Now more than ever, transportation and technology are merging. So, perhaps it's only fitting Workhorse Group chose the largest electronics show in North America to announce open pre-orders for their W-15 electric pickup truck, and unveil their electric delivery van to the public.
The Workhorse N-Gen is an electric van, designed for "last-mile" warehouse-to-home delivery services, with a 100 mile range and optional gas-powered range extender. It is set to go into production early this year.
Ryder, the exclusive maintenance provider and a sales channel for Workhorse, will see the first 50 units in production.
"We're going to take delivery of the first 50 of those [N-Gen] units in the first half of this year, operating in a last mile delivery capacity," said Chris Nordh, Ryder's senior director of advanced vehicle technology.
New technology meets maintenance
When it comes to adopting new fleet technologies, it's not just about a good product, but the uptime support that should come with it, Nordh, who was representing Ryder at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Workhorse booth in Las Vegas, explains, saying Ryder is an "integral part" of Workhorse going to market.
"When you look at these new technology companies they are absolutely great at coming out with excellent products and manufacturing," Nordh says. "But when it comes to service and support, it's very difficult to put together a multi-billion dollar network of shops and technicians with the experience that we have. So what we're acting as is truly a spring board for these new technology companies that are rising in the marketplace with technologies and platforms that the market hasn't seen. We're able to have them scale, very quickly, because of our sales network, our maintenance facilities and our skilled technicians."
Workhorse and Ryder came together to form a preventive maintenance program specifically for the new electric offerings.
"In order for them to truly support the vehicle, and feel confident that the warranty is going to be supporting of that vehicle, they need to know that it's being taken care of by a program that they were part of designing," Nordh says of Workhorse.
Customers who want to buy Workhorse vehicles, and then maintain them themselves, would have to wait until after the warranty expires, Nordh explains.
N-Gen production will be begin in 2018's first quarter.
