Asia Tech Wire (July 2) -- North America's newest zero-emissions commercial truck brand, ZM Trucks, debuted at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in Las Vegas from May 20 to 23.
As a subsidiary of ZO Motors Tokyo, ZM Trucks exhibited five models in the Class 4, 5, 6, and "Baby 8" segments, expected to be available for purchase before the end of 2024. These models are invented to meet local market needs and will be assembled in North America, ensuring compliance with all North American regulations.
ZM Trucks CEO Joost de Vries emphasized that the company was supported by proven and reliable technology, solid funding, and access to supply chain resources and partnerships, setting it apart from typical untested startups.
ZO Motors works well in a global system. "We are launching all over the world, but the timing of the launch depends on home allegation. So when we can legally sell that, so the first market was Asia pacific, Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, then is South America, the Middle East, and the last is USA and Canada. Because the homo negation rules are different. We will be global by the middle of next year," said Joost de Vries.
Currently, ZO Motors is doing supply chain of engineering, a lot of purchasing in China.
"China is 10 years ahead of everywhere else in new energy vehicles market. It's super mature in China," he emphasized.
ZM Trucks and its dealers provide comprehensive support, aiding customers with initial paperwork to access state incentives and ongoing reporting requirements. This support ensures maximum retention of funds during the transition from diesel-powered trucks to zero-emission solutions.
The company provides complete transportation solutions, including service, diagnostics, parts support, and a cloud-based fleet management system focused on reducing cost-per-mile.
ZM Trucks ensures hassle-free battery electric vehicle driving with powerful 20 kW AC charging solutions and standard DC charging options. A standard 220v/100a circuit will enable overnight charging, while clean back-of-cab and chassis rails facilitate efficient upfit solutions. With dual electric Power Takeoffs (ePTOs) available on all cab/chassis platforms, ZM Trucks are ready to tackle diverse work truck challenges.
Joost de Vries indicated, "ZO Motors has its own development route-first battery, then hydrogen next year and after that is going to be hydrogen combustion. So that's the next level of power train technology. Joost de Vries added that the ZO Motors also planned to develop small bus and a city bus for passenger transportation in the future."
On April 29th, ZO Motors released the latest two new hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles-ZM8 FCEV and ZM22 FCEV, which are the second batch of new energy commercial vehicle products officially released by the company recently, indicating that the company's hydrogen energy strategic planning and landing speed up in an all-round way.
At present, the commercial vehicle industry is actively exploring the research and development, application and layout of hydrogen energy products, because compared with pure electric commercial vehicles, it is more suitable for medium-and long-distance transport needs, coupled with the advantages of zero pollution and faster hydrogenation speed. So that the Hydrogen commercial vehicles have better imagination and development potential than pure electric commercial vehicles. At present, many commercial vehicle companies may soon start the layout of hydrogen fuel products.
With the release of two new hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles, it means that the hydrogen energy strategic planning of ZO Motors began to land in an all-round way. Up to now, ZO Motors has formed the complete capability of joint R&D and joint production of pure electric commercial vehicles and hydrogen-fueled commercial vehicles.
According to the latest hydrogen energy strategic plan, ZO Motors will continue to strengthen R & D investment and actively distribute commercial vehicle products of hydrogen internal combustion engines to further enhance the company's overall competitiveness.
ZO Motors, an intelligent new energy commercial vehicle brand originating from Japan, is a subsidiary of ZO Future Group (2309.HK), a company listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It mainly focuses on the research, development, manufacturing, and sales of intelligent zero emission commercial vehicles.
(Reporting by Sally in Beijing)
