TICO’s next-generation ‘Pro-Spotter EV’ switches out the Volvo Penta driveline used in the previous model for either a ZF central motor or a Dana e-axle.

At the latest Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo, held between 20-23 May at the Las Vegas Convention Center, we spoke to several firms that offer support to operators looking to switch their fleets to electric vehicles. One of the firms we spoke with was Zenobē, a London-based “charging-as-a-service” company with considerable experience already in the passenger transport segment. There is a bewildering number of charging providers in the market, and it can be difficult to tell them apart and assess their individual merits. Now that Zenobē is expanding to the American market, we decided this would be a good time to find out what makes it different from the competition.

There were many companies at the latest ACT Expo presenting variations on the theme of what one might call “Electric-Fleet-as-a-service” – that is to say, a contractual relationship where the operator has the upfront costs and hassles of switching to an electric fleet taken out of its hands by a “turnkey” service provider. One such company I spoke with was Revolv, whose CEO, Scott Davidson, feels that terms such as “X-as-a-service” and “turnkey” have been diluted through overuse. “Our product is performance,” he said.

There are some ideas that seem so obvious upon their introduction that one wonders why somebody did not think of it earlier. A hands-free charger that automatically plugs into an electric vehicle and unplugs from it when finished surely qualifies as a not-so-obvious obvious idea. It makes perfect sense – given the potential dangers of handling high-voltage equipment, and also given the prospect of driverless vehicles – to develop chargers that do not require a human to operate them. After speaking to Erin Galiger – who is director of the North American market for Dutch tech firm Rocsys – at the latest ACT Expo, I learned that hands-free chargers have several more applications than I had initially expected.

According to Shawn Furman, Sales Manager for Optimal EV’s transit business, who spoke to T&BB at the latest ACT Expo, the company has preferred to keep a low profile over the last couple of years, especially given the bad press which EVs are receiving. While competitors such as Lightning eMotors have gone under, Optimal EV has been quietly working away on its main offerings, an electric chassis-cab and a battery electric low floor shuttle bus.

Several of the vehicles were shown in order to promote the work that Poindexter’s brands have done to design bodies which are better suited to the characteristics and demands of the electric driveline: one of these was ‘Project Blackjack’, a proof-of-concept vehicle with a lightweight and aerodynamic Morgan truck body.

At its stand, Thermo King present its ‘e200’, ‘e300’, and ‘e1000’ transport refrigeration units and the ‘Precedent S-750i’, a hybrid TRU.

The company used the 2024 ACT Expo to announce the appointment of Nikolas Runge as the new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Runge will be responsible for scaling the engineering and product development teams to bring further innovation to its product range. The company rolled out 4,300 chargers in 2023 and the Board plans to build on this success.

Jim Castelaz, who founded the company back in 2009 and is now Chief Technology & Revenue Officer, described Motiv to T&BB as “Silicon Valley meets Motor City”.

According to Global Vice President  Eric Guter, each high-capacity station will be able to refuel 200 heavy-duty trucks or 2000 cars per day. This is a strategic move by the company (the largest supplier of hydrogen in the world) which already operates six hydrogen refuelling stations in Southern California. California was chosen due to the large green State subsidies available.

Speaking with T&BB at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo, Eric Fisher, Senior Vice President & General Manager of Blue Arc, said that the group tried first of all to partner with various body builder partners and promising startups before eventually deciding to chart its own course.

John Dunn, formerly of Proterra and now working for Phoenix, said that Proterra Transit continued to build buses during the Chapter 11 bankruptcy and a “large number” of customer contracts were carried over following the acquisition.