Electric passenger vehicles have been making inroads toward changing how Americans power their automobiles.
But in general, the EV revolution, while alive and well, has been going at a slower pace than many had predicted.
Many analysts feel that the main deterrents toward mass adoption of EV’s are the lack of charging stations and a premium price tag. And similarly, most analysts seem to feel that both of those obstacles are diminishing as we go forward in time.
However, there does appear to be one segment of the transportation market that may be ready to adopt EV’s now rather than in the future.
Most of the major package delivery companies as well as uniform companies like Cintas Corporation utilize medium duty step vans as their mainstay vehicles. These vehicles typically do hundreds of deliveries yet travel less than 100 miles a day.
The stop/start nature of the delivery market is very difficult on gas mileage for diesel or gasoline engines, but is well suited for the power curve of an electric motor. Additionally, these vehicles, which can weigh up to 20,000 lbs usually return to base each night, which is ideal for charging.
An All Electric step van can save it’s operator up to $15,000 per year in diesel savings alone, not to mention estimated lower maintenance and operating expenses. Many companies keep these type of vehicles for 10 or even 20 years, making the savings over the lifetime of a truck to be quite substantial and easily enables the fleet manager to justify the premium price tag.
Given the economic and the environmental advantages, America’s fleets are growing greener from year to year, giving savvy investors renewed confidence that the roadways of tomorrow will be dominated by fuel efficient, low emission vehicles. The most direct way to leverage this growth may be through companies supplying the e-truck market – they offer the opportunity to benefit from the wave of purchase activity we see today as well as the continued growth many expect as more and more of the nation’s older, less efficient fleet vehicles are replaced with contemporary, eco-friendly models.
AMP Holdings is one such company, with a growing product line that has it positioned to be the first truck OEM in the U.S. to offer a range of alternative fuel vehicles produced in an automated assembly plant.
AMP has recently positioned itself to appeal even more widely to industry through the acquisition of the Workhorse chassis manufacturing brand from Navistar – an acquisition that included the purchase of the company’s factory facilities. This gives AMP the flexibility to produce its own chassis and power them with an array of fuel options to meet specific market demands. The AMP Workhorse-branded step-vans will be sold and supported through the existing Workhorse network of 440 dealers nationwide.
AMP recently validated the toughness of its premier brand, a 100% electric medium duty step van, through successful completion of accelerated durability testing by leading independent testing authority Transportation Research Center in East Liberty, OH.
