Heavy-duty Headlines

Xos, an e-truck builder based in California, is aiming to complete a production model of its ET One heavy-duty e-truck by year end. Xos also manufactures a Class 6 medium-duty step van, which is being used in small numbers by UPS. 

Elsewhere in California, EV developer Faraday Future and US Hybrid Corp. joined up to explore the use of faraday Future’s electric propulsion system in US Hybrid’s medium- and heavy-duty shuttle buses and drayage trucks.  

U.S. companies Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. and Proterra, a specialist in heavy-duty electric transportation, are enhancing FCCC’s MT50e electric delivery truck chassis. The vehicle will be powered by Proterra’s 226 kWh battery with range of 125 miles after a three-hour DC recharge. 

Ideanomics, a U.S. company that facilitates EV adoption, will supply Chinese truck services firm Zhitong 3000 with, appropriately, 3,000 heavy haulage transportation vehicles, 1,000 heavy dump trucks for transporting slag and ore and 800 passenger cars. The total order is worth about U.S. $250 million. The vehicles will be procured by Ideanomic’s financing division MEG from a number of manufacturers. 

Toyota, the manufacturer of the Mirai fuel-cell car, will partner with Japanese automaker Hino Motors Ltd. to develop a heavy-duty fuel-cell truck. 

Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation, part of Daimler Trucks, will produce fuel-cell trucks by the late 2020s, after showing off Vision F-CELL, a light-duty fuel-cell concept that it has since developed into the eCanter F-CELL. 

An all-electric trash collection truck is being put through its paces by waste collection company Rova in the town of Zwolle in the Netherlands. Made by Dutch truck maker DAF, the vehicle has a 170-kilowatt hour battery. China’s BYD and U.S. company Mack are also developing electric waste collection vehicles.