It seems nearly every day there is a new announcement surrounding the development of zero-emission, electric Class 8 commercial vehicles. While the traditional original equipment manufacturers remain the leaders of the pack, numerous new entrants are eyeing market share with a variety of battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell options.
How it Began
At ISAAC Instruments, we have anticipated the transition to electric trucks for a quarter-century. It was all the way back in 1996 that ISAAC, then known as ISAAC MotorSports, was instrumenting its first fleet of electric trucks. It was during that summer ISAAC joined with a research and development group for a year-long test of six trucks to study how the vehicles would hold up in the extreme Canadian weather conditions.
In the years that followed, ISAAC partnered with the likes of General Motors, Ford Motor and numerous other manufacturers to test the performance of electric vehicles. It also later became a technology partner with the Red Bull Racing Formula One team, developing isolated high voltage and Hall effect current sensors that handled the extended temperature range required by the most demanding operating conditions.
Ready for the ‘Green’ Transformation
These long-ago achievements leave ISAAC uniquely positioned to serve the trucking industry as it undergoes this “green” transformation in the coming years. From a telematics standpoint, electric vehicles should not pose challenges for fleets, even if they do not follow conventional telematics data standards. At ISAAC, we are working directly with equipment manufacturers to develop special capabilities to access critical electric vehicle data, ensuring every vehicle in your fleet will have accurate data support—today and in the future.
Whether your company already has a few electric vehicles on the road, or you are just beginning to study if they are right for your fleet, you can proceed with confidence knowing that with ISAAC, there will never be any data gaps in your reporting or vehicle performance assessment.
It is our promise to you—and one we have been preparing to fulfill for 25 years!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jacques DeLarochelliere
CEO, Chairman and Cofounder of ISAAC Instruments.
Jacques’s entrepreneurial leadership led to his nomination as a finalist in the Ernst & Young and Desjardins entrepreneurship awards. Jacques holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, a flight theory and practice certification from the Kansas University School of Engineering, and specialized training in aircraft certification from Transport Canada.
