A domestic electric truck will appear in Ukraine: what it will look like and how much it will cost Ukrainians

Murmuration Technology, a Kryvyi Rih-based company known for developing the Murmuresla electric bus, has embarked on a new project - the Ukrainian electric commercial vehicle CoolOn. The work has been partially suspended during the quarantine, but if the measures are eased, the first production truck will be available for purchase at the end of the year or even in autumn 2020. The head of the company spoke about the status of the project Vitaly Bryzgalov on its Facebook page.

The history of Murmuration Technology began in 2014, a difficult and crisis year for our country. A group of enthusiastic engineers from Kryvyi Rih volunteered to repair electronics for the army and develop drones. They didn't stop there, new ideas, resources and proposals emerged. The first serious commercial project was launched in 2018 - an electric minibus called Murmuresla, which was converted from a decommissioned Gazelle. You can read more about this project in Interview with Vitaliy Bryzgalov for the Visti Prydniprovia publication.

Parameters.

The electric truck looks like a UAZ-452 or a well-known Soviet "loaf", but in a modern design. It is designed specifically for urban needs and has a universal chassis that is suitable for the construction of commercial vehicles for various purposes: mail and food delivery, utility repairs, etc. The cargo compartment can be open, closed or equipped with special devices (for example, street cleaning equipment, a tower, a manipulator).

Vitaly Bryzgalov shared the parameters and characteristics of the future electric truck:

• load capacity - 2.5 tonnes;
• length - 5 m;
• width - 1.7 m;
• height - 2.1 m;
• Cargo space is 9-12 m3;
• The dimensions of the loading platform are 1.7 x 3.1 m and 0.68-0.7 m high;
• depending on the configuration, the drive power is 30-80 kW at a maximum speed of 90 km/h.

The engineers plan to increase the carrying capacity of the existing design to 5.5 tonnes and produce full-fledged electric buses for passenger transport.

The distinctive feature of this vehicle is that everything is done independently: the company created its own battery, electric motor, developed the design and construction of the body and cab. The components are made in-house or purchased from Ukrainian manufacturers.

Thanks to its modular design, customers can order all the main components and assemblies separately, based on individual requirements for freight transport.

Battery and range

The CoolOn electric commercial vehicle will be equipped with a safe 40 kWh LiFePO4 lithium battery pack made from off-the-shelf Chinese 21650 cells. Its full charge will last for 200 km. The battery is a proprietary development of the company. It has a form factor similar to that of Tesla's batteries, a heating and cooling system, and a modular design that allows you to add or remove batteries of different capacities.

The electric truck is charged via a 6.6 kW basic charger. To speed up the charging process, a 22 kW three-phase charger and a fast charging port can be installed.

Feature - engine of own design

The CoolOn electric trucks will be equipped with a new type of electric drive based on modernised valve jet engine. This is a proprietary development of Kryvyi Rih engineers that has characteristics similar to those of Tesla, Nissan Leaf and Toyota Prius, but is fundamentally different from them. This electric motor has no magnets, no independent winding (instead, inexpensive three-phase units are installed), and a completely passive rotor that does not require complex cooling and does not cause parasitic magnetisation of steel.

Among the advantages of the electric motor, the developers especially highlight the dynamic controlled recovery mode (allows you to return up to 80% of the energy spent on acceleration) and electric dynamic brakes, which help to significantly reduce the load on mechanical brakes and increase their service life. This power plant has a fully idling range, allowing the truck to move freely in a rolling pattern or when towing.

As Vitaliy Bryzgalov noted: This motor can be called the most reliable of all known ones. And also quite cheap, due to the absence of rare earth metals, magnets and a 1.5-fold reduction in the amount of copper compared to conventional engines.

All components, including current sensors and resolvers, are manufactured on the company's own equipment and in the production laboratory.

How much will it cost and when will it go on sale

Planned The price of a production model of the CoolOn electric truck is €15,000-16,000. According to the developers, this amount is quite adequate and will pay for itself in 2 years of operation due to fuel savings.

The first working prototype of the electric truck should will be available this autumn, and serial samples - at the end of 2020. So far, the pilot production is based in Kryvyi Rih, but the company is already looking for a production site with all the necessary facilities to organise mass production.

Due to the pandemic and quarantine, we had to slow down the development work, but some work is still underway. Chief Engineer Vitaliy Bryzgalov keeps the public informed about the developments on his Facebook profile, as well as on the official Murmuration Technology page, where everyone can find out about the progress, What stage the project is currently at. The developers have already received a lot of positive feedback, offers of cooperation, and an active reaction from the media.

We will also keep you updated on all changes and progress of the project.