Indiana Navistar plant turns out 1st electric trucks

[IndianaGreen]

Source: WTHR-TV

Indiana Navistar plant turns out 1st electric trucks

Updated: May 14, 2010 7:14 AM EDT

Wakarusa, IN (AP) - An Elkhart County assembly line has begun turning out Navistar e-Star electric trucks that can travel 100 miles on a single charge.

Navistar says the all-electric eStar medium-duty commercial truck being turned out in Wakarusa has batteries can be replaced in about 20 minutes and recharged in six to eight hours.

FedEx is the first company to purchase the trucks and will operate them in the Los Angeles area.

The plant is about 15 miles southeast of South Bend. It's expected to produce 400 vehicles this year and several thousand yearly after that.

Read more: http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=12481394

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The $39 million of Obama's stimulus money that Navistar got for this project will also lead to hundreds of new jobs nationwide among suppliers.

We need more stimulus money from Congress, instead of money for weapons for our client states in the Middle East, or to maintain an imperial army deployed worldwide.

[cliffordu]

1. Excellent. I like it.

[LiberalLovinLug]

2. Wonderful

Why don't all car manufacturers just dive in to all electric vehicles like this one?
Why all these expensive hybrids with vehicles that have to have complicated duel systems?

I suspect its because BP and others want to first suck every drop of oil from the ocean floor, and scrap every mountain clean, and drill baby drill until there's nothing left. With the bonus side effect of seeing the price increase as the supply dwindles. And the big car manufacturers have such an intimate relationship with the oil industry which helps slow down the advances.

I don't know enough about Navistar to know if they are a truly independent company or just a subsidiary, but the world needs more of these upstarts to push the big 4 into scramble mode to build their own consumer all-electric vehicles.

[Old Troop]

3. The only problem with electric vehicles is production and disposal

of the batteries.