A California-based startup has secured $23.5 million in new financing to manufacture electric-powered commercial trailers in an effort to make the trucking industry more planet-friendly.
Range Energy is aiming to "rapidly ease the transition to electrification" for the trucking industry by making trailers with batteries and an electric motor that can be hooked up to diesel-powered trucks, essentially turning them into hybrids.
This technology should be a welcome development for the industry, which is under increasing pressure to mitigate the amount of planet-overheating pollution it causes. According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, the trucking industry is responsible for 7% of all planet-overheating gas production in the United States despite accounting for only 4% of vehicles on the road, as reported by the Department of Energy.
While several companies have begun producing fully electric semitrucks, "electric tractors are years away from mass scale largely due to costs and capital planning, charging infrastructure, and reliability in inclement weather," according to a news release. Therefore, the technology developed by Range Energy — which can take existing trucks and help them to emit less carbon dioxide — could be a game-changer, especially in the short term.
"Electrifying trailers can have a real effect in reducing trucking emissions," said Nikolas Soulopoulos, an analyst at BloombergNEF.
Third-party testing showed that Range's trailers could improve the fuel economy of diesel-powered trucks by 36.3%.
"Range is poised to ensure commercial fleets are able to adopt and transition to electric with speed and ease and our investors are committed to helping get our trailers into the hands of commercial fleet owners — and on the roads — quickly," CEO and founder Ali Javidan said in the release.
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Javidan told Bloomberg that Range is working with several large consumer brands (he declined to reveal which ones) to test five of the company's prototypes. That testing will be followed by 50 trailer pilots in 2025, with the company planning to start commercial production by the end of next year.
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