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| Electric trucks getting up to speed for commercial use |
Using batteries to power light-duty electric vehicles makes sense in most cases – vehicle owners can recharge overnight and obtain enough juice to cover their everyday commutes and errands.
Using batteries in heavy-duty commercial trucking is a more complicated endeavor: Truck operators frown on downtime, and heavy batteries might reduce payload capacity.
Electric trucks nonetheless remain an intriguing proposition, and this week brought a new entrant into the field.
Solo AVT, a startup created by Waymo, Tesla and BMW alums, made its first public pronouncements regarding its efforts to build an electric truck platform. The company says the SD1 Heavy platform is designed so AV companies can integrate their self-driving software and sensor suites.
Pairing self-driving systems with antiquated vehicles not built with redundant systems has been a particular challenge in the trucking space, so the Solo team is addressing a known sore spot. The company closed a $7 million seed round led by Trucks Venture Capital, with participation from Maniv Mobility and Wireframe Ventures.
A battery-electric Class 8 prototype is scheduled to begin testing this year.
Elsewhere this week, Einride, the Swedish electric and autonomous trucking company founded in 2016, showcased its latest technology at SXSW in Austin, Texas.
Not only did the company show its distinctive driverless trucks, it demonstrated the potential of remote operations, with one human capable of overseeing and controlling multiple trucks at one time.
In both cases, there’s much to be proven with fledgling technology. But at a time when supply-chain constraints and emissions-reductions hopes loom large over the freight-carrying industry, Solo and Einride both provide potential solutions.
— Pete Bigelow
What you need to know
Applied Intuition buys company behind CarSim In a deal that underscores the ever-growing ties between Silicon Valley and Detroit, software tools provider Applied Intuition has acquired vehicle dynamics specialist Mechanical Simulation Corp.
Maserati going fully electric by 2030 The Italian luxury brand said Thursday all of its vehicles will offer a battery-electric version by 2025. The GranTurismo coupe and its convertible counterpart, known as the GranCabrio, will be Maserati’s first cars to have battery-electric powertrains next year.
StoreDot promises quick two-minute charge An Israeli startup says that by 2032, it will have batteries ready for mass production that can give an electric vehicle 100 miles of range in just two minutes of charging.
Roundup
Autonomous trucking startup TuSimple, backed by Chinese social media firm Sina Corp., is looking to sell its business in China and focus on the U.S., sources told Reuters.
Lyft said riders in the U.S., except in New York City and Nevada, would have to pay an extra 55 cents because of higher gas prices.
With aspirations of a 2028 commercial launch, Supernal, Hyundai Motor Group’s air taxi division, becomes the fourth company to use Miami as a commercial hub.
With U.S. gasoline prices hitting records, Americans looking to EVs have more choices than ever, but low inventory is a hurdle.
Lucid is eyeing price increases for future models. “I think it would be absolutely foolish of me to say we’re never going to raise our prices,” says CEO Peter Rawlinson.
Brain food
In the early days of self-driving technology, it was assumed autonomous vehicles could best help blind people by giving them rides to places they could have never driven themselves. But more recently, an alternate possibility has emerged.
Last mile
The U.S. customers whose high-end vehicles are now on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean in the burned hulk of Felicity Ace will all get their orders filled — including 15 out-of-production Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae editions.