A Canadian brewery has electrified a 1958 Chevrolet Apache pickup for hauling kegs and cases without tailpipe emissions.
When Toronto company Steam Whistle expanded into British Columbia, they kept up the tradition of using vintage cars and trucks in their delivery fleet. We all know the greenest car is the one that’s already been built, but Steam Whistle’s local fleet manager wasn’t thrilled with the emissions controls on 50-year-old engines. So he assembled a team of EV conversion experts and got to work. Soon, the Retro Electro hot-rod EV pickup was born.
Steam Whistle communications director Sybil Taylor likens the truck to the company’s signature brew: a centuries-old Czech pilsner recipe recreated with the latest in modern technology. “Retro Electro is the same in that it takes the stylings and the body of the vintage truck, but with the electric motor it has a modern conscience,” she said. “And, it saves the truck from the metal scrap heap.”
For the conversion, the team installed an Azure Dynamics motor and 24 lithium-iron phosphate batteries – six under the bonnet with the motor and the other 18 in the truck bed. While the conversion weighs a whopping 2 268 kilograms, the truck has a range of just under 160 km and fully recharges in eight hours at 220V, about the same specs as a modern Nissan Leaf.
The truck is used for deliveries on a 30 km route around Vancouver and can hold two kegs and 10 cases of beer. Steam Whistle expects the truck to have a 9-year lifespan, which would save the company US$45 000 in petrol costs at current prices.
According to Taylor, the Retro Electro plugs in to a green grid, as power for Steam Whistle’s offices come from wind farms in western Canada. ““We think it is the world’s first wind-powered hot rod,” she said.
