Ten years ago, Ian Wright helped start Tesla Motors, creating and building, arguably, one of the most famous sports cars in the world, which happened to be very fast — and electric. But the restless Silicon Valley entrepreneur left the limelight surrounding Tesla to electrify large, hulking delivery and garbage trucks. Gearheads mourned that decision but Al Gore applauded.
Only four years old, Wright’s San Jose-based company, Wrightspeed, now builds advanced hybrid powertrains for trucks. Success has come quickly. The startup recently landed a very big client, FedEx, which uses more than 47,000 vehicles to deliver 4 million packages every day — and throws off a carbon footprint to match. FedEx has ordered 25 powertrains for a pilot project. If it goes well, the next order could be huge.
Wright has developed a unique business model: his company doesn't build it's own trucks. Instead, it converts gas-guzzlers by gutting the insides - engine, differential, and transmission - and then replacing them with a battery pack and an electric motor matched to each drive wheel. The batteries can be charged with enough power to go 30 miles, but that would be lousy lousy mileage for a delivery truck on the go all day. So regenerative braking captures extra power, along with a diesel or CNG-powered Capstone turbine. That pretty much ends all range anxiety. So now there's another successful EV manufacturer in California. It's just flying under the radar, and Detroit is playing catchup.