According to foreign media reports, the CEO of Silicon Valley start-up solo advanced vehicle technologies (solo AVT) revealed that the company has reached a cooperation with American battery solutions (ABS) in Michigan, which will deliver battery packs for its new driverless electric heavy truck.
American electric vehicle manufacturer solo AVT will purchase batteries from ABS
Photo source: Solo AVT
"We focus on decarbonization efforts in the logistics industry," Graham doorley, CEO and founder of solo AVT, said in an interview He added that the company was raising funds to produce its class 8 truck sd1 for the U.S. market.
Doorley, who graduated from Stanford University, worked in Tesla, Google x Department of alphabet and later waymo, as well as Lockheed Martin, an American aerospace company. The company he founded will compete with former employer Tesla and Swedish start-up einride. The former Tesla semi semitrailer has attracted much attention but has not yet started production, while the latter is committed to the development of self driving electric heavy transport vehicles.
Doorley revealed that the goal of solo AVT, which has been established for only one year, is to test the prototype of sd1 in 2024, but he did not provide a date for mass production. He said that the company's prototype car may be produced by a contract manufacturer, but in the end "we hope to produce the vehicle in our own factory".
During waymo's work, doorley came up with the idea of developing sd1 when adapting the auto drive system for heavy trucks provided by paccar and Daimler.
Solo AVT did not refit the existing diesel powered truck into an electric model, but designed sd1 from scratch. The company previously said that the sd1 will have a range of 500 miles (about 800 kilometers) and will support fast charging with a power of up to 600 kW.
The company has raised $7 million in seed round financing from trucks venture capital, maniv mobility, wireframe ventures and schox patient group. Doorley revealed that he plans to launch round a financing this summer. Solo AVT is negotiating with potential commercial customers of sd1, but doorley did not provide specific details.
