We drove the first all-electric street sweeper in the US, coming to LA soon
Battle Motors and Elgin Sweeper Company have collaborated to put the first all-electric street sweeper into service in the US, and we got to drive it.
The city of Los Angeles unveiled the new electric sweeper last month, and it’s putting it into service this year, mainly in a test capacity to see how it would work in the city’s fleet. The city has committed to transition to 100% clean energy by 2035, and this is part of that effort.
While the vehicle was unveiled just a couple of weeks ago, it’s been touring around various expos, touting its existence as the first all-electric street sweeper to be put into service in the US. We got to take it for a spin around the parking lot at Irwindale Speedway during an event put on by Velocity Truck Centers, a commercial truck dealer network that serves the Southwest US and distributes Battle Motors’ electric trucks. (We also drove Battle Motors’ electric garbage truck at the same event.)
Unlike the garbage trucks, we only took the street sweeper for a quick spin around the parking lot. There weren’t a lot of surprises; it felt and sounded about like what you’d expect a street sweeper to be like.
We did notice a little quirk where the powertrain seemed to have significant inertia in it – on short, hard acceleration-then-braking events, the truck would keep accelerating for a moment after letting off the accelerator. This isn’t likely to come up often in a large vehicle that mostly does consistent low speeds, but it’s something for drivers to be aware of (or for Battle to perhaps iron out in the software).
Given that this is the first electric street sweeper to go into service, fleet managers haven’t had many chances to see how they work. So events like these let them get behind the wheel and see it work in person – just to prove that, yes, these trucks do work fine, have plenty of power to get around, can push dust just as well as the diesel versions can, and so on.
Elgin, who built the body on Battle Motors’ chassis, mentioned that one benefit of an electric powertrain is the ability to customize drive software for easier operation. Sweepers like to do slow, consistent speeds, and software can be configured to automatically creep at whatever speed the operator wants, which isn’t so easy in a diesel truck. Elgin said they can put in other software customizations depending on the buyer’s needs.
For drivers, the lack of vibration from the engine can help make driving easier on the body. And, of course, the lack of pollution from a tailpipe is a major benefit for workers and neighborhoods alike.
That said, some benefits of electric drive are less pronounced with street sweepers. For example, while electric trucks are quieter due to the lack of a diesel engine, much of the noise from a street sweeper comes from brushes on the road, so only one source of noise is removed in this case.
Battle Motors’ philosophy has been not to shake the boat too much when it comes to laying out powertrain parts, choosing to mount the motor up front and deliver power to the axles through a driveshaft rather than an e-axle. For the street sweeper, the rear end is a much dirtier place, with lots of gunk and grime as well as water spraying all over the place, so they figured it would be wise to keep more sensitive components away from the part of the vehicle that is likely to experience the most corrosion.
This expands to other choices in vehicle design, like using hydraulic power steering instead of electronic. While electronic power steering is generally simpler and cheaper to implement, in a time when EVs will necessarily only be part of a fleet (so far), it makes it easier for fleet mechanics to work on alternate powertrains when the rest of the vehicle’s parts are similar.
The Battle Motors/Elgin Electric Broom Bear comes at a cost of over $800,000. This is double the price of a diesel street sweeper but is actually about $100,000 cheaper than the hybrid CNG-electric sweepers LA purchased last year.
While this is quite a big price jump, the electric sweeper will have lower fuel and maintenance costs, will qualify for both federal and state incentives, and will also produce less pollution.
Heavy-duty vehicles produce more than their fair share of pollution, and taking this pollution out of communities where people live comes with great benefits for a city. We’ve already seen improvements in air quality from higher electric car use in Los Angeles specifically, so the city knows that there are greater benefits to EVs than just fuel savings.
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Isuzu is excited to announce the development of all-new, zero-emission Isuzu class 6 & 7 F series trucks utilizing an Accelera by Cummins battery-electric powertrain for both the US and Canada. They’re so excited, in fact, that they’re announcing it two years ahead of time!
I don’t want to be too hard on Isuzu here. They have a long history of building bulletproof diesel engines and solid, dependable trucks that are so easy to drive that even novices can confidently wheel the (relatively) compact cabovers around tight urban cityscapes. Besides, it will basically look like a 2024 F series, above, but be electric.
That said, “Pictures of the truck will come at a later date. Any questions, please let me know,” makes it tough to share in Isuzu’s excitement. The official press release is short on specs, too, so while we know that the upcoming electric F series will be bowered by Accelera’s “next generation” lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery technology, we don’t have any information about battery size, power, or expected range.
We do, however, have quotes – and I’ve included both of them for you. First this one …
With the start of production of our Isuzu class 5 N-Series EV coming this summer and with the future addition of the Isuzu battery electric class 6 & 7 truck, we will be able to provide zero emission solutions across our product line-up. This will also improve the breadth of our overall offerings providing customers the ability to choose the product and propulsion system that best fits their needs.
Shaun Skinner; Executive Officer, Isuzu Motors Limited
… and then this one ….
Partnership and collaboration is critical to supporting customers through the energy transition. Together with Isuzu, and our joint commitment to innovation, we will provide customers with safe, reliable zero-emissions solutions.
Amy Davis; President, Accelera by Cummins
… once that “later date” rolls around and we get some pictures and specs, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, Isuzu says it plans to have the new electric version of its F series truck available for customers by 2026. No pricing was given in the press release.
Elektrek’s Jo’s Take
2026, you might notice, is still two years away. I would think that’s more than enough time to put together some specs and a rendering or two.
At the very least, however, it seems like someone at Isuzu is getting on board with medium-duty EVs – and the collaboration with Cummins (once considered an arch-rival level competitor to the “Duramax” branded Isuzu diesels that appeared in GM’s pickups throughout the late 90s and early 00s) seems to imply that the company is open to exploring new ways to stay relevant in the rapidly changing commercial truck space. All of that feels like extremely positive news, but that’s just my opinion, what’s yours?
Scroll on down to the comments and let us know whether you think the Cummins/Isuzu collaboration is newsworthy on its own, or if we really could have held out for some more information.
SOURCE: ISUZU.
UPDATE: per an email received at 9:26AM CST 14MAY2024, I can expect to receive pictures of the truck, “later this year.” (Really.)
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According to credit card data, only about 2% of the Tesla owners who used Full Self-Driving in the free month trial ended up buying it after.
Starting in March, Tesla offered a month of free trial of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) package to all its owners in North America.
At the same time, the automaker slashed the cost of the package from $12,000 to $8,000 or $99 per month for the subscription model. Interestingly, that goes against what Elon Musk said. The CEO previously said that Tesla would keep increasing the price of the FSD package as it gets better.
Yet, Tesla slashed the price just as it released the new v12 version of the system, which is a significant step forward.
The automaker tried to increase the take rate of FSD with the new version by making more people try it with the free trial, and then tempting them to buy or subscribe to it with the price reduction.
However, some data indicates that Tesla wasn’t really successful with the strategy.
YipitData accessed credit card data from about 3,500 Tesla owners who participated in the trial and found that only 50 bought or subscribed to FSD after the trial (via moomoo):
According to YipitData’s latest figures, nearly 3,500 Tesla owners trialed the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) service over the past month. However, only about 50 of these trials converted into FSD subscriptions or purchases, translating to a conversion rate of just under 2% as of May 5th. The data reveals a cautious approach among Tesla drivers towards paying for subscriptions to its autonomous driving technology.
In order to improve the take rate, Elon Musk also asked Tesla employees who deliver cars to give a FSD demonstration with every delivery.
Electrek’s Take
3,500 owners is a limited dataset, but it’s the best we have right now and to be honest, 2% sounds about right to me.
Despite the recent price cut, it’s still a very expensive product and the value is not clear to most people.
As I previously stated, I’ve been impressed by v12, but it doesn’t necessarily make it useful. v12 limits the speed in many areas and still makes mistakes. I think that it has value on the highway by reducing your workload and allowing you to focus more on the road, but on city streets, it is more stressful than driving without it.
Therefore, I think most people see themselves better off with Autopilot for now.
Tesla still has some work to do prove itself with FSD and increase that take-rate.
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Environment
Stellantis, Leapmotor officially launch joint venture to sell Chinese EVs in Europe this fall
One week after reporting plans for a press event launching its new joint venture, Stellantis and Leapmotor have officially begun the new business venture together. The new JV, named “Leapmotor International,” will expand to sell Chinese EVs in Europe this fall, with additional markets to follow.
Today’s event is merely a confirmation of a launch we’ve been expecting for quite some time. Last fall, European automotive conglomerate Stellantis ($STLA) took a $1.6 billion stake in Chinese OEM Leapmotor.
In addition to gaining a 20% stake in Leapmotor, Stellantis’ investment also included forming a new joint venture in which Stellantis owns a 51% stake to sell the Chinese brand’s EVs in other markets. Europe had immediately been confirmed in the JV plans, but Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares wouldn’t rule out the US as another possible option.
This past March, the new partners announced their joint venture had been approved after Stellantis gained regulatory approval in China to continue its stake.
Last week, we followed reports that CEOs from both Leapmotor and Stellantis were preparing a press event to officially launch the Leapmotor International joint venture and divulge more specific plans for where the latter will sell the former’s Chinese-made EVs around Europe. We now have our answer.
Leapmotor Intl. to bring Chinese EVs to Europe and beyond
Per a release from Stellantis today, Leapmotor International is officially open for business following a press conference in China attended by Carlos Tavares and Jiangming Zhu, the respective CEOs. The companies shared intentions to scale quickly to bolster the value of each brand internationally.
The joint venture is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and led by former Stellantis China executive Tianshu Xin as CEO. Carlos Tavares shared his thoughts on the joint venture and the potential Chinese EVs from Leapmotor hold in markets throughout Europe:
The creation of Leapmotor International is a great step forward in helping address the urgent global warming issue with state-of-the-art BEV models that will compete with existing Chinese brands in key markets around the world. Leveraging our existing global presence, we will soon be able to offer our customers price competitive and tech-centric electric vehicles that will exceed their expectations. Under Tianshu Xin’s leadership, they have built a compelling worldwide commercial and industrial strategy to quickly ramp-up the sales distribution channels to support Leapmotor’s robust growth and create value for both partners.
The joint venture is already laying the groundwork in Europe to bring Leapmotor’s Chinese EVs to new markets, starting with the family-friendly C10 and the T03 compact urban commuter (both pictured above).
Stellantis said it will wield its existing sales channels in Europe to launch and distribute the Chinese EVs as early as September 2024, targeting these markets first: Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Romania. Stellantis expects to have at least 200 points of sale throughout these markets by year’s end and over 500 by 2026.
In addition to Europe, Stellantis shared plans also to begin selling Leapmotor’s Chinese EVs in other regions before the end of the year as well:
- The Middle East & Africa
- Turkey, Israel ,and French Overseas
- India & Asia Pacific
- Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia, and India
- South America
- Brazil and Chile
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