A recent article from the Cleantech Group examines some of the electric models now on the market or in testing from companies such as Daimler, Navistar, and Volkswagen.
Literally, dozens of startup companies are pursuing the commercial electric vehicle market. Most of them are targeting the lower-hanging fruit: light- and medium-duty urban delivery trucks.
For example, Workhorse is selling electric vans to UPS and FedEx Express. Electrifying the long-haul semi-tractor is a more difficult proposition, but progress is being made by both industry leaders and startups. Cummins, one of the largest builders of diesel engines, recently unveiled a prototype 18,000-pound tractor with a 140 kWh battery pack and has outlined plans to add hybrid and fully electric powertrains to its lineup beginning in 2019. Startup Nikola, named for a certain Serbian-American inventor, recently unveiled an electric semi-truck that incorporates both lithium-ion batteries and a hydrogen fuel cell.
