Workhorse Group Inc. announced it has received Letters of Intent from fleets totaling 2,150 of the Workhorse W-15 electric pickup trucks, from such companies as Duke Energy, Portland General Electric, the City of Orlando, Southern California Public Power Authority, Clean Fuels Ohio, and one other utility.

Workhorse intends to build the W-15 in its Union City, Ind., plant. The facility has the capacity to build 60,000 chassis a year. Subject to development, regulatory approval, and financing, once production commences Workhorse expects the W-15 to have a $52,500 MSRP.  

“We believe the W-15 will be the first electric plug-in pickup made in America by an OEM,” said Steve Burns, Workhorse CEO. “Fleets look at total cost of ownership for their vehicles and we are very encouraged by the number of fleets that the positive feedback we have received with respect to the economics in owning W-15s as part of a fleet.”

The W-15 has been designed to reflect features and benefits that we believe fleets want today.  The W-15’s safety features are expected to include an extra large crumple zone, and a lower center of gravity while still providing ground clearance.

A high-tech design, the W-15 is also expected to offer crash mitigation technologies, including automatic braking and lane centering.  Electric power will be supplied using Panasonic 18650 Li-on batteries. The truck’s battery pack is expected to deliver an 80-mile, all-electric range and to achieve 75 MPGe while in all-electric operation. The 80-mile range is designed to cover the majority of the miles driven in a day by fleets. If needed, the onboard gasoline generator will then operate after battery power has been depleted, extending the range. In addition, to reduce weight, the W-15’s body panels are made of a carbon fiber composite which also has the benefit of being rustproof.

The Workhorse W-15 light duty platform design is an extension of the E-Gen electric range extended technology used in Workhorse medium-duty delivery trucks. This existing medium-duty, delivery truck business has demonstrated low Total Cost of Ownership and dramatically reduced emissions.