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VIA Motors is an American
VIA offers fully electric commercial vehicles in classes 3-5. Their skateboard-based vehicles will have multiple body styles available (cab chassis, flatbed, cargo van, step van, etc.) and are set to arrive in 2023. All of their vehicles are customized to what the route requires, using optimized engineering. VIA also offers
electric vehicle
An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes ch ...
development and manufacturing company founded in 2010. VIA Motors started out converting GM vehicles into plug-in hybrids
A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a hybrid electric vehicle whose battery pack can be recharged by plugging a charging cable into an external electric power source, in addition to internally by its on-board internal combustion engine ...
(PHEV
A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a hybrid electric vehicle whose battery pack can be recharged by plugging a charging cable into an external electric power source, in addition to internally by its on-board internal combustion engi ...
), but now produces fully electric commercial vehicles for fleet managers. VIA is developing its own skateboard platform for Class 3-5 commercial vehicles, that will be available in 2023. VIA sells directly to fleets and is taking orders now.
In August 2021, Ideanomics
Ideanomics, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDEX) is a global electric vehicle company that is focused on driving the adoption of electric commercial vehicles and associated sustainable energy consumption. It is made up of 5 subsidiaries including: VIA Motors, So ...
announced their intent to acquire VIA Motors for USD 630 million.
History
VIA Motors was spun off in November 2010 from Raser Technologies, the engineering company that, in 2009, showed aHummer H3
The Hummer H3 is an off-road vehicle that was produced from 2005 to 2010 by General Motors. The smallest model of the Hummer lineup, it was offered as a 5-door SUV or a 4-door pickup truck known as the H3T. Unlike the larger H1 and H2 models, t ...
said to be capable of returning 100 miles per gallon when fitted with Raser’s range-extender plug-in powertrain. Bob Lutz, former vice-chairman of GM credited as "Father of the Chevy Volt", featuring an extended-range electric powertrain called Voltec
Voltec, formerly known as E-Flex, is a General Motors powertrain released in November 2010. The Voltec architecture is primarily a plug-in capable, battery-dominant electric vehicle with additional fossil fuel powered series and parallel hybrid c ...
, joined as Chairman in 2011.
2010 – VIA Motors is formed from a private group of investors. Executives and engineers from General Motors and Raser Technologies join VIA Motors.
2011 – VIA raises $5.3 million from private investors including Carl Berg. Alpha and beta vehicles are delivered to PG&E
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, in San Francisco, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 millio ...
. Bob Lutz joins VIA Motors as chairman.
2012 – VIA unveils a lineup of EREV versions of trucks, vans and SUVs at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. VIA signs key suppliers, including Remy Motors and A123 Batteries. Fleet customers including Rocky Mountain Power and Verizon Wireless join vehicle testing program.
2019 – Robert (Bob) Purcell is appointed CEO of VIA Motors.
Electric Vehicles
VIA offers fully electric commercial vehicles in classes 3-5. Their skateboard-based vehicles will have multiple body styles available (cab chassis, flatbed, cargo van, step van, etc.) and are set to arrive in 2023. All of their vehicles are customized to what the route requires, using optimized engineering. VIA also offers refrigeration
The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...
on their vehicles and integration with third-party autonomous driving
A self-driving car, also known as an autonomous car, driver-less car, or robotic car (robo-car), is a car that is capable of traveling without human input.Xie, S.; Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Ding, Z.; Arvin, F.,Distributed Motion Planning for Sa ...
services.
Optimized Engineering
VIA claims to offer more affordable vehicles through what they call Optimized Engineering. They sit down with each customer and analyze the exact vehicle requirements the customer needs (route, climate, elevation gains, speed, average payload, etc.). VIA then works with the customer to create a fleet that matches those requirements. VIA's virtual testing environments allow them to do a majority of this testing virtually and cut down onresearch and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
costs. This allows them to sell their vehicles at a reduced cost.
See also
* Bob LutzReferences
External links
* {{Trucking industry in the United States Electric vehicle manufacturers of the United States Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 2010 Companies based in Orem, Utah Manufacturing companies based in Utah American companies established in 2010 2010 establishments in Utah Privately held companies based in Utah