CALSTART launching E-Truck Task Force
29 April 2011
CALSTART, the California operating division of WestStart, a North American advanced transportation technologies consortium, is creating an E-Truck Task Force (E-TTF) to accelerate the development of electric and zero-emissions medium-and heavy-duty vehicles.
CALSTART supports all clean fuels and technologies, and often creates targeted work in emerging sectors of our industry to provide focus and assistance to its growth. It did so with hybrid trucks, renewable natural gas, fuel cell buses, ethanol fueling stations, EV infrastructure and other segments.
The E-Truck Task Force (E-TTF) will include a cross section of fleet users (both those who have e-trucks and those considering purchase) and e-truck vehicle makers and suppliers. The E-TTF will identify key areas of needed action, develop joint industry approaches to address barriers and work collaboratively to help move the industry forward.
The E-TTF will meet periodically throughout this spring and summer, leading to a larger E-Truck Summit session on October 11th as part of the HTUF (Hybrid Truck Users Forum) 2012 National Conference in Baltimore.
Calstart has done some good work as a clearing house for ideas, but they have been doing it for more than 10 years with less than spectacular progress.
No one organization can do it alone, in this area you need partners like the Pickens Plan, environmental groups and politicians. If there are tax incentives and grants to put in alternative fueling and the truck makers are behind offering models, more progress can be made.
Consider the truck makers, if buyers are not pushing for alternative configurations, they will not build them. Once the truck owners see that they can save a LOT of money on fuel, they are interested and that is where you need to build support, in the wallet.
Posted by: SJC | 29 April 2011 at 08:30 AM