Navistar-VW Alliance to Bring Electric Truck, Integrated Powertrain to Market
“Navistar is now writing the next chapter of our story,” said Troy A. Clarke, chairman, president and CEO, Navistar. Photo: Evan Lockridge
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“Navistar is now writing the next chapter of our story,” said Troy A. Clarke, chairman, president and CEO, Navistar. Photo: Evan Lockridge
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ATLANTA – The Navistar-Volkswagen Truck & Bus Alliance has borne fruit faster than either company expected, and officials announced Monday at the inaugural North American Commercial Vehicle Show. they will develop a proprietary, integrated powertrain; a common connected vehicle and cloud platform; and an electric-powered Class 6/7 truck.
Navistar expects to be in a position to launch its first medium-duty electric powered vehicle for the U.S. and Canadian markets in late 2019 or early 2020.
“We believe the Class 6/7 vehicle is ideal for electric powertrain solutions in the near term, given its abundance of packaging space, and that these vehicles typically run short distances and can depot to recharge at the end of the day,” said Troy A. Clarke, chairman, president and CEO, Navistar.
Clarke pointed out that Navistar was “probably ahead of its time” when it launched the eStar electric vehicle back in 2010, “but we never gave up believing there is an application for electric commercial vehicles in the North American commercial vehicle market,” he said.
Clarke also noted that electric power for commercial vehicles is particularly growing in urban areas, “where congestion often leads to air quality issues.”
In fact, Volkswagen has already delivered the first 10 electric trucks to an Austrian customer for testing, said Andreas Renschler, CEO of Volkswagen Truck & Bus. “For us, the customer’s view is first and foremost in priority. If the customer tells us what he or she wants to do with electric trucks we can deliver.”
Renschler said he couldn’t answer media questions about things like how many such vehicles they expect to sell, because “Of course it depends on customers. The question for us is not to tell them what …Read the rest of this story
