Things are heating up in the electric commercial vehicle sector, as more and more startups are vying for a piece of the upcoming EV revolution pie. Yes, big names like Tesla, GMC, or Ford are coming, but they may very well be overshadowed by releases from small outlets like Rivian, Lordstown Motors, or Atlis Motor Vehicles.
Not long ago, Lordstown revealed it has decided to put its Endurance all-electric commercial pickup truck to the grueling test of competing in an off-road event. That would be the San Felipe 250 race that’s set to span across 290 miles (467 km) of Baja terrain in California this coming April.
Meanwhile, RJ Scaringe’s already famous Rivian startup continues the intensive testing phase of the R1T, promising it’s still on track to be among the first to bring out a fully electric pickup truck on the U.S. market, with first deliveries scheduled for June.
Now it’s time for additional news from Atlis Motor Vehicles, whose first model is also scheduled to land in the fledgling electric pickup truck segment sometime this year (thus well in advance of the mid-2022 Ford F-150 BEV, for example). This time around, we’re not getting just an update on the XT pickup truck, but rather more of a promise.
That’s because Atlis and the South Carolina-based Clemson University have just entered a strategic partnership whose goal is to push forward the development of electric vehicle batteries. This means the 2022 Atlis XT could, one day, sport Clemson-developed “batteries that charge faster, last longer and can be scaled to fit a variety of vehicle classes.”
Atlis, a startup based out of Arizona, has so far revealed to the world the soon-to-be-classic recipe of a vehicle design based upon the company’s proprietary “skateboard” electric vehicle platform – the mix between the XT pickup truck and XP architecture.
Atlis is now getting help from the Clemson Nanomaterials Institute (CNI) to further develop its proprietary battery technology, which, unlike traditional designs, “will utilize custom coatings... coupled with a special mechanical construction (that) will lead to optimized energy capacity and reduced charging time.”
Basically, Atlis wants battery packs for its XT pickup truck that will be capable of delivering a range of around 500 miles (around 805 km) and have the ability to recharge in less than 15 minutes. Quite the lofty goal, indeed.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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