How’s that new electric truck going?

It’s Great!

we’ve had it for about a month now and it’s been out working most of those days. We recently got our signage put on and we’re pretty pleased.

Some other impressions:

Steve, our after-sales manager has been great. He’s from SEA and oversaw the repair/correcting of a few minor things from when it was delivered (most of which wasn’t actually related to the electric part of the truck). He’s been very helpful in getting to understand the truck, how it functions, what decisions where made (and why) and how to get the most out of it. In a future post I’ll get deeper into why we chose SEA and also what we’ve learned since. Steve’s a real lifer of the truck business and that’s a huge asset for a project like this. Having someone who understand the whole context of a truck, how it’s used, and what makes it good or bad is so important when you’re trying make things work. I was afraid it would be more of a “tech” company than a “truck” company. It’s a truck, it’s just powered by electricity because that’s the new drivetrain. The driving experience is surprisingly similar to what I expected. I’ve always said that an electric truck doesn’t need to be as slick and refined as a Tesla, and this isn’t. It’s got a touch screen but there’s not much to do, which is good. I mean, I like a huge truck gauge cluster as much as the next driver but there’s also not as much to keep track of here. The power is similar to a diesel, at least to drive it around. I suspect fully loaded and heavy this should show more power, but you don’t get all the tire-shredding torque all the time, just when you need it. It’s easy to forget about the drivetrain. It’s defining feature is a lack of details. There’s no gears, no shifting, no sounds. The power is very linear, you step on the pedal and there’s no real change in the feel of the acceleration. In a diesel you’ll feel it enter and pass through the power band, then switch to the next gear. There’s things going on in a diesel truck (in addition to thousands of tiny explosions).

Is this the future?

I bet there where folks who thought their Hall-Scott 400 would never be replaced by a Cummins, but it was. It appears to me diesel, in many applications, can be replaced by electric right now. Given 2021 technology it’s not for every application or every location, but yes. Assuming some progress is made, electric will probably take over most trucking applications eventually, but we’ll see. I’m a mover not a seer. I think the other side of this that’s often understated is Solar. I can say that not since colonial times could a family like ours could heat our home and place of business, run our equipment, and power our vehicles with power generated on our own property. I think there’s something great about that, and something very American about that. It’s a self sufficiency that’s really been lost, but we seem to have found again. I highly recommend it. I’ll post again soon with more observations on the truck. There’ll be a youtube overview video we already filmed and are editing. We’ll also have some statistics on energy consumption, range, and charging which should be interesting.

If you need help with understanding fleet electrification or buying an electric truck…

try this link! Thanks!