One of the founders of Tesla Motors wants to make delivery trucks more environmentally friendly by having them run on electricity.
Ian Wright, who started Tesla 12 years ago with a group of engineers and left in 2005, plans to accomplish this with his company Wrightspeed, which is developing powertrains designed for medium-to-heavy duty commercial vehicles, according to the Associated Press.
In addition to being more efficient, these trucks would make a lot less noise while on the road.
Wright's plug-in powertrains come with an electric engine, battery system and on-board power generator fueled by diesel and natural gas. The generator will recharge the battery when it runs low. These powertrains will allow a truck to run on batteries for about 30 miles before the turbine recharges the battery.
San Jose-based Wrightspeed is currently collaborating with other companies on this venture, installing its powertrains in 25 of FedEx's delivery trucks and 17 garbage trucks for waste management company Ratto Group, AP reported.
Wright said his company is attracting attention from truck fleet owners trying to meet California's strict emission standards but don't want to replace the whole vehicle.
"You can take this truck that you've invested all this money in and it's still in good shape, and you can swap out the powertrain for our powertrain and suddenly you're emissions-compliant," he said.
Wright plans on satisfying growing demand by moving his company into a former aircraft hangar at the decommissioned U.S. Naval Air Station in Alameda, as well as expand its workforce to 250 employees over the next three years, AP reported.
Commercial trucks consume billions of gallons of gas and release tons of pollutants like carbon dioxide and nitrogen into the air. Wright believes that because of this, his powertrains will help trucks reduce pollution more than Tesla's sports cars currently do.
"I think what they've done is absolutely fantastic, but what we're doing is the next thing," Wright said. "It's even better."
