Video Transcript
Any attempt to rid the transportation sector of carbon emissions will need to address large freight trucks, which account for more than 20% of those emissions despite comprising just 5% of vehicles on U.S. roads.
Established truckmakers and electric car companies alike have developed electric semi-trucks. Still, those models won’t be able to accommodate the most demanding jobs in transportation, such as hauling gravel or lumber — often beyond the reach of conventional highways.
The lack of electrified options in the latter industry, in particular, drove a former truck driver and his business partner to create the first heavy-duty hybrid-electric truck.
The Globe and Mail recently profiled Edison Motors, formed in 2019 in rural British Columbia and helped along with thousands of donations — many from truckers or trucking firms — that totaled $1.5 million Canadian.
Edison officials and industry experts believe that, because of the weight and density of today’s electric vehicle batteries, fully electric transportation is unlikely to be a practical option for the jobs its trucks will need to carry out. Instead, the company built a hybrid prototype, outfitting a 1962 Kenworth truck with two battery banks and a generator capable of recharging them in 20 minutes.
It can reportedly travel more than 600 miles on nearly 32 gallons of fuel — more than tripling the truck’s previous fuel efficiency and, crucially, slashing its fuel costs.
In the forestry sector — where co-founder Chace Barber worked as a driver before founding Edison — transportation reportedly accounts for more than 25% of total business costs. He told the paper he was spending $15,000 per month on fuel while hauling logs from the province’s forests.
The company earlier this year unveiled a second prototype and is now in pursuit of about $5 million in funding to take the next steps forward, including developing trucks for concrete and logging, as well as towing and plowing snow. Trucking companies that invest will receive a stake in the company and one of its trucks.
