ELECTRIC TRUCKMAKERS * USA: Rather than burn fuel to drive wheels, the Wrightspeed generator-engine produces electricity

* California - Dawn of electric truck technology

-- The all-electric Tesla S car has wowed all who’ve driven it, and now the Kiwi co-founder of Tesla is working on a parallel feat by reinventing the truck powertrain... Ian Wright’s 'Wrightspeed' all-electric powertrains won’t revolutionise long-haul transport - that’s still a job for fossil fuels, Mr Wright said, or better, diesel-electric trains - but they are already transforming the operating costs of metropolitan haulage... “Here in the United States, the average Class 8 full-sized garbage truck is burning $55-$65,000 a year in fuel, and up to $30,000 in maintenance,” Mr Wright told Fairfax from his California headquarters. “Of that, we can save about $35,000 in fuel and $20,000 in maintenance. They are pretty substantial savings” ... On a big garbage truck, each drive unit is rated at 250 horsepower. On trucks with four drive wheels, the system has to be capable of generating enough electricity to produce 1000hp... A typical Wrightspeed-equipped garbage truck will get 30 miles (50 kilometres) out of an overnight plug-in recharge of its batteries. “Those are the cheapest miles, because electricity is very cheap compared to fuel,” Mr Wright said...
(Photo: Wrightspeed converts trucks into EVs with onboard diesel generators)  --  Palo Alto, CAL, USA - Farm Weekly, by MATTHEW CAWOOD - 13 Apr, 2015