AEV Summit: Xos on why vocational vehicles make great EVs

Decarbonizing transportation with the most durable trucking technology available

(Photo: FreightWaves)

This fireside chat recap is from FreightWaves’ Autonomous & Electric Vehicles Summit.

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Electrifying the less glamorous commercial vehicles

DETAILS: From armored trucks to heavy-duty tractors, there are great candidates for electrification. Xos embraces these opportunities to transition to zero tailpipe emission powertrains.

SPEAKER: Dakota Semler is the co-founder and CEO of Xos Trucks.

BIO: Xos Trucks is a Los Angeles-based electric mobility company dedicated to decarbonizing transportation with the most durable trucking technology available. Semler came up with the idea for Xos to solve a challenge he faced as a fleet operator: how to create a cost-effective, durable and reliable EV that achieves the same performance benchmarks of an existing diesel vehicle without compromising air quality. 

KEY QUOTES FROM SEMLER:

“Some of these cash and transit fleets were pulling their trucks out of service weekly just to do their recharge cycles because of the operating conditions of how much idling they were doing.”

“For Loomis, we’ve been able to solve one of their biggest maintenance headaches because our vehicles can sit there and idle for four, six, seven hours a day and ultimately not have any adverse implications to the maintenance schedule for the overall reliability of the vehicle.”

“As we’ve built the team, we didn’t try to reinvent the wheel for reinventing the wheel’s sake. We tried to find the best leaders and the best engineering expertise and production expertise from existing companies and merge their skills and their talents so that we could build a scalable product platform that ultimately supported the needs of our customers.”

Click here for more FreightWaves articles by Alyssa Sporrer.

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Alyssa Sporrer

Alyssa is a staff writer at FreightWaves, covering sustainability news in the freight and supply chain industry, from low-carbon fuels to social sustainability, emissions & more. She graduated from Iowa State University with a double major in Marketing and Environmental Studies. She is passionate about all things environmental and enjoys outdoor activities such as skiing, ultimate frisbee, hiking, and soccer.