Shyft Group, one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of industrial work trucks, plans to debut a new electric class 5 Blue Arc brand crew cab truck Wednesday at the NTEA Work Truck Show in Indianapolis.
The truck has a walk-in van style cab with a sliding door, seating for six and room to set up a mobile workstation – an unusual layout for a class 5 truck.
“It’s about flexibility, innovation and creating unique solutions for our customers,” Shyft CEO Daryl Adams said in a statement, prior to Wednesday’s reveal.
He told Automotive News that one configuration of the new truck would be ideal for moving companies. And entire crew of movers, he said, could ride to the job in the truck. Today’s moving trucks usually only have room for the driver and one or two passengers.
The vehicle’s electric powertrain, which delivers about 200 miles per charge, helped enable the truck’s interior design. The flat floor, for instance, made adding the extra seats possible since there is no hump for the transmission.
Shyft says the truck is being built with a liquid-cooled lithium Ion battery pack and will be available with an optional 450-watt per hour integrated solar roof package. With a level 2 charger, the truck can be recharged in 2-6 hours. The truck will be available in a number of configurations and as a chassis that can underpin electric buses, motorcoaches and shuttles.
Shyft, formerly known as Spartan Motors, plans to manufacture the new truck at its Charlotte, Mich., plant, which is undergoing an expansion.
The version of the truck debuting at the NTEA show was designed by Shyft’s DuraMag division and has a payload capacity of between 6,000 and 10,000 pounds.
Shyft has not discussed pricing.
