Race for the Electric Truck AUTOMOTIVE: Thor Plans to Get a Jump on the Giants of the Alternative Vehicle Industry
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4 SAN FERNANDO VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL FEBRUARY 5, 2018 Race for the Electric Truck AUTOMOTIVE: Thor plans to get a jump on the giants of the alternative vehicle industry. By MARK R. MADLER Staff Reporter it would produce a semi-truck with a 300-mile and 500-mile range at a cost of $150,000 and s co-founder of Thor Trucks, Gio Sor- $180,000 respectively. Tesla would start pro- doni is helping make believiers out of duction on the truck next year. Askeptics about electric trucks. Also, Sordoni and Semler have a different The North Hollywood startup is currently approach in that they plan to utilize industry conducting demonstrations of its electric semi- partners rather than do everything themselves. truck, the ET-One, and Sordoni said there has “There are plenty of great things that we been a lot of interest every time the vehicle think the heavy truck world does well, like starts up. manufacturing and service,” Sordoni said. Truck operators are often skeptical at first because they are not familiar with the technol- Crowded roads ogy. Once they get behind the wheel, they are Challenges, however, face the young com- easily converted, he said. pany. “After giving them a quick test drive, they Erik Neandross, chief executive of Glad- see the initial benefit in terms of noise and stein, Neandross & Associates, a Los Angeles power and instant torque,” Sordoni added. clean transportation and alternative energy con- “That is always fun to see.” sultancy, said that while battery technology is Sordoni and business partner Dakota Sem- rapidly improving, and electric engines are much ler are self-financing Thor Trucks, currently simpler than traditional diesel ones, the industry housed in a building on Vanowen Street in is not there yet in terms of running a heavy-duty the east San Fernando Valley. There, the pair truck during a typical day’s operation. The Thor battery pack was developed in-house, and the company has intellectual property for the batteries it assembles. Origi- nally, the company looked for battery providers ‘They see the initial but did not find anything well-suited to the demands of commercial trucking, Sordoni said. benefit in terms “Vehicles suited to the commercial trucking of noise and power.’ industry need to be safe, reliable to reduce downtime, capable of hauling heavy loads, GIO SORDONI, Thor Trucks lightweight enough to maximize payload, long-lasting and cost-effective,” he explained. “The Thor battery addresses those needs uniquely well, allowing for long-range, light- weight, safe and affordable vehicles built to and their engineering co-workers work on the last. battery technology, prototyping and making Neandross does not see universal adoption additional demonstration vehicles to go with of electric trucks for long-haul service ever the one already on the road. happening, because of how the trucking indus- The ET-One is rated to carry 80,000 try works. While a big operator like UPS has pounds, will have a range of 100 miles from predictable routes that its trucks travel every its battery pack and start at a base price of day, most of the industry “is not as neat and $150,000. A model with a 300-mile range starts tidy, especially the over-the-road guys,” Nean- at $250,000. Production on the semi-tractor dross said. truck is expected to begin next year. Companies with large fleets seek stan- What makes Thor’s truck different from dardization. Introduce an electric vehicle into competing models in development by compa- the mix and it creates inefficiencies in fuel, Dual Drivers: Top, Thor Trucks co-founders Dakota Semler, left and Gio Sordoni at nies such as Mack Trucks, Peterbilt Motors dispatching, maintenance, training and other their North Hollywood lot; above, ET-One model tractor has a base price of $150,000. Co. and Cummins Inc., is that it is feasible factors, he added. in the short term and does not need years of What is compelling for the over-the-road “People want to see if they can do that,” he not a lot of excess cash flow available for trucks research and development. The closest com- operators is the potential for 30-percent reduc- added. “That is what all this activity is about.” that carry a high incremental cost, he said. petitor would be Tesla Inc., which announced tion in trucking-related costs, Neandross said. Predictability in routes is what Thor looks And while the port drayage truck market for in fleets it wants to equip, according to is generally a regional haul application that is Sordoni. conducive to short range electric truck opera- “Anything that has a lot of starts and stop tions, independent owner operators tend to fuel and idle time, and relatively short and predict- their trucks at public fuel stations, thus also able routes are low-hanging fruit for electric raising the question of how and where electric commercial vehicles,” he said. trucks will recharge. “These are all challenging issues that are Drayage market being addressed so this market can succeed.” Another application for the ET-One is Neandross said. drayage, or the trucking service from an ocean Where he thinks electric vehicles will first port to a rail ramp, warehouse or other desti- take hold is with regional haulers and progres- nation. That would include trucks coming and sive retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and going from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Target Corp. that have deep pockets, corpo- Beach, Sordoni said. rate sustainability programs, and can enjoy the While there are clearly stated goals and positive public relations of using zero-emis- policies in place at both ports to move to zero sion vehicles. emission technologies, Neandross stated that “They are genuinely interested in trying to there are a number of critical path issues that see if they can save 30 percent on their truck- have to be addressed for this vision to become ing bill,” Neandross said. “Those kinds of com- reality. The port drayage business is dominated panies can afford to buy a few and try them. Interior: ET-One is designed for truck routes with lots of starts, stops and idle time. by independent owner operators, and there is Port truck drivers do not have that liberty.”.