Specialty vehicle manufacturer The Shyft Group has debuted its latest all-electric commercial vehicle designed for its Blue Arc sub-brand. The Class 5 all-electric crew cab was unveiled during NTEA’s Work Truck Week in Indianapolis this morning and will come equipped with some unique features you’ll want to see, including its dump-capable body. Video below.
The Shyft Group, Inc. ($SHYF) is a North American vehicle manufacturer with a specific focus on assembly of commercial, retail, and specialty service vehicles. The company itself is divided into two core entities: Shyft Fleet Vehicles & Services and Shyft Specialty Vehicles. The company currently employs around 4,200 people across 10 US states and Mexico.
While Shyft has several sub-brands operating under its umbrella, we have been focusing on its commercial EV marque Blue Arc for quite some time now. The company introduced its purpose-built, modular chassis platform in the summer of 2021, which the EVs seen today were built upon.
A year ago, Shyft Group signed a multi-year contract with Proterra to help power Blue Arc’s Class 3 electric delivery vans, which garnered a pre-order of 2,000 units in the United States not long thereafter. That electric van recently received its EPA certified range of 200 miles with the help of its 165 kWh battery pack.
While Shyft Group invests $16 million into its Charlotte, Michigan, campus to begin assembly of those vans later this year, it showed out at Work Truck Week with a Class 5 crew cab that will soon follow.
Blue Arc debuts Class 5 truck with optional solar roof
The Shyft Group officially unveiled the Blue Arc Class 5 crew cab in front of a crowd in Indianapolis this morning, hailing it as a “game changing” EV in the commercial industry. The spacious cab (seen above) sits atop Blue Arc’s proprietary, modular Class 5 EV chassis, designed specifically for the workloads that come with duties in construction, snow removal, landscaping, and other trades.
Although its aluminum body design is modular, the electric truck equipped with a dump body designed by fellow Shyft Group sub-brand DuraMag is on display at Work Truck Week. Even with a payload capacity ranging from 6,000-10,000 pounds, Blue Arc’s crew cab has still been optimized to provide comfort to crews working from inside. Shyft Group president and CEO Daryl Adams elaborated:
It’s about flexibility, innovation and creating unique solutions for our customers. The new Blue Arc Class 5 All Electric Crew Cab is truly in a class of its own. Never before have you seen a cab like this on a work truck, and customers are asking for it.
Not only is the Crew Cab EV designed explicitly for crew comfort, safety and productivity, but this unique and highly flexible cab chassis allows for a variety of bodies for stake trucks, box trucks, dump trucks and more. The applications are endless from landscaping to moving vans to power companies and others. This innovative truck brings new markets to Shyft and helps accelerate the transformation to EVs across our country.
The Class 5 crew cab is powered by lithium-ion liquid-cooled battery packs ranging from 158 kWh to 316 kWh that deliver up to 200 miles of range. That range ability can also be further boosted using an optional 450Wh solar roof package. The Blue Arc work truck can fully recharge in two to six hours depending on whether it’s plugged into a Level 2 or DC fast charger.
Looking ahead, Shyft Group intends to use the modular Class 5 Blue Arc chassis to electrify buses, shuttles, and motorcoaches, expanding its capabilities well beyond the commercial vehicle segment. The EV will be on display at the Blue Arc booth at Work Truck Week where the company will also be offering ride and drives with the aforementioned Class 3 electric van. Check out the full launch video of the Blue Arc Class 5 EV below.