One Ohio location of The Kraft Heinz Co. recently replaced several of its traditional diesel trucks with three all-electric trucks. These new electric vehicles (EVs) work as terminal trucks — often called spotter trucks or yard dogs to move semi trailers around large warehouse operations and shipping ports.
The T-Series terminal trucks were built by Orange EV, a Missouri-based supplier of electric vehicles for industrial use … including Class 8 trucks, which are the heaviest trucks as classified by the Federal Highway Administration.
Illinois-based Firefly Transportation Services operates the trucks for Kraft Heinz at the Ohio location. For the full story on the partnership and reasons behind the switch, visit thetrucker.com/kraft-heinz-deploys-all-electric-trucks-in-ohio-with-firefly-transportation-services-orange-ev.
The all-electric trucks use low-voltage Nautilair 7.6-in. blowers from AMETEK DFS for battery cooling purposes.
In fact, Nautilair offers efficient fans and blowers based on brushless motors, totally sealed blowers, and all-aluminum blowers. Standard Nautilair blowers come in 8.9 in. and 12.3 in. as well as the 7.6-in. variation already mentioned, and AMETEK DFS can customize the blowers to specific requirements.
Depending on the model, the blowers accept 120 Vac, 240 Vac, and 12 to 24 Vdc input. They often operate tens of thousands of hours without maintenance. Speed is adjustable with motor PWM or onboard potentiometers; some applications supplement the blowers with Intelligen II drives with factory-programmed DSPs and option cards to set the blower operation to application parameters. For more information on these blowers, visit ametekdfs.com/dfsbrands/nautilair/nautilair-7-6.
Firefly Transportation Services will leverage IIoT functionality on the Orange EV terminal trucks with telematics to track EV performance and inform continuous improvements.