Shyft Group, formerly Spartan Motors, will launch Blue Arc EV Solutions, a division that will sell its electric chassis and Class 3 electric delivery van.
The suburban Detroit commercial vehicle manufacturer, one of the nation’s largest, plans to deliver its first product, the Blue Arc delivery van, to fleet customers for testing in spring or summer, the company said Wednesday at the NTEA’s Work Truck Week show in Indianapolis. Full production, Shyft said, is expected to begin around June 2023 at one of the company’s Southeastern plants.
Shyft engineers developed the van’s chassis and body in-house. The chassis can be ordered in a variety of wheelbases and lengths and with different size battery packs.
Shyft Group CEO Daryl Adams says the new van will initially have a range of 150 to 175 miles from the lithium ion battery pack. Extended-range vans with bigger battery packs will be offered. Depending on the wheelbase, the cargo areas can range from 14 to 18 feet long and haul as much as 5,000 pounds. Storage capacity ranges from 635 to 800 cubic feet.
The vans are equipped with solar roof panels to help keep electricity flowing into the battery pack when the van is on the road. In April, Shyft plans to introduce a remote-controlled portable charging device called the Power Cube, which can recharge a vehicle in around two hours.
Blue Arc vans have been designed to keep weight down. They use aluminum and composite bodies and are equipped with lightweight honeycomb aluminum shelving, which shaves 175 pounds off the vehicle’s curb weight, the company said.
If a customer wants to buy just the chassis — which would be sent to an upfitter for a custom body — Blue Arc will offer those as well. No prices were announced.
“This all-new EV chassis and delivery van offers purpose-built, customer focused work trucks that increase speed, efficiency and impact on our customers’ bottom line,” Eric Fisher, general manager of Blue Arc EV Solutions said in a statement.
Shyft says it has already signed it first customer for the Blue Arc van, Randy Marion Automotive Group. The company, which has franchised new-car dealerships in North Carolina, also is a large seller of fleet vehicles.
“The EV walk-in delivery van is going to be one-of-a-kind in the market because nobody else currently has the capability to manufacture both the chassis and the bodies like Blue Arc,” Brad Sigmon, vice president of sales at Randy Marion Automotive Group, said in a statement.
The commercial electric delivery van segment has been growing as companies such as Amazon, UPS, Walmart and others are in the early stages of weaning themselves off fossil-fuel vehicles. Amazon has ordered 100,000 electric vans from Rivian and is working with Stellantis to develop an electric version of the Ram ProMaster. Ford started production of the battery-powered Transit van in February.
