March 26, 2015—Transportation Power Inc. (TransPower), a leading provider of clean vehicle and stationary energy storage technologies and products, announced today that it has achieved several significant new milestones in its development of battery-electric, hybrid and fuel cell propulsion technologies for heavy-duty vehicles including trucks, tractors and buses.
Two of these milestones occurred the day before yesterday, when TransPower conducted a demonstration of four fully functional battery-electric Class 8 trucks, just hours after the California Energy Commission (CEC) announced its award of nearly $9 million to TransPower for new electric truck and tractor demonstration projects throughout the state of California.
"We are especially proud of the fact that we drove all four of these trucks from the heart of San Diego County 110 miles to the Los Angeles-Long Beach port region," said Mike Simon, President and CEO of TransPower. "These four trucks have made more than ten intercity trips of about 80 to 120 miles over the past year and we believe our battery-electric vehicles are the only proven, fully operational, zero emission trucks in the world capable of hauling loads up to the Class 8 truck limit of 80,000 pounds."
The four trucks demonstrated yesterday were also partially funded by the CEC, with contributions from the U.S. Department of Energy, South Coast Air Quality Management District and Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Representatives from these agencies traveled to Rancho Dominguez for a "Ride & Drive" event featuring the TransPower trucks at the headquarters of Total Transportation Services Inc., one of five private California firms presently utilizing Class 8 TransPower electric trucks or tractors in day-to-day service.
TransPower's success in deploying electric trucks and tractors that operate reliably under real-world conditions was likely a factor in the CEC's announcement that TransPower will receive funding for three new truck and tractor demonstration projects.