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Vicinity Motor receives US$19M order for Optimal Electric Class 4 commercial chassis

Published: 08:29 05 Jan 2022 EST

Vicinity Motor receives US$19M order for Optimal Electric Class 4 commercial chassis
Vicinity said it is seeing strong interest for the VMC Optimal EV vehicles as fleets seek to electrify and mitigate exposure to energy and carbon costs

Vicinity Motor Corp. (TSX-V:VMC) said it has received an order from Olathe Fleet Solutions, a commercial truck dealership and fleet management company in Kansas, for over 150 VMC Optimal E1 electric chassis worth more than US$19 million.

Vancouver-based Vicinity noted that Olathe, based in Olathe, Kansas is one of the nation's largest dealers in the commercial fleet industry - up-fitting and delivering over 20,000 trucks nationwide yearly. 

“This order is the culmination of effort and development which began many months ago with the Olathe team and key end-user involvement,” Vicinity founder and CEO William Trainer said in a statement. 

“As an authorized Ford ship-thru up-fitter, Olathe will be able to offer best-in-class EV solutions for customers across the Class 4 commercial vehicle spectrum.

READ: Vicinity Motor receives $19M order from Olathe Fleet Solutions for optimal electric chassis

Vicinity said it is seeing strong interest for the VMC Optimal EV vehicles as fleets seek to electrify and mitigate exposure to energy and carbon costs. 

“We believe the market conditions are ideal for incredible vehicles such as ours - providing extensive range, highway speeds and significant gradeability at maximum load,” Trainer added. 

“Our VMC Optimal E1 also utilizes high-performance battery systems from Proterra, which have industry-leading energy density, a flexible design to fit within a wide variety of vehicles, and rigorous pack level validation designed for safe and durable vehicle operation. Taken as a whole, we believe our vehicles are truly best-in-class.”

The chassis will be produced at the new VMC Optimal manufacturing plant in Elkhart, Indiana and offer up to 125-mile range with the battery pack completely protected inside the chassis rails.

The VMC Optimal E1 orders are scheduled for delivery throughout 2022 for operation in school, commercial, shuttle, ambulance, last-mile and other key market segments.

"After careful evaluation of market options, Olathe decided to partner with VMC Optimal to offer solutions that will deliver safe and reliable results for our fleets,” Marc McEver of Olathe added.  

“Olathe has worked carefully over the decades to build confidence with our clients, it's critical that we partnered with the best solution provider.”

Vicinity Motor’s flagship line of Vicinity buses, which maintains a market segment leadership position in Canada, are produced by the firm’s world-class manufacturing partners and will be assembled at its soon-to-be-completed Buy America Act compliant facility in the State of Washington.

Vicinity's innovative Vicinity Lightning EV bus enabled through a strategic supply agreement with BMW for batteries and components, seeks to lead the global transition to more sustainable transit vehicles.

Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com

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