Meritor CEO Predicts Electrified Future
Cummins showed off its new electric concept truck at the NACV show. Photo: Deborah Lockridge
“>
Cummins showed off its new electric concept truck at the NACV show. Photo: Deborah Lockridge
“>
“There is a sea change in our industry with regard to electrification of the drivetrain,” said Jay Craig, CEO of Meritor, at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show. The actual percentage of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that will be fully electric or hybrid electric by 2025, he said, is not as important as the surety that the number will be more than it is today.
Speaking to a room full of hundreds of trucking industry component suppliers at the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association Breakfast & Briefing, Craig laid out three reasons he’s confident that electrified drivetrains will have an increasing place in the commercial vehicle industry.
The day before, Meritor had announced it will start testing an electric drivetrain for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles next year.
Why Electric Vehicles are Coming
“Electrification has already begun,” Craig said. China, he said, leads the world in electric trucks, with roughly 4% fully electric today. It’s expected that will increase to about 15% by 2025. “You may say 15% isn’t all the mjuch, but try to remember, they produce 800,000 commercial vehicles a year,” he said.
While other regions of the world are not as far ahead in adoption, he said, “I’m confident we will see much more rapid acceleration,” in part simply due to the sheer scale of development in China, which will drive down the cost of battery technology due to economies of scale.
In addition, he said, driven by the growth in China, those technologies are being proven. He noted that products from Jing-Jin Electric (JJE), which makes electric motors and drive assemblies for vehicles, also has a North American presence, with its products being used on the U.S. West Coast and in Europe, “and they have an excellent …Read the rest of this story
