Canada’s Edison Motors has revealed that it will start selling electric conversions for classic gas-guzzling pickup trucks in a bid to keep them on the road for as long as possible.
While you may not have heard of Edison Motors before, the company recently developed an electric conversion kit for Class 8 trucks that replaces the original powertrain with a diesel generator, a large battery pack, and an electric motor. It will soon start selling a similar package for a variety of pickup trucks, like a square body Chevy or a classic Ford F-Series.
To install the new powertrain, Edison removes the original axles and swaps in either one or two of its electric axles, depending on what the customer wants. Those fitted with a single e-axle will be good for 350 hp while examples equipped with two electric motors with pump out 500 hp. The original driveline and transmission are replaced and swapped out for a Caterpillar diesel engine that serves as a generator. A lithium-iron-phoshate battery pack either 60 kWh or 90 kWh in capacity is then installed alongside an inverter control unit.
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Edison says that its system runs on a 600-volt electrical architecture and that important control modules will be housed within a large toolkit-inspired storage unit in the bed. It will also offer single-rear-wheel and dually options and describes its retrofit models as “torque monsters” with 8,000 lb-ft (10,846 Nm) of twisting force and capable of hitting around 140 mph (225 km/h).
Interestingly, the Canadian company notes that the electric conversion could theoretically also be done on a new truck but admits that doing so would be more difficult given the additional software and technologies found in newer models. Certified Edison dealers will be able to install and service the kits.
The kit won’t be cheap. While prices will vary depending on the truck and what parts the owner wants, Edison estimates it will cost about half or one-third the price of buying a new pickup.