Talk to Don Wires, director of engineering for the Workhorse Group, and he makes the W-15—his company’s new half-ton, battery-electric pickup—sound like an exotic sports car with a really big trunk.

“The lightweight carbon-fiber construction and instantaneous torque from the two electric motors gives this truck the same kind of acceleration I get from my freaking Corvette Grand Sport,” he explains. “It also looks so different from every other pickup on the road that it attracts attention everywhere I go.”

但是，热杆性能和转向头的外观都足以使电动W-15型号对商业买家欣赏。对建筑承包商的真正呼吁肯定不那么性感，但更重要的是：其实用性和低成本。

To understand those claims, you have to start with the W-15’s unique powertrain that combines a Panasonic lithium-ion battery pack between the frame rails with front and rear electric motors to give the Honda Ridgeline-sized truck a robust 460-horsepower output and what should be a very livable all-electric range of 80 miles. Run the battery down, and a small three-cylinder gasoline engine comes online solely to power an onboard generator that recharges the battery, extending the truck’s total range to just a hair over 300 miles on a full tank of fuel.

Recharging the battery pack from a 240V Level 2 charger takes about eight hours. Wires says they designed the performance of the heated and air-conditioned battery pack very conservatively. He expects it to have a 20-year lifespan.

独特的动力总成设计还为承包商提供了最适合特定应用程序的驱动模式的能力。Wires说：“它是由软件驱动的事实，使用户可以从中央触摸屏中选择前轮驱动，后轮驱动或全轮驱动。”

To save weight, the prototype’s body panels are all carbon-fiber. Wires says production models will likely use other composite materials for their combination of light weight and toughness.

卡车充满了额外的触摸，包括在后车顶线上内置的明亮的LED工作灯和危险闪光灯。But the W-15’s most in-demand feature may be the side-mounted panel hiding both 110V and 220V power outlets that will run power tools at a jobsite (if that use depletes the battery, the on-board generator kicks on to recharge it).

The five-passenger interior has a flat floor with legroom for three adults in back. Rear seats fold down to provide protected cargo space. Out back, the six-foot bed is wider, if not longer, than those of many traditional competitors. Capacitywise, the W-15 can handle a payload of up to 2,200 lb, considerably more than most half-ton pickups. Towing capacity is adequate at 5,000 lb, but most half-tons can pull bigger loads.

While all these innovations might turn heads, the most impressive thing about the whole project may be how fast it came together, Wires says. “From the time we started having conversations about what the W-15 might look like, to the point where we actually had something that was drivable, was about six months.”

生产计划于2018年第四季度开始，卡车通过全国Ryder Operations分发和维修。借助俄亥俄州Loveland的5,000个预订，俄亥俄州的公司已经在手头上，您可能会在您附近的工作场所看到这些异国风情的跑车之一，比您想象的要早。