SAN PEDRO, California—Electric commercial vehicle maker Xos unveiled new heavy-duty and medium-duty vehicles during a product reveal party at the Port of Los Angeles. The company also is launching a fleet intelligence platform to help fleets minimize the total cost of ownership with EVs. Three FleetOwner 500 fleets are among the first to access the new Xos products.
Earlier during the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Long Beach, the BEV OEM and Allison Transmissions announced a strategic partnership to jointly develop heavy-duty Class 7 and 8 vehicles. Allison’s eGen Power e-Axle is being integrated into heavy-duty vehicles designed and built by Xos. The vehicle propulsion company’s eGen Power 100S and 100D units will be delivered for Xos new vehicles throughout the year.
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Giordano Sordoni, COO and co-founder of Xos, told FleetOwner that his company has an advantage over other OEMs that are turning legacy brands into EVs. “Fleets like that we are a 100% EV-focused company,” he said before the launch. “We’ve done a lot of the hard work and investing over the last six years in the technology that comes along with EVs. We design our own batteries from the cell level up, write all of our control software, and focus on things that really matter to fleet operators, like over their update capability.”
Beverage distributor orders first Xos MDXT
The Xos MDXT, a Class 6 or 7 medium-duty electric vehicle, has up to a 270-mile range on a single charge. It offers 16,000 lb.-ft. max torque and a gross vehicle weight range of 23,000 to 33,000 lb. The MDXT is available in a variety of body configurations, including a box truck, refrigerated unit, and flatbed.
Republic National Distributing Co., a large wholesale beverage distributor has already ordered an initial five MDXT vehicles. These will be the first battery-electric fleet vehicles in their fleet, which ranks No. 186 on the 2022 FleetOwner 500: Private Fleets.
“As an organization, we are dedicated to reducing our environmental impact throughout our distribution network, and Xos’ MDXT is an excellent zero-emissions vehicle for us because it allows us to efficiently serve the needs of our suppliers, customers, and community,” said Steve Feldman, EVP of operations at Republic National.
Into the Xosphere
Xos also has new fleet intelligence software, Xosphere, built on top of its proprietary connected vehicle technology. Sordoni said the new system will help fleets minimize TCO.
It gives fleet managers real-time performance monitoring and alerts along with over-the-air updates that Xos said can improve a fleet’s efficiency. Fleets will also get to measure and minimize their fleet’s total energy cost. Xosphere puts fleets one click away from service and support, the company said.
Existing Xos customer UniFirst, a North American supplier and servicer of uniform and workwear programs, is already using the Xosphere software to track the health of its fleet in real-time. UniFirst is No. 77 on the 2022 FleetOwner 500: Private Fleets.
“The cutting-edge fleet management platform that Xos has introduced to the market will not only help us monitor the health of our fleet in real-time, but this solution will also allow us to track our service history and alert us when preventative maintenance is suggested, which will optimize our energy usage,” said Michael Croatti, EVP of operations for UniFirst.
