MONTREAL. Michelin said it plans to begin testing Einride’s T-pod at its facility in Clermont-Ferrand, France by 2020.
Beginning in two phases, the T-pod, an electric truck with zero space for a driver, will first be tested in a confined, fenced area at the facility, then reaching on-road testing for shorter, pre-determined segments. This has expanded from its warehouse-to-warehouse delivery operations for a major grocery store chain in Sweden last year.
Niklas Reinedhal, chief operations officer at Einride, took time to discuss the physical abilities of the T-pod during the 2019 Movin’On Summit.
“The truck can travel 200 km on a full charge, and it is designed to carry as many as 18 pallets and 16 metric tonnes of freight,” he said. “While it can travel at speeds of up to 80 km/h, it’s currently constrained to 15 km/h during live tests in Sweden.”
Reinedhal added that while most movements are controlled through truck-based systems, some moves are steered using remote controls stations as far as 120 km away.
