Trading Diesel for Kilowatts
From TruckingInfo website, March, 2015.
by Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Trading Diesel for Kilowatts
If trucks “burn” electricity instead of diesel or gasoline, the air stays clean and fuel bills are lower.
In California, electric vehicles’ zero tailpipe emissions are golden because a fight against smog has been under way for many years. That’s why Transportation Power Inc. has been designing and testing heavy drayage and yard tractors. Five of each are now at work, according to President Mike Simon, who hopes to have 1,000 or more electric trucks of various types running by the end of the decade.
TransPower battery-electric tractors are converted from International ProStar daycab models with diesel powertrains at the firm’s plant in Poway, north of San Diego. Engines and manual transmissions are pulled out and replaced with electric components: five large boxes containing lithium ion phosphate batteries; specially engineered electronic inverters and controls; and a pair of electric motors running through an Eaton Ultrashift 10-speed automated mechanical transmission, which multiplies the motors’ power and torque.
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