While the popularity of OEM passenger electric vehicles (EV) has skyrocketed in recent years, medium- and heavy-duty commercial electric vehicle (CEV) deployments are limited to pilots and small demonstration fleets. The lag in adoption appears surprising given that these deployments are ideal applications for electric vehicles, with repeatable routes and predictable overnight charging while parked in depots.

The real adoption barrier lies in the high cost and low reliability of these vehicles due to the approach that many CEV original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have taken, which involves labor-intense, low volume manufacturing processes, and a lack of investment in product validation.

U.S. cities can be very loud places. Between the sounds of car horns, sirens, truck traffic, and people yelling, background-noise levels can regularly reach 70 decibels—about as loud as the drone of a vacuum cleaner at close range. That much noise pollution isn’t just annoying; it can heighten stress, disrupt your sleep, and even lead to heart disease. Researchers at the University of Michigan estimate that about one-third of Americans are exposed to harmful noise, and might be at risk of noise-related health problems.

While countries in Europe have enforced stringent national noise standards, Americans have for the most part just made more noise; last year, more than 340,000 noise complaints were filed in New York City alone. But there are signs that people in the U.S. are getting serious about the problem, and new technologies can help. Here’s how the cities and suburbs of the future could become quieter, more peaceful places.

Because electric engines are all but silent, the push for greater fuel efficiency could mean not just cleaner air but quieter streets. If electric cars become more popular (or are mandated by the government), “the whole soundscape of our cities would change rapidly,” Holger Schulze, a musicology professor and the principal investigator at the Sound Studies Lab at the University of Copenhagen, told me. Car horns and sirens could be made quieter, too, because they wouldn’t have to drown out revving engines. Noises like bicycle bells and people’s voices might become the dominant sounds of a city.

Governments and businesses are already switching to electric fleets. Jim Castelaz, the founder and CEO of Motiv, a California company that manufactures power trains for large electric vehicles, told me that parents now sometimes ask drivers of electric school buses to honk when dropping children off, because they can’t hear the buses coming. (Electric and hybrid vehicles may actually be too quiet; the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is working on new rules that will require such vehicles to make a minimum amount of noise at low speeds so that pedestrians can hear them coming.)

The next electric vehicle you come in contact with may not be an exotic gull-winged Tesla X, sleek Mustang Mach-E or flashy 1,000-horsepower GMC Hummer. Odds are increasing it’ll be a boxy delivery van or a school bus, and that it was engineered or built in Detroit.

There’s a gold rush going on to produce electric commercial vehicles like buses and Amazon vans, with everybody from huge automakers to independent customizers staking their claim.

If there was ever a sign that powertrain electrification is forging ahead, it was at The Work Truck Show in Indianapolis last week.

Five manufacturers showcased electric vans at the Indianapolis Convention Center. Sparking additional interest, XL Fleet debuted two heavy-duty hybrid Chevy Silverados, Motiv brought their latest electric F-59 chassis and Crane Carrier Company said they were on track to offering an electric truck.

However it was electric vans presented by Ford, Morgan Olson, Utilimaster and Workhorse that served as a big reminder of the growing interest in vans fueled in large part by swelling e-commerce.

Motiv Power Systems, a sustainable technology company delivering a software platform for the electrification of medium-duty trucks and buses, featured its new F-59 chassis at The Work Truck Show 2020.

The new F-59 chassis will serve urban fleet delivery customers for parcel and delivery vans, school and shuttle buses. The chassis features a shorter wheelbase, Motiv’s Adaptive Battery Controller (ABC), and BMW lithium-ion battery packs. These features enable modularity and greater maneuverability of the vehicle where it’s needed most, according to the company, as well as an increase in cargo space and range driven between charges. Collectively, these features provide the cost savings and reliability that fleet customers demand.

“Urban fleets face unique challenges; tight corners, smaller parking spaces, and congestion. By working closely with, and listening to our customers, we built the F-59 chassis to help them overcome these challenges so they can operate and focus on what they do best,” said Jim Castelaz, founder and CTO of Motiv Power Systems. “Our vision has always been to free fleets from fossil fuels, and adopting a customer-centric approach has enabled us to develop products that deliver real-world solutions.”

Motiv Power Systems, a sustainable technology company that specializes in software platforms for the electrification of medium-duty trucks and buses, has opened a new facility in Stockton, Calif.

The facility will serve as a pre-delivery inspection and service center enabling local and efficient customer support. Along with U.S.-based engineering and assembling, this service center will support the majority of Motiv customers’ electric vehicle (EV) fleets that are in the San Joaquin Valley.

To date, Motiv customers nationwide have driven over 950,000 clean miles.

“With continued growth in the EV market for fleet electrification, customers prefer to work with a trusted partner for all of their vehicle and service needs. These customers recognize the value that clean transportation brings to their supply chain, their drivers and their community at large,” says Matt O’Leary, chairman and CEO of Motiv.

Motiv Power Systems opened a new facility in Stockton, Calif. The facility will serve as a pre-delivery inspection and service center enabling local and efficient customer support.

Along with U.S. based engineering and assembling, this service center will support the majority of Motiv customer’s electric vehicle (EV) fleets that are in the San Joaquin Valley, improving air quality and driver experience, in addition to providing competitive jobs. To date, Motiv customers nationwide have driven over 950,000 clean miles, offsetting 1,033 metric tons of greenhouse gasses (GHG), or the equivalent of more than 103,635 gallons of diesel consumed.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place Feb. 13, 2020, and included Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs along with Motiv customers, EV fleet managers, community stakeholders, and local business leaders.

Winnebago Industries Inc. has delivered the first all-electric mobile surgical instrument lab (eMSIL) to University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Health Center. The zero-emission mobile medical unit will travel between UCLA’s Ronald Reagan and Santa Monica campuses to collect, clean, repair, disinfect and sterilize surgical suite instruments.

Built by Winnebago and Motiv Power Systems, the vehicle is expected to save the health center $750,000 a year, traveling between two hospitals to clean and sterilize surgical equipment, compared to contracting with an off-site, third-party provider to do the work.

“We applaud UCLA for its innovative application of a mobile medical unit to transform a critical and costly service, normally fixed in a building, into one that can be transported to any location,” says Ashis Bhattacharya, Winnebago’s vice president of business development, specialty vehicles and advanced technology.

Electrification in the automotive industry isn’t just about consumer cars: There are plenty of commercial and specialist vehicles that are prime candidates for EVs, including in the healthcare industry. Take the new UCLA mobile surgical lab developed by Winnebago, for instance — it’s a zero-emission, all-electric vehicle that will move back and forth between two UCLA campuses, collecting, sterilizing and repairing surgical instruments for the medical staff there.

Why is that even needed? The usual process is sending out surgical instruments for this kind of service by a third-party, and it’s handled in a dedicated facility at a significant annual cost. UCLA Health Center estimates that it can save as much as $750,000 per year using the EV lab from Winnebago instead.

The traveling lab can operate for around eight hours, including round-trips between the two hospital campuses, or for a total distance traveled of between 85 and 125 miles on a single charge of its battery, depending on usage. It also offers “the same level of performance, productivity and compliance” as a lab in a fixed-location building, according to Winnebago.