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ST. LOUIS – Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. introduced a gasoline-powered and an all-electric chassis at National Truck Equipment Association’s Work Truck Show here Wednesday.
The gasoline chassis is the first for this strip chassis manufacturer which had offered only diesel, said Jonathan Randall, director of sales and marketing. The 6.0-liter V-8 engine from General Motors will be available in both of FCCC’s chassis in weight ranges from 14,000 to 23,000 pounds. Buyers will have a choice of the Allison 1000 or 2000 automatic transmissions.
The chassis is expected to go into production in the third quarter of 2010 and will come with a three year-50,000 mile warranty.
FCCC also introduced an all-electric chassis for pickup and delivery applications.
The powertrain on the MT-45 chassis is supplied by Enova Systems and includes a 120kW all-electric drive system using three banks of lithium-ion batteries supplied by Tesla Motors. All systems, including auxiliary power for heating or air conditioning, will run off the electric power. The truck will have a maximum of 100-110 mile driving range on a full charge and take between six and eight hours to charge with a 240V station, company executives said.
A regenerative braking system reduces friction during braking and helps to recharge the batteries during operation. Other features include a parking pawl within the gear box and a push-button shifter.
Officials said they did not have a price for the chassis, yet. Production is expected to begin in early 2011 for fleet testing.
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