While the U.S. has yet to establish a nationwide charging network for long-haul battery-electric commercial trucks, it's important not to overlook the light- and medium-duty space.
Why? Because companies like Motiv Electric Trucks are proving that these two vital vehicle segments are capable of performing their tasks with high levels of driver and customer satisfaction and, at the same time, are zero-emissions.
[Related: Motiv customer Purolator achieves 1 million kilometers of zero-emission driving]
Today, California-based Motiv has announced the appointment of 30-year industry veteran Scott Zion as Chief Product and Engineering Officer.
His new responsibilities, per the official press release, are to "drive and lead cross-functional excellence across the full product and engineering disciplines and setting direction for design, performance, attributes - with performance, quality and cost targets - to deliver all commercial medium duty electric truck products to company quality targets with the intent to exceed customer’s expectations."
Motiv Electric Trucks' new Chief Product and Engineering Officer, Scott Zion.Motiv Electric Trucks
Zion is clearly up for the challenge. Prior to joining Motiv, he was Chief Product Officer at Bollinger Motors. Other previous leadership roles included stints at Xos Trucks and Hino Motors Manufacturing USA. His career began at Ford Motor Company where he worked on projects related to electric vehicles beginning in the early 90s.
His professional background has made him an engineering expert in transaxle engineering, battery systems, chassis systems, and axle/driveline systems.
He has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Aerospace and Light Weight Structures from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and a Master's degree in Engineering Management from Wayne State University.
"Scott’s proven expertise in product planning and his experience leading engineering and product teams in the commercial electric trucking space is a perfect fit for where Motiv is today," said Scott Griffith, CEO of Motiv. "His background and leadership will be critical as we scale our team to continue to design and produce the most technologically-advanced, reliable, sustainable and cost-competitive electric trucks and buses for the largest fleets in North America."
Clean Trucking has previously reported about the impressive advancements in light- and medium-duty electric trucking. Combined with the necessary charging infrastructure (local utilities typically help set up basic hardware and ongoing assistance), businesses of various sizes have been incorporating LT and MD electric rigs into their fleets for daily tasks.
[Related: Motiv debuts Argo, its fully integrated medium-duty electric chassis]
Motiv, for example, claims its EV trucks offer a range upwards of 200 miles on a single charge. To date, the company has put almost 400 vehicles on the road that have collectively driven over 5 million miles. Equally impressive is that 10 of the 20 largest medium duty trucks fleets in North America are deploying Motiv vehicles.
[Related: Motiv Electric Trucks achieves 5 millionth electric mile]
