SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is in the top ten nationally for efficient electric cars, but some of the thirstiest vehicles on the roads are also among the ones that drive the most miles. One Utah business is working to change that.
Fox 13 news anchor Dan Evans saw the state’s first electric semitruck at Utah PaperBox.
CEO, Steve Keyser, ordered the new E-Semi more than two years ago from Volvo.
“That's just kind of how we roll.” He told Dan Evans about his desire to be ahead of the curve. “I think in 2009, when we put the solar on our building. We were like the ninth largest producer of solar in Utah.”
Keyser says it’s important to do his part for clean air with clean energy.
“If the air gets worse, I have to deal with it.” Keyser said. “So I'm trying to be a part of the solution to the problem.”
Utah Paperbox is replacing its current 25-year-old semi. Keyser says this will take 800 gallons of diesel a month off the road.
The new Volvo will drive routes from Salt Lake to Provo and north to Ogden, Utah Paperbox hopes it will have the range to make it to Logan and back without running out of juice.
“It's one step at a time.” Keyser said. “I mean, there's, there's nobody out there that really knows this. I mean, we're the were the first people.”
Keyser is still figuring out how long it will take to get a return on their half of a million-dollar investment. That’s double the cost of new diesel version.
He says saving 2,500 hundred dollars a month in fuel costs they think it’ll pay for itself over ten years.
The semi can charge as fast as 3 hours and Utah Paperbox is using their roof-mounted solar panels to provide that electricity
This electric semi has 4000 ft-lbs of torque,15 times that of a Tesla 3.
With all that power, Keyser expects the semi will pull a full load over Parley’s Summit at 70mph
Utah Paperbox serves most of the U-S, building and printing boxes and paper products for companies like Starbucks, Fat Boy Ice Cream, Caspers and Smith Goggle.
