Greentech Media

Last week, Denton, Texas-based Peterbilt Motors said full hybrid production on two versions of its medium duty trucks would start this summer.

Fisher said Peterbilt, a division of truck manufacturing giant Paccar (NSDQ: PCR), is at the forefront of those working to bring hybrid technology to medium-duty trucks -- but still isn’t spending much money on hybrids.

"They are doing a wait and see," Fisher said, meaning that the company is testing the waters to assess the demand for hybrid trucks.

Still, Electrorides has at least one potential competitor. U.K.-based Smith Electric Vehicles said in December it would open a commercial-vehicle manufacturing plant in the United States, claiming its research found a potential U.S. market of around 200,000 commercial electric vehicles per year (see Who’s Reviving the Electric Car?).

Although Smith did not specify which vehicles would be made, the company does have a medium-duty truck in its fleet. But regardless of whether trucking companies want to go green, the cost of electric commercial trucks remains a challenge.

"Most fleet operators couldn’t absorb the cost of the electric-drive technology," admitted Abramson, who said the price of an electric truck is about four times that of a regular internal-combustion truck. The Isuzu trucks’ price is about $30,000, he said, which would suggest a Zero Truck price of about $120,000.

So will customers be able to get a return on their investment? If they drive 100 miles per day -- the full range of the vehicle -- and five days a week, they would travel up to 26,000 miles per year. If they get only 10 miles per gallon -- the lowest fuel economy in the range for one of Isuzu’s medium-duty models, called the NPR -- that would equal 2,600 gallons per year of savings. With diesel at an average price of $3.65 per gallon in Los Angeles county last week, that comes out to a savings of $9,490 per year, according to Greentech Media calculations.
 
At that rate, it would take about nine and a half years to make up the difference in cost, and Abramson said most companies only keep their medium-duty trucks for eight years. But he expects Zero Trucks will have a longer lifetime of up to 20 years, as well as lower expected maintenance costs that also will save customers money.

Still, the high upfront cost will limit Electrorides’ market to profitable companies that can make that kind of investment, keeping the startup a small player for now. 

Abramson hopes that dynamic will change as the cost of batteries and electric motors come down and the price of oil continues to grow.

Until then, Electrorides plans to use a novel business model to help it gain a foothold in the space.

Electrorides will sell advertising on Zero Trucks equipped with billboards. The first truck is set to cruise Los Angeles in August, and the company plans to have 10 more vehicles advertising on Southern California roads by the end of the year, Abramson said.

The business, called ZeroGreenMedia, is sure to make some environmentalists cringe, as the Zero Truck will be adding to the city’s congestion problems and eating up electricity for the purpose of advertising.

But Abramson said these types of mobile-media vehicles already are being used by advertisers and Electrorides’ truck, which will be charged from solar power and emit no pollution, will offer a greener option.
 
That theory might work -- provided the charging isn’t planned for one of Los Angeles’ rare cloudy days.

-- Editor Jennifer Kho contributed to this story.