AUBURN HILLS, MI – ALTe Powertrain Technologies (ALTe), the developer of the range-extended plug-in electric hybrid powertrain for light commercial fleet vehicle applications, is offering more choices to fleet managers who seek to convert their fleets to plug-in electric hybrid. The company announced it has successfully installed its powertrain system in a second line of vehicles – the Ford Econoline E-350 platform.
ALTe has already successfully implemented conversions in Ford F-150 trucks, which have been driven by dozens of potential fleet customers.
The company began engineering development on the Ford E-350 platform in late 2011. There are currently more than 125,000 E-350 vans of the 2004-2010 model years registered to corporate, government, and utility fleets in the U.S., according to ALTe.
“With this new conversion, ALTe sees a huge opportunity to reach more fleet customers and show them how their used fleet vehicles can gain a second life with better fuel economy when equipped with an ALTe powertrain,” said John Thomas, CEO and co-founder of ALTe.
ALTe’s road tests revealed that this E-350 cutaway chassis prototype can drive approximately 25 miles in an all-electric mode and then deliver nearly 15 mpg in a charge-sustained mode. These performance levels should continue to improve as ALTe incorporates production level components and refines various engineering algorithms, according to the manufacturer. Based on data provided by major fleets, the company estimates the combined mode fuel economy would be more than 30 mpg compared to less than nine mpg achieved by a similar Ford E-350 cutaway chassis with a V-8 engine.,
ALTe will deliver the E-350 prototype to its first potential fleet customer for evaluation this month, with plans to build more prototypes for customer evaluations throughout the year. ALTe continues to target a spring 2013 product launch date for the U.S. market.
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