brucedp5 <brucedp5@...> writes: > > > The beauty of the system is its cost savings > > http://fleetowner.com/blog/electric-truck-how-one-firm-giving-fleets-choice > [image] The electric truck: How one firm is giving fleets a choice > by Brian Straight Jan 10 2013 > > [image > http://fleetowner.com/site- files/fleetowner.com/files/uploads/2013/01/Motiv%20power%20refuse.jpg > Class 8 refuse trucks > ] > > A San Francisco start-up company is looking to fill in a “gap” that its CEO > says exist in the commercial electric vehicle market. According to Jim > Castelez, CEO of Motiv Power Systems, a company that launched in 2009, there > are limited choices in the industry when it comes to electric vehicle > options for fleets. > > “We want to fill this gap that is missing within the industry,” he says. > “Fleets are used to being able to customize their vehicles…and I think the > electric chassis out there are limited.” > > Unlike electric vehicle powertrain manufacturers such as Azure Dynamics, > which was liquidated in November of last year, or truck manufacturer Smith > Electric Vehicles, Motiv takes a different approach to solving the > electrification equation. Motiv doesn’t bother with making the components > necessary to power a vehicle, and because of that, Castelez says, its > system, the ePCS, is compatible with nearly any type of chassis. > > And there is interest out there in the product, as evidenced by a $13.4 > million contract the city of Chicago recently awarded the company to supply > all-electric Class 8 refuse trucks. > > “What we offer is really a suite of controllers; it’s the glue,” he says. > “We’re trying to give fleets like Chicago the option to (get the trucks they > want).” > > The Motiv system operates like a quarterback of a football team. While it > takes lineman, receivers and running backs working together for a team to > score, without a quarterback, nothing good will happen. The Motiv system is > really a software and hardware solution that brings together different > components of an electric-drive system and coordinates the operation of the > system into a highly efficient power source. > > According to Castelez, the beauty of the system is its cost savings. > Off-the-shelf batteries can be used and bundled together (even from > different manufacturers) to provide the power needed. This approach, he > says, is more cost efficient than building a bigger battery system and > allows vehicles such as Class 8 refuse trucks to generate as much power as > needed. > ...
Contrast the media push with the following text taken from the culture/job posting page from the startup's website: http://www.motivps.com/jobs.php CAREER OPPORTUNITIES More than any other single factor, Motiv exists because our team loves working together. A job with Motiv isn't for everyone. You've got to be an entrepreneurial risk- taker; someone whose ideals are lofty enough to dream big, but who is grounded enough to implement. We're looking for creators and facilitators, leaders and entrepreneurs. Most importantly, you must be passionate about our vision and willing to play an active role in shaping it. No 9-5 jobs available here - we're task-driven, not hours-driven. Additionally, everyone wears many hats and we will provide you a dizzying array of opportunities to advance your career in directions you might only have briefly considered. And finally, to work at Motiv, you've got to be pretty brilliant. We've built our team following these principles and if you meet us, you'll be able to tell. No recruiters, please. Embedded Software Engineer We are looking for an entrepreneurial entry-level software engineer with a passion for embedded systems work. As a member of Motiv’s core engineering team, you would be responsible for the design, implementation, and testing of our core powertrain software. When new boards are released, you’d take on the task of board bring up, aided by a schematic, oscilloscope, serial port, and debugger. You’d be involved in development of code implementing anything from device drivers to application-level state machines and data management, on a queued event driven execution environment residing directly upon the silicon (i.e. no RTOS) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
