Navistar Optimistic About Commercial Prospects of EVs

Navistar is quite optimistic about the future of electric vehicles or EVs which are specifically designed for use in light commercial applications. The company thinks that the time of these vehicles has finally come. This is because of the recent rise in the prices of diesel, which are projected to remain at a high for quite sometime.

Navistar’s electric truck eStar, director of marketing, sales and strategy, Mark Aubry, explained that what they are witnessing is a joining of many factors. More strong EV technology is currently being deployed; the costs of batteries reduce, while there is also a rising concern regarding the future and current price of petroleum fuels.

There are also many state and federal incentives in place for providing notable opportunities to early adopters deploying more EVs. These are some of the positive factors which are creating a demand. Aubry also pointed out to a study which was conducted by Frost and Sullivan, a worldwide research firm in 2010, which projected that by 2016, around 64,817 light duty Class 2 to Class 3 EVs should retail in the North American market. Also noting that is the very same market which Navistar is targeting with their eStar truck.

In contrast, Frost and Sullivan projects that only 26,635 medium duty electric vehicles with a GVW ranging between 3.5 tons and 16 tons as well as 565 HD EVs having a GVW of 16 tons or more will be produced and sold by 2016.

Aubry further added that a third of nearly all commercial trucks sold in America ever year fall in the Class 2 to 3 categories. They are currently also witnessing interests for these trucks from the Chinese and Mexican markets.

The eStar, all electric truck which was first introduced in the year 2009, and built in conjunction between Modec EV and Navistar, is a truck falling in the Class2c-3 category, having a range of 100 miles per electric charge. This is the normal distance which is covered by most of the urban P&D trucks during a work shift of eight hours. The eStar truck required at least 6 to 8 hours before it is fully charged.

The battery pack has been designed so that it can easily be swapped in just 20 minutes giving it a greater operational flexibility. He also pointed the desire among truck fleets to eliminate petroleum based fuel consumption altogether is the biggest tipping point when I comes to building commercial EVs. The US also consumes 22mn barrels of oil every day, with 73 per cent of it being consumed in the transportation industry.