Electric truck shows its volts for government officials in Jacksonville

Apr 19 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Dan Scanlan The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville

The future of trucks came to Jacksonville recently to give power utility and area government officials a taste of power -- electric power, that is.

It came in the form of a big, quiet Via Motors VTrux extended range electric truck shown to officials from Jacksonville, St. Johns County, St. Augustine and elsewhere by the North Florida Clean Cities Coalition.

Based on a 4-door Chevrolet Silverado, lithium-ion batteries power an electric motor good for about 40 miles.

When the batteries drain, a small gas engine powers a generator that drives the electric motor and recharges its batteries for a total of 300 miles. It also can run power tools off four 110-volt and one 240-volt outlets.

Having a quiet truck that can work without a noisy generator is worth looking at if it's reliable, efficient and cost-efficient, said Jay Worley, JEA's director of environmental planning.

"We are very interested because we know in the future, more and more vehicles will come to market and probably be part of our fleet," Worley said. "We are trying to find out where it would best fit into our system and to see how it would work within our community."

St. Augustine City Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline could see something like it on the city's "ancient streets," especially because it is a mobile generator.

"For cities like ours where we are not spread out with a suburban area around us, it seems like a perfect utility truck for us," Sikes-Kline said. "The ability to produce your own electricity is just amazing, and in emergency situations, also an asset."

The 402-horsepower VTrux can hit 60 mph in 8.6 seconds, carry five adults and 1,000 pounds of payload, and tow a trailer, according to company statistics. Top off its batteries via household 110-volt (full charge in eight hours) or 220-volt (four hours), and makers said the VTrux may hardly touch its 11-gallon gas tank as it gets up to 100 miles per gallon.

Built in Detroit, the VTrux goes on limited sale to fleet operators in late fall with about 2,000 planned for 2012.

Another 20,000 would be built for 2013 at a base price of $65,000. That's about $15,000 more than Chevrolet's hybrid Silverado that looks the same and has an estimated 500-mile cruising range.

Why buy a more expensive electric version of the same truck?

Because Via's model is more versatile, with charging costs about 5 cents per mile vs. $4 a gallon to fuel a regular truck, said Via chief marketing officer David West.

The Clean Cities Coalition's focus is on improving the environmental performance of vehicle fleets in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties via natural gas, diesel and other alternative fuels.

dan.scanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549