There haven’t been any successful pickup trucks that have been made has plug-in hybrid electric models on the road yet, but one may be on its way very soon. While this pickup won’t come from your typical truck manufacturer, a new one is creating a truck that you will consider to be a great truck that can get the job done that you need. This new truck will be one that you can easily admire and will come to you at a fairly reasonable price when you want to have a truck that is perfect for business needs.
This new truck is the W-15 that will come from Workhorse Group which is a Cincinnati based company. The plan is to have this truck on the road by 2018, but it may take some convincing to have it as a personal vehicle rather than one that’s just the truck used by commercial companies. So far the companies that are interested in these trucks are Duke Energy, the city of Orlando and the city of Portland all of which have singed nonbinding letters of interest to be able to purchase these trucks for their own uses.
Duke Energy has already committed to buy 500 of these new trucks by 2019. The plan is for this truck to have an estimated eighty mile range on a single charge. This truck will be offered around $50,000 per truck and have room for five passengers in a crew cab style while using a floor integrated Panasonic lithium-ion battery pack. This truck will also be built with regenerative braking capabilities to help add to the range of this truck. There will be two electric motors powering this truck, one on each axle to help give it the driving capabilities you want.
To help in the range, the Workhorse W-15 will also use a small two-cylinder gasoline engine that is the same as the one that is used in the BMW i3. This will add to the range and give this truck 310 miles more range. The body will be made of lightweight composite materials and be built on a high-strength stainless steel frame. Workhorse claims this truck will weigh in at 7,200 pounds and give it the ability to haul as much as 2,200 pounds of cargo. This is the truck that just might lead the way when it comes to the market for PHEV trucks.
Workhorse has already received a $10 million order for 200 of these trucks to be driven by UPS drivers and there is an expected order of 125 more in the near future. FedEx and Alpha Baking are also being added to the customers that will also want to have these trucks to drive. This truck will be shown off to us at the next Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in May of 2017. This show is held in Long Beach, CA each year and will give us a chance to actually look at and enjoy what this truck is and what it could be on the market.
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