Daimler’s new RIZON electric truck feels like driving a car
Daimler recently launched a new class 4-5 medium-duty electric truck brand, RIZON, and we got a chance to kick the tires and drive one around.
We came away impressed at how well it drives (for an 18k GVWR vehicle) and how comfortable it feels like it would be on long shifts.
Rizon is a new brand from Daimler Trucks focusing entirely on zero-emissions in the class 4-5 space. Trucks of this size don’t require commercial driver’s licenses, and you’re more likely to see them around your neighborhood, doing local delivery tasks, equipment rentals, moving businesses, and the like. So it’s nice to have clean, quiet operation instead of noisy and stinky diesel vehicles.
Daimler has been in the electric truck game for a few years now, with its Freightliner eCascadia, eM2 and other vehicles, which we’ve driven before. But Freightliner as a brand is only partially electric, whereas Rizon plans to only ever make zero-emission trucks.
So far, Rizon has four models available – two sizes, designated e16 and e18 (16k and 18k pound GVWR), with two battery configurations, designated as M and L. The “M” batteries have two 41kWh LFP battery modules, while the “L” batteries have three. The range will depend heavily on application, configuration, and load, so it’s hard to put a single number on it, but the “M” versions should be good for 70-110 miles and the “L” ones for 110-160 miles or so.
One thing to note is that the smaller “M” battery is 1,100 pounds lighter than the “L” battery, leaving more of your total 16k or 18k GVWR to be dedicated to payload, rather than dragging around extra batteries. So going with that one can be beneficial if the payload is more important than the range for vehicles with shorter fixed routes.
We got to take a short drive in the e18L version at an event hosted by Velocity Truck Centers at Irwindale Speedway, where we also drove Battle Motors’ electric garbage truck and the first-ever electric street sweeper. Events like these help fleet managers get a sense of how these EVs will work.
We only had a partial load though, in the form of an old 12-cylinder diesel engine strapped to the bed. So our experience wasn’t exactly what it would feel like fully loaded, but there was at least something chunky in the back.
The driving experience was smooth and nimble, nothing like what you’d expect from a truck. Even though the vehicle has a relatively low 175 peak horsepower (which is in the ballpark of other class 4-5 trucks – they typically aren’t meant to sustain high speeds), it has plenty of torque at 317lb-ft. And a flat EV torque curve means you don’t need to go gear-hunting through a clunky transmission.
Acceleration feels quicker than you’d get from a diesel truck, smoother due to the lack of gears, and quieter due to the lack of a loud diesel engine. And smooth and quiet is important – a rumbling diesel engine can add a lot of stress to the body over a long workday.
Regenerative braking is adjustable, and on the highest setting is strong enough, though we’d have liked it to be a little stronger (especially if the truck was fully laden). The turning radius was also impressive, especially on such a large vehicle.
Rizon has put a premium on driver comfort in its trucks, with features that are more often seen on consumer vehicles than commercial ones. The trucks have heated seats and steering wheels, three relatively comfortable seats with lumbar support for the driver, and keyless start. A touchscreen display covers infotainment functions.
Plenty of safety features come standard, like blind spot warnings, emergency brake assist, and lane departure warnings.
Rizon uses J1772 and CCS for charging, with 19.2kW AC charging support and 104kW DC. On a class 4 or 5 truck, 19.2kW AC charging can be enough for an overnight charge for most applications.
These choices make installation easier than having to install big, expensive DC chargers and pull the high levels of amperage required to feed them (and commensurate demand charges from some utilities). Currently, lots of fleets are trying to figure out how to incorporate EVs, especially with big new truck regulations at the California state and US federal level, and charging has been in focus as a potential point of resistance.
One quirk here is that Rizon has not yet committed to NACS. We’ve seen a huge wave of support for NACS in the light-duty world, but medium- and heavy-duty vehicles haven’t been quick to hop on board the NACS bandwagon, mostly because many of them are waiting for the upcoming Megawatt Charge System (MCS), which Daimler, Tesla and many others are involved in developing.
But Rizon doesn’t plan to use MCS, so they could make the switch to NACS. And it could be a helpful move for commercial customers because one nice thing about NACS over J1772 is that it supports 277V input, which is one phase of a 480V three-phase commercial power supply. This means cheaper/easier charging installation for buildings that work off 480V supply. (Our Rizon rep hadn’t heard of this potential benefit when we asked them about whether the company might switch to NACS.)
It’s not that big a deal so far, and J1772 and NACS are interoperable via adapters anyway, but we’re wondering if future Rizon trucks might make the shift to NACS.
It’s often hard to get specific prices in the medium- and heavy-duty world, but Rizon says that the trucks will “usually spec out in the $150k range.” This is more expensive than the diesel trucks they replace, but government incentives are available to get that price down by quite a bit – with up to $40,000 in incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act and additional incentives available in some states like California. And of course, you save money on fuel and maintenance over the duty period.
Overall, the Rizon truck represents a nice step forward for medium-duty commercial vehicles, with smooth and quiet operation and significant focus on driver comfort which should make this an easy sell for drivers and fleet operators.
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National Grid Renewables has broken ground on its 100 MW Apple River Solar Project in Polk County, Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin solar farm, which will use US-made First Solar Series 6 Plus bifacial modules, will be constructed by The Boldt Company, creating 150 construction and service jobs. Apple River Solar will generate over $36 million in direct economic benefits over its first 20 years.
Once it comes online in late 2025, Apple River Solar will supply clean energy to Xcel Energy, which serves customers throughout the Upper Midwest. According to National Grid Renewables, the solar farm will generate enough energy to power around 26,000 homes annually. It will also offset about 129,900 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year – equivalent to taking 30,900 cars off the road.
“We are excited to see this project begin as it underscores our dedication to delivering clean, reliable and affordable energy to our customers,” said Karl Hoesly, President, Xcel Energy-Wisconsin and Michigan. “This project is an important step in those goals while bringing significant economic benefits to Polk County and the local townships.”
Electrek reported in February that Xcel Energy, Minnesota’s largest utility, expects to cut more than 80% – and possibly up to 88% – of its emissions by 2030, putting it on track to hit Minnesota’s goal of net zero by 2040. It also says it’s on track to achieve its clean energy goals for all the Upper Midwest states it serves – Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Michigan.
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Tesla has announced that it will finally deliver 500 kW charging as it is about to install its long-awaited V4 Supercharger cabinets.
The rollout of Supercharger V4 has been a strange one, to say the least.
Tesla has been deploying the new charging stations for two years and calling them “Supercharger V4”, but it has only been deploying the charging stalls.
Supercharger stations are made of two main parts: the stalls, which are where the charging cable is located, and the cabinets, which are generally located further back and include all the power electronics.
For all these new “Supercharger V4”, Tesla was actually using Supercharger V3 cabinets. This has been limiting the power output of the charging stations to 250 kW – although
Today, Tesla officially announced its “V4 Cabinet”, which the automaker claims will enable of “delivering up to 500kW for cars and 1.2MW for Semi.”
Here are the main features of the V4 Cabinet as per Tesla:
- Faster charging: Supports 400V-1000V vehicle architectures, including 30% faster charging for Cybertruck. S3XY vehicles enjoy 250kW charge rates they already experience on V3 Cabinet — charging up to 200 miles in 15 minutes.
- Faster deployments: V4 Cabinet powers 8 posts, 2X the stalls per cabinet. Lower footprint and complexity = more sites coming online faster.
- Next-generation hardware: Cutting-edge power electronics designed to be the most reliable on the planet, with 3X power density enabling higher throughput with lower costs.
Tesla reports that its first sites with the new V4 Cabinets are going into permitting now. The company expects its first sites to open next year.
We recently reported about Tesla’s new Oasis Supercharger project, which includes larger solar arrays and battery packs to operate the charging station mostly off-grid.
Early in the deployment of the Supercharger network, Tesla promised to add solar arrays and batteries to all Supercharger stations, and Musk even said that most stations would be able to operate off-grid.
While Tesla did add solar and batteries to a few stations, the vast majority of them don’t have their own power system or have only minimal solar canopies.
Back in 2016, I asked Musk about this, and he said that it would now happen as Tesla had the “pieces now in place” with Supercharger V3, Powerpack V2, and SolarCity:
It took about 8 years, but it sounds like the pieces are now getting actually in place with Supercharger V4, Megapacks, and this new Oasis project.
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Hyundai has a new secret weapon it’s about ready to unleash. To revamp the brand in China and counter BYD’s surge, Hyundai is launching a new AI-powered EV next year. The new model will be Hyundai’s first dedicated electric car for the world’s largest EV market.
With the help of Haomo, a Chinese autonomous startup, Hyundai will launch its first EV equipped with generative AI. It will also be its first model designed specifically for China.
A Hyundai Motor official said (via The Korea Herald) the company is “working to load the software” onto the new EV model, “which will be released in the Chinese market next year.” The spokesperson added, “The level of autonomous driving is somewhere between 2 and 2.5.”
In comparison, Tesla’s Autopilot is considered a level 2 advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) on the SAE scale (0 to 5), meaning it offers limited hands-free features.
With Autopilot, you still have to keep your eyes on the road and hands on the steering wheel, or the system will notify you and eventually disengage.
Haomo’s system, DriveGPT, unveiled last spring, takes inspiration from the OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT.
The system can continuously update in real-time to optimize decision-making by absorbing traffic data patterns. According to Haomo, DriveGPT is used in around 20 models as it looks to play a bigger role in China.
Hyundai hopes new AI-powered EV boosts sales in China
Electric vehicle sales continue surging in China. According to Rho Motion, China set another EV sales record last month with 1.2 million units sold, up 50% from October 2023.
Over 8.4 million EVs were sold in China in the first ten months of 2024, a notable 38% increase from last year.
BYD continues to dominate its home market. According to Autovista24, BYD accounted for 32.9% of all PHEV and EV (NEV) sales in China through September, with over half of the top 20 best-selling EV models.
Tesla was second with a 6.5% share of the market, but keep in mind these numbers only include plug-in models (PHEV).
Like most foreign automakers, Hyundai is struggling to keep up with the influx of low-cost electric models in China. Beijing Hyundai’s sales have been slipping since 2017. Through September, Korean automaker’s share of the Chinese market fell to just 1.2%.
Last month, Hyundai opened its first overseas digital R&D center in China to help kick off its return to the region.
According to local reports, Hyundai is partnering with other local tech companies like Thundersoft, a smart cockpit provider, and others in China to power up its next-gen EVs
With its first AI-powered EV launching next year, Hyundai hopes to turn things around in the region quickly. The new model will be one of five to launch in China through 2026.
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