Tag Archives: technology

Keep on Truckin’ (With Clean Power)

Electrification is still moving full speed ahead—in the truck sector. The pace of plugging in cars has slowed, but manufacturers are still seeing opportunity in offering new battery and fuel-cell trucks, and that’s what ACT Expo (held in Anaheim, California March April 28 to May 1) is all about.

The Harbinger stand, with a delivery truck on its new $100,000 made-in-USA chassis. (Jim Motavalli photo)

The case is strongest in the smaller trucks that work locally and handle the “last mile,” but ACT also included some new tractors to pull the big trailers. Range is limited, though, and electric power is challenging in any kind of long-haul situation. That’s why the trucks are often put into service at ports moving cargo relatively short distances.

Joe Adams, chief engineer at Kenworth, showed the T680E and T880E cabs. “You’re looking at five years of development and 325,000 test miles with 46 units in Europe and North America,” he said.

Kenworth has been operating zero-emission Class 8 trucks at the Port of Los Angeles since 2021, but those have hydrogen power developed in conjunction with Toyota North America. Shell provided the fueling stations.

The T680E delivers 375 to 470 horsepower continuous and up to 605 horsepower peak, with 1,850 pound-feet of torque. The LFP battery packs are variable with the largest a 500-kilowatt-hour (kWh) pack offering 200-plus miles on a charge and up to 82,000 pounds of payload. It can charge to 90 percent in two hours, using a 350-kilowatt charger. It’s now available for orders in North America, with delivers to begin later this year.

The T880E, a Class 8 cab, can carry up to 675 kWh of batteries and travel up to 250 miles on a charge. It also has 350-kilowatt charging, and both trucks offer regenerative braking, a new EV-friendly 15-inch digital dash configuration, and LED lighting. Adams described a 168 percent fuel-economy improvement over diesel, but it’s a bit apples and oranges.

The Slate truck puts efficiency at the forefront. (Slate Auto photo)

There were a couple of important start-ups at ACT Expo. Slate Auto showed its bare-bones $25,000 electric pickup, with 150-mile range from the basic battery and no frills—roll-up windows, no radio (use your phone for music via USB). Jeff Bezos of Amazon is a backer. The truck is no looker, but its low cost and readily apparent utility (carrying capacity is 1,400 pounds) will give it charm.

The Slate truck converts to an SUV. (Slate photo)

Costs were kept down by using basic parts (like taillight lenses and door handles the same right and left); combining the motor, inverter and reduction gearbox into one assembly); and avoiding the paint booth. The polypropylene composite panels are all a uniform gray. This is the way Henry Ford made Model Ts—which got progressively cheaper, not more expensive.

The Slate truck is a two-seat electric pickup, but a kit is available that turns it into a five-seat SUV. It can become a cargo van, too. The basic battery pack is 52.7 kWh but the optional 84.3-kWh pack takes the range to 250 miles. At Level 2, the Slate charges to 100 percent in under five hours; at Level 3 DC fast charging 20 to 80 percent is achieved in under 30 minutes.

The Slate is just what the market needs, but there was another affordable solution there from Harbinger, a fast-moving medium-duty electric chassis provider whose home base was 20 minutes from the Anaheim Convention Center.

CEO John Harris said his company is vertically integrated and produces most of the truck’s components in-house. That means it barely registers on the tariff scale. The chassis costs approximately $100,000, and Harris claims to have 5,000 orders for it—worth an estimated $500 million. “We started fresh and designed something altogether new and made in the U.S.,” Harris said.

Harbinger’s EV chassis for medium-duty trucks uses batteries in modules that add 40 miles of range each. (Harbinger photo)

Panasonic Energy is the cell provider, supplying from a plant in Kansas. Before that plant opens, however, the batteries will be shipped from Japan. They’ll be mounted using a modular design in 35-kWh packs, with each one the customer orders adding 40 miles of range. 

The company is agnostic as to who builds the bodies, but think simple panel vans and box trucks for last-mile deliver. Some 100 have been built so far. Harbinger’s plant can build 2,000 truck chassis annually. “We will build capacity as we need it,” Harbinger said.

Harbinger has an advantage in the marketplace—as long as the tariffs from the mercurial Mr. Trump stay in place. Customers are Bimbo Bakeries, THOR Industries (an RV maker), ETHERO Truck + Energy, and Bruckner’s Truck.

Canada-based Cellcentric is working with Volvo and Daimler Truck on fuel-cell trucks in a 50-50 joint venture. According to Nicholas Loughlan, the chief technical officer, the company can produce trucks with 650-mile range that can compete with 13-liter diesels on a total cost of ownership basis.

The Cellcentric NextGen system produces 350 kilowatts and more than 500 horsepower while weighing around 1,100 pounds.  

“If we want to decarbonize, we need to get bigger,” Loughlan said. “The current green electric industry won’t cut it. We need hydrogen.” He showed diagrams of truck stop parking lots, and opined that if they were all using battery power the power draw would be “equivalent to half of Disneyland” [just down the road from the convention center].

Cellcentric builds fuel cells in a joint operation with Daimler Truck and Volvo. (Cellcentric photo)

Hydrogen power hasn’t worked out well for passenger cars, largely because there’s little fueling available outside California. But as a replacement to diesel trucks it can work with a network of refueling along major highways/truck routes. Loughlan noted that commercial trucking “is very diverse, and there are many applications where fuel cells work. There’s no payload issues, and we offer torque until you die.”

The big priority, Loughlan said, is to reduce the cost of hydrogen produced in the U.S. He noted the potential for making renewable hydrogen from abundant solar resources. Cellcentric says its system will work and achieve the stated range with both liquid and gaseous hydrogen, though the latter will have a more elaborate storage system. The issue with liquid is keeping it cold enough—hydrogen liquefies at -423 Fahrenheit.

There are big hurdles to be sure, but battery and fuel-cell trucks are moving much closer to cost parity with diesel than they ever have been before.

Bosch’s Better Tech Ideas for Future Mobility

“We’re proud to be part of a global organization, but our mission is to develop products that are appropriate for our region,” said Paul Thomas, president of Bosch in North America. The world’s largest auto supplier, based in Germany, has indeed developed tech tailored for U.S. car buyers, and displayed it at the Bosch Mobility Experience at the company’s proving grounds in Flat Rock outside Detroit. September 10. It was a behind-the-wheel demonstration, with much visceral impact.

The driver can place the trailer precisely on the screen, then the tech takes over steering. (Bosch photo)

Perhaps most relevant to American buyers—who do like to tow—was the Anywhere parking trailer, which enables pinpoint location. On the HMI display, the driver moves a shaded box to the exact location desired (also setting the vehicle’s orientation), then pushes a button and the car takes over steering functions (though the driver still uses the accelerator). The tech can also be used to precisely align a truck with a trailer hitch, without using another person as a guide. This might frustrate dedicated haulers who’ve perfected their technique over decades of trial and error, but it’s a godsend to occasional towers. Anywhere is not on cars and trucks yet, but it’s coming soon.

You can park this rig…anywhere. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Bosch also demonstrated how its technology can be used to accurately keep a trailer (with a jet ski on board) moving straight when backed up, or aimed on a desired angle.

Bosch partnered with Linamar on e-axles that hold its electric motors front and rear. This one-off Ram truck demonstrated the technology. (Bosch photo)

Bosch is partnered with Canada-based Linamar on rigid electrified axles, which were demonstrated on a one-of-a-kind Ram 2500 Laramie electric truck. Bosch motors were integrated into both axles front and rear to deliver four-wheel drive, 11,200 pound-feet of torque and 750 kilowatts of peak power. They wouldn’t let us drive, but the truck certainly did a fine job around the steeply banked test track. Ram is obviously using its own solutions for electric trucks, but this one could be ready-made for other automakers.

Bosch has pioneered ABS braking for e-bikes, and this was the first time it was publicly shown in the U.S. The company is a major supplier to e-bike brands, providing motors and battery packs, displays and controllers. Bosch components have been seen on many European brands, and I’ve recently tested Bosch on-board in e-bikes made by the Dutch Gazelle and German Riese & Müller companies. In Flat Rock, Bosch had two e-bikes from R&M equipped with second-generation ABS, including a cargo-type designed to carry two kids forward of the driver that proved tricky to master.

Bosch on-board bikes included two from Riese & Muller. (Jim Motavalli photo)

The ABS pulled the bikes up quickly, but a Bosch spokeswoman said that the systems have been slow to acquire customers in the U.S., possibly because of the cost. “We take the long view,” she said. According to AAA, in the U.S. e-bikes have only eight percent of the bike market, but in Europe it’s more than 30 percent. E-bikes are good business because they account for more revenue per unit than standard bicycles. According to Circana, they were responsible for 63 percent of the growth in sales between 2019 and 2023.

Testing brake-by-wire–with no physical connection from master cylinder to calipers. (Bosch photo)

In a Tesla Model S, we tested brake-by-wire technology with no physical connection from the pedal to the pads. At first, the fact that the pedal doesn’t have much “give” seemed like an obstacle but in practice it didn’t matter at all. The driver could sense the immediate response from foot pressure on the car’s braking. People who try it—including me—love it, and it will be incorporated into production vehicles for the 2026 model year.

A Lucid Air EV was the test vehicle for a test of steering by wire through a water obstacle. The vehicle management detects wet pavement and reduces braking distance—even for drivers with one hand clutching a cup of coffee. Without the assistance, we flew all over the place.

Powernet Guardian takes over if you lose steering assist. (Bosch photo)

The Powernet Guardian demonstration was certainly vivid. It’s a solution for an emergency I’ve actually experienced (in a Chevy Bolt EV)—the sudden loss of power-assisted steering. I drove down a narrow track and suddenly felt complete loss of steering control, sending cones flying. I would have had manual steering, but only with extreme effort. With Powernet engaged, I felt no loss of control, though the screen in front of me went blank. They gave me the blown fuse as a souvenir.

Bosch is moving heavily into the software-defined vehicle, and I talked to Eric Cesa, vice president of ETAS, a Bosch subsidiary that does software and cybersecurity solutions. “People expect their cars to offer the same level of usable technology as their homes,” he said. “They expect a seamless experience.” And because cars typically have a four- or five-year development cycle, their on-board technology can be out of date before the car is sold. That’s why over-the-air updates are so critical to cars going forward, he said. Tesla is now issuing as many as 200 such updates annually, and some automakers are using fewer development vehicles because their on-road performance an be simulated.