Penske and Roush team up on electric truck deal

Roger Penske and Jack Roush — are teaming up to put electric Ford F-650 delivery vans on the road in California. The first test vehicle was just delivered – the Roush F-650 EV (shown above) just arrived at Penske Truck Leasing’s offices in California.

Penske Roush are responsible for a pair of UPS/Amazon-style vans that will spend the next few months demonstrating EV technology to businesses in California.

“Customers are waiting. They’re gonna be ecstatic,” said Paul Rosa, senior vice president of Penske Truck Leasing.

“The hard part will be getting them out of the truck when their test is done.” A variety of customers will get the trucks for long enough to evaluate varying payloads, duty cycles, routes and topographies.

Penske Truck Leasing has been testing EV commercial trucks for more than a year. Sizes range from class 4-like utility bucket trucks to class 8, highway semi-cabs. The F-650 is more or less in the middle of that range, a size that makes it suitable for a wide range of operators and tasks.