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If you’ve been watching developments at Workhorse, you may have noticed they have developed all the parts for an awesome class B platform. Workhorse has developed (but not yet mass produced) two vehicles based on the same platform which features a 60kwh battery pack, a range extending gasoline generator—either 2 or 3 cylinder BMW engines, and electric motors powering all four wheels with the equivalent of 442 horsepower available. The lithium batteries are mounted between carbon fiber frame rails midships. This constitutes a “series” type hybrid like a Chevy Volt as opposed to a “parallel “ hybrid such as a Toyota Prius. The gas engine only generates and has no mechanical connection to the wheels.
The W-15 pickup is already available for preorder ($1000 on a $52,500 retail) for 2019 delivery, and is designed to fill the mission served by the F-150—almost. It’s tow rating is a rather low 5000lbs, probably because even though it uses the larger 3 cyl. generator and has 442hp, anymore might require more juice than the estimated 140hp gas engine could provide even during steady state cruising. That would cause the battery to deplete and the vehicle would need to slow or stop to rebuild a charge. Standard equipment on this truck is 30amp AC power from the battery pack—plenty for RV needs.
The N-Gen van is now being tested as an electric delivery truck. It’s claimed to have 500 cu.ft. of cargo space, making it slightly larger than a Hymer Axion if my math is right. The photos make it look smaller than that, and I suspect they are including the space normally reserved for the front passenger. Note that the front doors are not hinged, they slide. It has a claimed 26ft. turning radius (!) and a 19” high load floor. Since it is intended for low mileage frequent stop delivery duty, it offers only (as an option) the smaller range extender which is all you need with frequent stops to allow plenty of recharging. Currently it specs at a 7500lb gross weight with a 2000lb payload, which is kinda light for a fully equipped RV although probably doable. Coming is a larger 1000cu.ft. capacity van with a 10,000 lb. gross weight, but few details on that are available.
If the larger range extender and 30 amp service from the pickup could be put in the van, and the weight capacity increased slightly, the N-Gen could offer a 30% fuel mileage boost over any current RV with possibly 40kwh available for coach use. Seems like all the parts are present do this in the near term. Though no N-Gen consumer price has been announced, it probably would be around the price of the pickup or less.
Why not?
Workhorse hybrid RV? Why not?
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