Cummins on Tuesday unveiled a Class 7 heavy-duty truck cab featuring an advanced 140 kWh battery pack that it will sell to bus operators and commercial truck fleets starting in 2019.
The 18,000-pound tractor cab, dubbed AEOS after one of the four-winged horses driving the chariot of the Sun God, Helios, across the sky in Greek mythology. The Class 7 urban hauler tractor is fully operational and capable of hauling a 22-ton trailer.
With a 100-mile range, the Cummins electric power train is being targeted at urban delivery vehicles (like a beer truck or food delivery truck) as well as for short haul trips in and around ports and other terminals. It can be recharged in about an hour at a 140 kWh charging station, and Cummins' goal is to get that down to 20 minutes by 2020, reducing down time for its business customers. Production begins in 2019.
An extended range version, which uses an efficient diesel engine as an on-board generator, will be available a year later, offering up to 300 miles between charges and 50 percent fuel savings compared to today’s diesel hybrids with zero emissions.
Cummins' announcement comes a few weeks ahead of Tesla's planned reveal of an electric "semi" truck. The maker of premium plug-in cars hasn't provided any details of its project, including the truck classification, but last week Reuters reported that Tesla will apparently target the regional hauling market with an electric big-rig with a working range of 200 to 300 miles. By getting a jump on Tesla's announcement, Cummins is getting across loud and clear that it intends to remain a major player in the commercial truck business, even if that market shifts away from its core diesel engine business.