EDI Rounds Out its Utility Solutions with a Class 3 PHEV Truck

March 4, 2015 | By Business Wire News

MILPITAS, Calif.

Efficient Drivetrains, Inc. (EDI), a global leader in advanced zero emissions, high-efficiency Hybrid and Electric drivetrain solutions, today announced the availability of a Class 3 utility truck based upon EDI’s world-first PHEV drivetrain that provides 100 percent OEM performance and 100 percent zero emissions during city and highway driving, while also reducing emissions and fuel use by up to 80 percent.

The vehicle is an industry-first PHEV, built upon one of the most popular Light Duty Class 3 Detroit OEM commercial fleet trucks. It is the only Class 3 commercial work truck in the world that has 30-40 miles of all-electric range and delivers zero emissions. The vehicle also features a series-parallel extended range of 300 miles, bi-directional charging, 50-120 kW of grid reliable exportable power, and enough battery capacity to operate vehicle accessories and job site work tools without idling the base diesel engine.

EDI built their PHEV drivetrain system in response to increasing pressure from the utility industry to green their fleets using electricity as a primary fuel. National, state, and local governing bodies are aggressively advancing regulations to evolve towards a zero vehicle emissions future, prompting many utility and telecom fleet operators to seek out solutions that use electricity as a primary fuel. In response, EDI developed a range of medium- and heavy-duty plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) that offer significant emissions reductions with no corresponding loss in vehicle performance. Continuing that trend, EDI has recently added a light-duty work truck to its PHEV lineup, giving utility and telecom providers access to a wider range of vehicles to meet their needs. EDI’s utility solution set is expansive, spanning class 3 light duty, class 4-6 medium duty, and class 7-8 heavy-duty commercial work trucks.

“The light duty truck class is an important and high-volume vehicle category for fleet owners. The creation of a PHEV version with power export is an integral step towards significantly reducing emissions and fuel consumption for the utility and telecom industries,” commented Charlie Travis, head of sales and business development at EDI. “We’re thrilled to be a key contributor to the greening of America’s fleets.”

In addition to providing significant emissions and fuel-use reductions with no corresponding loss in vehicle performance, EDI’s entire PHEV lineup can be used to store electrical energy for other purposes without affecting driving range. EDI’s Power Drive^TMallows the vehicle to generate useful power for up to 12 hours idle-free for a variety of stationary uses and power restoration during natural disaster recovery, mass transportation industry power outages, and planned and unplanned electrical outages. The vehicles are also capable of charging other pure electric vehicles when needed. Available in multiple configurations, EDI’s line of high-performance PHEV trucks also offer a variety of additional in-demand solutions, including jobsite idle elimination, 24+ hours of jobsite ePTO, the industry’s only parallel-series drivetrain architecture, and proprietary control software and algorithms that efficiently coordinate all vehicle components for optimum fuel economy and emissions reductions.

Moving forward, EDI will continue its focus in tech innovation for the utilities and telecom industry with a focus on expanding its portfolio into sedans and heavier duty work trucks. EDI will also form industry partnerships, merging state of the art electrification technologies to bring a best in class “most efficient and connected work truck” to the world.

About EDI:

Efficient Drivetrains, Inc. (EDI) develops and markets a range of state-of-the-art proprietary drivetrain products and technologies that have direct application in PHEVs, HEVs, and BEVs worldwide. EDI‘s leading-edge hybrid-electric drivetrain systems and technologies provide significant cost and efficiency advantages for parallel and series hybrid drivetrain architectures across nearly all platform classes and configurations. In addition, EDI has developed a game-changing technology for new types of continuously variable transmissions (CVT) that are the most efficient and largest capacity transmissions of their type in the industry today. EDI is currently active in automotive projects throughout North America and the APAC region. Visit www.efficientdrivetrains.com for more information.