Commercial vehicle equipment provider Knapheide Manufacturing will become a ship-through installer of XL Hybrids’ XLP plug-in hybrid upfits on Ford F-150 half-ton pickup trucks. Knapheide will begin XLP upfits at its Kansas City, Missouri facility starting in the fourth quarter of this year.

XL Hybrids’ XLP system is compatible with a range of wheelbases, cab and bed configurations, and can be installed in just hours as a ship-through upfit. It leaves the original OEM engine, transmission, fuel system and exhaust system completely intact. Fleets maintain the OEM warranty, and get a 3-year, 75,000 mile warranty from XL Hybrids on the XLP powertrain.

Both XL Hybrids and Knapheide recently earned Ford’s new eQVM supplier status, a vehicle electrification version of the company’s Qualified Vehicle Modifier program, allowing them to perform upfits and leave the original vehicle warranty intact.

“Knapheide has performed XL Hybrids system installations on a range of Class 2 vans and Class 3 and 4 cutaways for major national and municipal fleet customers,” said Senior VP Bo Knapheide. “We expect the pace of growth to increase as more and more utility and municipal fleets seek electrification options.”

“Our cloud-based data analytics system, XL Link, provides fleets with an unparalleled ability to measure key performance indicators and receive an analytics summary of millions of vehicle operational data points,” said Clay Siegert, XL Hybrids co-founder and COO.

Source: XL Hybrids