Kenworth and Dana work on electric trucks

Kenworth and Dana have started collaboration on powertrain development for medium duty battery electric vehicles.

The zero-emission Kenworth K270E was recently on display at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this month.

The Dana electric powertrain system is specially designed for the Kenworth chassis and can provide a range of more than 300 kilometres.

The battery packs can be recharged in about an hour using the vehicle’s DC fast-charging system.

This makes the K270E ideal for local pickup and delivery, as well as short regional haul operations.

Kenworth general manager and Paccar vice president Kevin Barney says the truck is an “important next step” for the company as it looks to develop electric powertrain systems.

“Dana is an industry leader in electrified modules and systems supported by in-house vehicle integration expertise.

“Kenworth plans to produce up to 100 medium duty cabover electric trucks in 2020,” Barney says.

Dana commercial vehicle technologies president Mark Wallace says demand for electric vehicles “continues to grow”.

“Kenworth’s commitment to providing advanced vehicle technologies, combined with our proficiency in delivering end-to-end turnkey electric systems, will result in high-efficiency solutions that greatly reduce the total cost of ownership for vehicle operators,” Wallace says.

Level 4 autonomous Kenworth T680

Kenworth also exhibited a Level 4 autonomous concept Kenworth T680 at CES this month.

Paccar is working with leading experts in the field of high-definition mapping, localisation, perception and path planning to deliver autonomous solutions.

The special Kenworth T680 is equipped with cameras, LiDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors, and radars to sense the surrounding road environment and to feed algorithms for object identification and tracking.

A global navigation satellite system with an inertial measurement unit combined with LiDAR on a high-definition map provides centimetre accuracy. The autonomous vehicle software and feedback control logic for actuation are hosted on five computers that record up to 1TB of data per hour of driving.

Kenworth chief engineer Patrick Dean says the team is working in Silicon Valley “to explore and develop the latest advanced driver assistance systems and other new technologies that offer safety and efficiency benefits for truck fleets and drivers”.

“The Level 4 autonomous Kenworth T680 is a perfect platform to study this technology in real-world applications,” Dean says.