With a video worthy of a fancy auto show concept car, Consumers Energy debuted its new all-electric bucket truck. Consumers Energy spokesperson Brian Wheeler.
“Think about the number of EV's that have been hitting the road, thousands and thousands of them that have shown up on the roads in Michigan. We're beginning to see kind of a next generation or next level. It's not just a sedan in your driveway but pickup trucks, school buses or in this case a large heavy-duty vehicle that can do a lot of serious work.
A trained team operates the truck, powered by a fast charger at Consumers Energy’s Grand Rapids service center.
“It’s kind of a pilot program in the sense of we're going to see how well it performs, how much range it retains, how many miles we can put on the vehicle between charges and just how useful it can be to see if we make decisions to electrify other vehicles down the road.”
When fully charged the zero-emissions vehicle can travel up to 135 miles.
Wheeler says Consumers is committed to supporting Michigan’s EV drivers.
“Electricity costs less than gasoline and there are fewer moving parts. When you replace that conventional engine with a battery, there are less things that can break down or that need to be maintained so the experience that we've seen is the electric vehicles generally are less expensive once you get them on the road.”
