The cold weather testing of Balqon’s newest product, the Nautilus XE20, is a continuation of the engineering developments at Balqon. The Nautilus XE20, released earlier this month, is designed, integrated, and built in cooperation with Autocar Truck and their Xspotter yard tractor team.
The Nautilus XE20 is designed for off-highway container or semi-trailer ‘spotting’ applications, and is equipped with Balqon’s proprietary drive system and lithium-ion battery management system. The Nautilus XE20 is designed to travel at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour and is capable of towing loads of up to 40 tons.
Field demonstrations conducted at both a large beverage distribution warehouse and an industrial manufacturing facility showed lower energy consumption over competitive diesel powered vehicles operated in a similar environment.
Balwinder Samra, president and CEO of Balqon, said: ”Our demonstration of the performance of the Nautilus XE20 in actual warehouse applications at temperatures below 10 degree farhenheit under loads exceeding 25 tons validates our belief that the durability, range and performance of our heavy-duty electric vehicles would not be diminished due to the effects of cold weather.
”We believe that the four weeks of successful testing validates the Nautilus XE20 as a viable alternative to diesel fuel powered vehicles in cold weather conditions. Based upon the fuel cost data we recorded, we also believe that Balqon’s heavy-duty electric vehicles will provide significant fuel cost savings as compared to diesel fuel powered heavy-duty vehicles that must remain idle all day in cold weather conditions to prevent fuel line freeze-up.”
