| Electric trucks getting up to speed for commercial use |
Using batteries to power light-duty electric vehicles makes sense in most cases – vehicle owners can recharge overnight and obtain enough juice to cover their everyday commutes and errands.
Using batteries in heavy-duty commercial trucking is a more complicated endeavor: Truck operators frown on downtime, and heavy batteries might reduce payload capacity.
Electric trucks nonetheless remain an intriguing proposition, and this week brought a new entrant into the field.
Solo AVT, a startup created by Waymo, Tesla and BMW alums, made its first public pronouncements regarding its efforts to build an electric truck platform. The company says the SD1 Heavy platform is designed so AV companies can integrate their self-driving software and sensor suites.
Pairing self-driving systems with antiquated vehicles not built with redundant systems has been a particular challenge in the trucking space, so the Solo team is addressing a known sore spot. The company closed a $7 million seed round led by Trucks Venture Capital, with participation from Maniv Mobility and Wireframe Ventures.
A battery-electric Class 8 prototype is scheduled to begin testing this year.
Elsewhere this week, Einride, the Swedish electric and autonomous trucking company founded in 2016, showcased its latest technology at SXSW in Austin, Texas.
Not only did the company show its distinctive driverless trucks, it demonstrated the potential of remote operations, with one human capable of overseeing and controlling multiple trucks at one time.
In both cases, there’s much to be proven with fledgling technology. But at a time when supply-chain constraints and emissions-reductions hopes loom large over the freight-carrying industry, Solo and Einride both provide potential solutions.
— Pete Bigelow
Source: https://www.autonews.com/mobility-report-newsletter/electric-trucks-getting-speed-commercial-use
