PG&E helped VIA Motors launch its eRev (extended-range electric vehicles) pickup in Detroit today. (Photo courtesy of VIA Motors.)
By David Kligman
At North America’s most influential auto show, PG&E on Tuesday (Jan. 10) joined VIA Motors to promote the first extended-range electric pickup, a vehicle that could significantly transform the way utilities manage power outages for customers.
The utility began working with VIA Motors in 2008 to develop the trucks, called eREVs or Extended-Range Electric Vehicles. PG&E already owns two of the pickups and based on positive testing plans to expand the number of eREVs in its fleet this year.
The eREV trucks run the first 40 miles solely on electricity before switching to gasoline.
For electric utilities, the trucks could provide on-site power to help shorten small outages, eliminate some planned outages for maintenance and boost the electric grid when needed.
Help to quickly restore power
“The fact that the eREV truck contains on-board electric generation means that one day in the future small planned service interruptions may become a thing of the past,” Greg Pruett, PG&E’s senior vice president of corporate affairs, said at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit today. “Rather than taking a customer out of service to safely conduct required maintenance, we could simply hook the customer’s power up to the truck.”
Having the VIA Motors electric pickups will allow PG&E to shorten small outages said Greg Pruett, PG&E's senior vice president of corporate affairs.
Pruett said the vehicles also could more quickly restore power to residential customers when there is an outage.
“They attach wires from the onboard generator to the line that’s not damaged and customers are restored,” he said. “It reduces the amount of time that our customers are inconvenienced.”
The first-generation pickups have a 15-kilowatt capacity, equivalent to a generator for a small-or medium-sized house, and that amount could increase in future models. The eREV can be charged from either a 120-volt household outlet or from a more powerful and faster 240-volt charging station.
News of the electric pickup generated media attention from reporters following the auto industry, as well as PG&E. (See a replay of Tuesday’s news conference with PG&E and VIA Motors.)
Modified from GM vehicles
The Orem, Utah-based automaker, which builds electric versions of trucks, vans and SUVs, plans to sell directly to fleets first, then individual customers. The pickups are modified General Motors full-size pickups.
“One of the real advantages in VIA Motors is that they have taken existing General Motors vehicles and have only slightly modified those vehicles to accommodate their technology,” Pruett said. “So this is not a case of having to do some kind of major rebuild or restructuring or redesign of existing off-the-assembly-line vehicles, which really keeps the costs down.”
PG&E’s work with VIA Motors on the eREV is another way the utility is committed to doing its part to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Since 1995, PG&E’s alternative-fuel fleet has helped prevent more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
Its fleet includes more than 1,200 alternative-fuel vehicles—natural-gas, hybrid, electric passenger cars and large trucks that can provided needed power from battery packs instead of idling engines. PG&E is testing other promising transportation technologies, including liquid and compressed natural gas and diesel-electric hybrids.
E-vehicles mean big fuel savings
The new eREVs also can lead to big financial savings. Switching PG&E’s entire fleet of 3,500 pickups to extended-range pickups like the eREV would save $9.5 million in fuel a year.
The backdrop for the promotion was the North American International Auto Show, where automakers this week introduced many electric and hybrid vehicles.
Bob Lutz, the former vice chairman of General Motors, is now on the board of VIA Motors and spoke at a news conference at the Detroit auto show.
Pruett, joined by VIA Motors board member Bob Lutz, a former vice chairman of General Motors, and VIA Motors CEO and co-founder Kraig Higginson, said PG&E would continue its partnership with VIA Motors.
PG&E’s interest demonstrates there’s a viable market for the pickups, which reduce harmful emissions, save money for utilities and ultimately can provide better service to customers. Converting pickups to electric vehicles makes sense since they require far more energy than passenger vehicles, Lutz said.
“It makes all the sense in the world to start with the vehicles that are most popular with the American public, and the ones that, frankly, consume the most gasoline,” said Lutz, the former General Motors executive instrumental in helping GM develop the Chevy Volt.
Work sites, outdoor weddings, concerts
Lutz said he believes the vehicle will revolutionize power generation outside utilities as well.
“It is its own generator for work crews, caterers, powering your home in an emergency, outdoor parties, outdoor weddings, rock concerts, whatever,” he said. “The truck that brings the equipment or the food is also the power generation for the event. I daily conjure up new uses for these things.”
Meanwhile, PG&E has invested $400,000 in the development of the trucks and plans to order as many as a dozen more of the pickups.
“PG&E looks forward to continuing its work with VIA Motors as we build upon the greenest utility fleet in the country,” Pruett said. “We’re very excited about this technology and its applications.”
E-mail David Kligman at d1kf@pge.com.
