs. 30%), yes the truck itself doesn't emit any waste, however, somewhere something was probably burned to make the electricity, unless all your power comes from hydro or nuclear.

Fixed: Zero Emissions*
* Assuming that your electricity comes from a zero emission source

[Ian @ Dec 7th 2007 6:26PM]

haha yea 100% agree with u there

[Eric Leung @ Dec 8th 2007 3:04PM]

yeah, i agree that its not completely zero emission because the fuel was burned at the power plant instead, however, you just pointed it out yourself... 90% efficiency vs. 30%??? thats 3 times less emission

[D0li0 @ Dec 13th 2007 2:52PM]

The "Zero Emissions" comes from the Ca ZEV (Zero Emissions Vehicle) mandate that was squashed a few years back. That mandate, ironically, had nothing to do with CO2 emissions. But it was important to get the smog out of large city basins. Thus moving the pollution elsewhere was a benefit to health. And even with coal power EV's are cleaner, and get cleaner as they grow older as we realize that we must clean up our grid power and move to renewable, something out current fleet of ICE vehicles can't easily do.

The crazy thing is these new (Partial) PZEV and AT-PZEV certifications given to cars like hybrids that don't even have plug-in capabilities. How do you make something a Part of Zero anyway?

[russ d @ Dec 7th 2007 6:26PM]

Fresno? More like Fres-Yes!

[Arthur Keller @ Dec 7th 2007 8:45PM]

Local delivery trucks don't have a very long range. Consider UPS' foray into alternative fueled vehicles: http://pressroom.ups.com/mediakits/factsheet/0,2305,879,00.html

Why do people always ask where the electricity comes from to charge electric vehicles but rarely ask where the hydrogen comes from for fuel cell vehicles. Most of the hydrogen comes from natural gas (reducing the energy content compared with the original natural gas). Very little hydrogen comes from electrolysis of water, and that uses a lot more electricity than the energy content of the hydrogen produced. There's no natural store of elemental hydrogen on earth, it's all bound up with other chemicals. And hydrogen is a much less efficient carrier of energy than batteries.

There's not much data on electric trucks. But the data on electric cars has shown that they produce less pollution (and greenhouse gases) even when the electricity is produced using coal. Ordinary vehicles get dirtier every year, but electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles get cleaner every year. Why? Because the electrical grid gets cleaner every year. See http://www.calcars.org and http://www.electricauto.org

[Dr Buzz0 @ Dec 7th 2007 11:08PM]

You do all realize that this is just about useless from an environmental standpoint if we continue to generate the majority of electricity by burning coal I assume.

[Twitchy @ Dec 8th 2007 12:24AM]

Any step in the right direction is better than standing still. But thanks for your useless comment Dr Buzzkill.

[Keo @ Dec 8th 2007 12:18PM]

Depending on the transportation needs of your business, 150 miles per day might be more than adequate.

I worked in truck leasing industry in New England for 5 years and since I was able to see an overview of the mileage habits of some 2000 trucks in our fleet, I can tell you that many trucks with a registered Gross Vehicle Weight of less than 26,000 pounds tend to average 500 miles a week or less. It might require more effort on the route scheduler to keep a truck from running out of charge while on the road, but 750 miles in a 5-day week could be adequate for many businesses.

The most important thing to consider is operating expenses. Nimesh mentioned the mostly unknown cost to recharge a fleet of electric trucks, but you also need to wonder how many miles those batteries and electric motors will last and how much it will cost to replace them. The average diesel engine will last long past 300,000 miles and long-haul tractors often pass 500,000 miles during a 5-year lease.

It could be that an electric truck would require less frequent maintenance than its diesel counterpart, but when those repairs occur they might be more expensive.

[Hugh Webber @ Dec 8th 2007 4:08PM]

These trucks are perfectly suitable for thousands of delivery businesses, and will create goodwill.

Electrical generation, even with nasty coal plants, to recharge electric vehicles (EVs) produces less than 10% of the pollution that producing gasoline and burning it in vehicles does. Gasoline does not magically appear in the pump.

Charging a passenger EV costs a dollar or two. The US DOE reported this year that 75% of the US auto fleet (charged overnight at homes,) if electric, wouldn't require on new power plant.

See EVWorld for facts on EVs.

[Mehul Kamdar @ Dec 8th 2007 9:35PM]

As someone who used to run a small export business, I agree that this could be a good truck IF the overall costs are low for people like me and my business partner. Much of the goods that we receive have to be shipped from our premises to our freight forwarder or to the local airport and that is where this kind of truck could make a big difference.

Conventional trucks will continue to be used for long distance transportation until electric technology is advanced enough to compete with them, but for many small businessmen who use their own transportation for local deliveries, something like this could be a very good idea if the costs work out. In the end, how much (or to be precise, how little) the operating costs are would make the biggest difference to whether this becomes a hit or not.

[john howe @ Dec 9th 2007 9:22AM]

Commercial tranportation will be nearly impossible in the post-carbon world. Where does the energy come from? Ultimately, only from the sun. Check out www.solarcarandtractor.com for honest answers.

[Al @ Mar 21st 2008 3:43AM]

The petroleum fuel cycle is much less efficient than the 25% or so of the gasoline or diesel burning engine figure implies. Oil is lost and consumed at every step of the way from exploring and drilling the wells to the tailpipe of the vehicle that uses it.
I have seen the figure 6% as a peak efficiency of the petroleum fuel cycle.

The battery charge-discharge cycle has become enormously more efficient in recent years, up to 99% efficiency in lithium-ion batteries.
Computer-controlled modern coreless (no heavy iron core for the motor coils to be wound on) permanent-magnet motors are very efficient, too. and, if they are integrated into the wheels and hubs of vehicles, transmission losses are eliminated (the wheels have to have bearings anyway) by not having gears, CV joints, etc. - no drivetrain.
Regenerative braking uses the motors as generators when braking is needed. The power produced by the motor/generators is used to recharge the batteries. Only when the batteries are fully charged is the braking power dissipated (wasted) in resistance grids (dynamic braking). The friction brakes are needed only to bring the vehicle to a complete stop from about 10 mph, as wheel motor/generators can be designed and controlled to slip the tires on dry pavement at speed (above about 10 mph or so), still without stopping the wheels.
Wheel propulsion motors that are designed for maximum braking (slipping the tires on a dry pavement) have to be designed to dissipate a lot of power for a short period of time, and a lesser amount for longer periods, such as "engine" braking (retarding) on long downgrades.
Having the motors out in the wheels makes for excellent ventilation especially with wheels designed to pump air through the wheels and over the motors. Even high-efficiency motors still waste some power as heat.