California Energy Commission to showcase two converted electric heavy-duty trucks for LA ports
30 August 2012
The California Energy Commission and industry partners will unveil two heavy-duty electric-powered vehicles at the 3rd Annual PortTechEXPO in San Pedro on 6 September.
Designed to provide cleaner transportation at Southern California’s ports, these electric trucks—a Navistar International Pro-Star on-road tractor and a Kalmar Ottawa off-road tractor—have been converted from diesel fuel to run on electric battery power. According to Mike Simon, CEO of TransPower, the company that developed them, these trucks are among the most powerful electric vehicles ever built.
The two heavy-duty industrial trucks, formerly with diesel engines, were retrofitted with electric motors and other electronics powered by lithium-ion batteries. The vehicles are both Class 8 truck tractors designed to haul loads up to 80,000 pounds.
TransPower, in collaboration with EPC Power Corp., is developing an advanced power converter module that will combine the functions of the vehicle inverter, which controls the drive motors, and the 70 kW Level 3 battery charger, which regulates recharging of the vehicle battery pack. The grid-compatible Inverter-Charger Unit (ICU) is much smaller and lighter than competing chargers with equivalent power ratings, Transpower says.
TransPower is also developing a proprietary vehicle control system that builds on years of simulations of electric and hybrid vehicle duty cycles, enabling the development of algorithms that will optimize vehicle efficiency, maximize battery life, and protect key components such as batteries and power electronics from excessive temperatures, voltage spikes, or current surges. The vehicle control system is fully integrated into the control system used by each vehicle model into which its ElecTruck drive system is installed, as well as being fully integrated with the inverter-charger and BMS.
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