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Snap-On Tool and Wonderbread salespeople out there can take comfort, your unleaded/diesel churning days are over. Well they’re not ‘over’ over, you still need to work that working class but off to make ends meat after waking up at 2 am. But as far as the pollutants coming from your ride, they’re gone. Freightliner, one of the country’s largest manufacturers of delivery vehicles, is joining forces with electric car maker Tesla to build plug-in electric trucks.

The Silicon Valley automaker will provide batteries for Freightliner Custom Chassis beginning as early as next year. Freightliner has offered hybrid electric trucks for year, and will also start selling hydraulic hybrid.

“We’re trying to drive some of the revolution within the commercial sector,” says Jonathan Randall, director of sales and marketing. “The is one more arrow in our quiver to make sure we’re following the technology and providing what our customers want.” Freightliner says its electric rig will save $15,000/year in fuel and maintenance costs.

The motor produces 120 kilowatts peak power (about 160 horsepower) and 45 kilowatts (about 60 horsepower) continuous. The juice comes from batteries made by Tesla Motors. The pack is comprised of three 18.5 kilowatt-hour modules for a total of 55.5 kilowatt hours: good for “somewhere north of 100 miles range.”

The battery is essentially the same as the Roadster’s 53 kilowatt-hour pack. Each module contains 2,000 cells and weighs 300 pounds. The cells are the same kind you’ll find in your laptop — 18650 lithium cobalt oxide. Plug the truck into a 220-volt line and it’s good to go in six to eight hours. Although the battery pack weighs 900 pounds the electric drivetrain is lighter than the engine and transmission.

Freightliner plans to wrap up testing and have the truck rolling off assembly lines by middle of next year.

The Source: Wired

Categories: Articles, Go Green
Tags: Freightliner, plug-in trucks, snap-on tools, tesla electric motor, tesla motors, wonderbread