Government efficiency: State buys electric truck
By CHARLES S. JOHNSON - IR State Bureau - 06/25/08
Eliza Wiley, IR Photo Editor - Gov. Brian Schweitzer gets a closer look at the driveshaft mechanism on the electric truck the state of Montana added to its fleet Tuesday. The zero-emissions truck will be fueled by solar energy. It is street-legal, goes 25 mph and has a battery life of 50 to 60 miles per charge.
The small truck has zero emissions and soon will be fueled by solar energy from batteries in the campus boiler plant. For now, it's being charged by electricity at a cost of 70 cents a day. The Miles ZX40St electric vehicle, purchased from Eco Auto Inc. of Bozeman for $17,695, gets 50 to 60 miles per charge.
The truck wouldn't start right away - but it did immediately once the seatbelt was fastened in the passenger seat to hold in Schweitzer's border collie, Jag.
Schweitzer drove the small white truck around the oval immediately south of the Capitol a couple of times and emerged from the vehicle with a smile.
"The nice thing about this car is it doesn't use gasoline," Schweitzer said. "It is clear we have got to decrease our consumption of oil. The last time I looked, we are not going to run out of solar and wind."
Schweitzer has a 20X10 energy initiative that directs state government agencies to reduce their energy consumption by 20 percent by 2010. He praised the Department of Administration for buying the vehicle for its General Services Division employees to use for maintenance jobs.
State officials recently saw the truck demonstrated at an energy fair sponsored by the state Labor Department. After a test drive, state officials decided the electric truck would be a suitable replacement for the pick-up trucks now used by state maintenance workers.
Asked if more state purchases of electric trucks might be in the offing, Schweitzer said, "If it works. If this is able to replace a portion of our fleet, why wouldn't be get more of them?"
There's not much under the truck's hood. It is powered by six batteries under the vehicle, with a seventh battery providing electricity for accessories like heating and air conditioning. It has two gears - forward and reverse - and beeps while going in reverse.
The campus boiler plant has some solar panels on its roof from a NorthWestern Energy demonstration project in 2002. Those will be hooked up soon to charge the truck nightly. In the meantime, the truck is being charged by electricity.
If the truck came in a four-wheel-drive model, Schweitzer said he'd consider buying one for his ranch.
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Reader Comments:
allup wrote on Jun 25, 2008 4:40 PM:
" I am curios, how do they heat the cab of that truck in the winter? "
purple wrote on Jun 25, 2008 5:58 AM:
" Gee all that money.
Too bad they wasted so much. How many ELECTRIC GOLF CARTS could the state have bought for the price of ONE of those electric trucks?
But then again, WHY should state government think about saving the taxpayers of this state any money, AFTERALL it's not the state's money now is it? "
Too bad they wasted so much. How many ELECTRIC GOLF CARTS could the state have bought for the price of ONE of those electric trucks?
But then again, WHY should state government think about saving the taxpayers of this state any money, AFTERALL it's not the state's money now is it? "
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RonGompertz wrote on Jun 25, 2008 9:04 PM:
Add snow tires and an electric truck can go anywhere a regular truck (rear wheel drive) will go in winter. Maybe even more places since it doesn't have an exhaust system handing down that can get caught up.
Try registering your golf art for street legal use. And driving an open air golf cart through a Montana winter! Or getting T-Boned in one. Or try carrying 1,500 lbs of stuff in the back seat of your golf cart. This truck has a 1500 lb payload.
The 25 MPH speed limit on this truck is the way the factory ships it, the computer set for campus use. The truks computer can be set to go 35 MPH if legally allowed. Last April, Governor Schweitzer signed into law the Medium Speed Electric Vehicle law (SB185) which allow vehicles like this truck to go 35 miles per hour on city streets thus rated. Since then, Washington State, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Oklahoma followed Montana's lead in legalizing 35 MPH speed limit.
The biggest limitation to this truck is it's 40-60 mile rang between charges... but rarely do low speed application city fleet trucks need to go any further in a day.
If so, there are Lithium batteries that will hold enough energy to power this truck 5-8 times further on a single charge. (or Google eeStor) But such technology is up to the battery makers who hopefully will now be more interested with the prospect of big financial incentives... such as John McCains campaign pledge to offer a $300 million prize. "