Soon after the September announcement that our new flagship electric truck went into production in September, we put one in the hands of a California-based fleet operator who promptly put it to work.

Loaded with 2,500 pounds, the Workhorse W56 Class 5/6 step van made 52 stops along its eight-hour, 76-mile route, gaining 2,400 pounds of payload along the way. The W56 regenerative braking system recaptured 35 kilowatt-hours of energy and sent it back into the battery – that’s nearly 17 percent of the truck’s 210 kWh battery’s usable energy capacity. That helped enable the truck to return home at the end of the shift with a bountiful 64 percent state-of-charge – meaning that if it needed to, it could go out the next day and complete the same route without having to charge the previous night.

As the pilot continues, the fleet operator will increase both payload and distance. Our own tests have shown the W56 has a lot more to give, traveling beyond its advertised full-payload range of 150 miles…and that’s with a full payload. However, 150 remains an everyday range that fleet operators can plan their routes around for the life of the vehicle – not just an edge case that doesn’t reflect real life situations. 

W56: Electrify what you can

Statistics show that upwards of 70 percent of Class 4-6 routes are under 100 miles per day. In a single-shift, return-to-base duty cycle like the one above, affordable Level 2 charging can bring the W56 to a full charge by the next morning.

Will the W56 work for every application or duty cycle? No, but 70 percent covers a lot of duty cycles. Worldwide, there are an estimated 36 million medium-duty trucks that contribute about 587 metric tons of CO2 to the atmosphere. By comparison, that is nearly the same amount as the 596 metric tons that 144 million light commercial duty trucks are responsible for. This means every MD truck that is electrified is the equivalent of taking four smaller ICE CVs off the road. 

So, while not every route may be electrifiable, we applaud those fleet operators who are out in front, looking to electrify what they can. Continue reading about the W56 in this post, The Design Behind the No-compromise W56.

The commercial electric vehicle industry is evolving, and Workhorse is leading the way. Join us in this electrifying journey towards a cleaner, more efficient future. For more information about how Workhorse can transform your last-mile delivery operations, visit our website or contact us.