On a recent rainy weekday, a few pedestrians glanced at a nondescript Ford F-150 as it spun its tires through an intersection in Richmond.
Inside the cab, this reporter dropped his foot on what was once a gas pedal—but instead of provoking the roar of an internal combustion engine, the converted electric truck whirred to life.
“Oh, Jesus,” said Cian Carroll from the passenger seat. “The output is massive.”
Under a factory exterior, the truck’s chassis has been fitted with one of 50 custom electric conversion kits developed by the B.C. company BlueForce Energy. Last Monday, the company revealed a full line-up of F-Series electric conversion kits, ranging from light-duty F-150s to heavy-duty F-750s.
Its 30,000-square-foot shop and warehouse is no glass-walled show room. But step through the front door and you will come face-to-face with signs of the private company’s lofty ambitions—a baby blue Hummer to your left, an electric ambulance to your right.
A stripped-down truck chassis shows the inner workings of the proprietary motors and lithium-iron-phosphate electric batteries designed to be safer and longer lasting than their lithium-ion predecessors.
“It’s more just to prove that we can do it,” said Carroll, the company’s organization and productivity project manager.
Transportation currently produces about a quarter of all of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. More than a third of that comes from commercial vehicles, like delivery vans, big rigs and garbage trucks.
While global companies such as Tesla, Hyundai and Volkswagen compete for a growing share of the new car market, BlueForce is looking to take a bite out of the emissions of vehicle fleets already on the road.
Joanna Kyriazis, an expert on transportation with Clean Energy Canada, said the B.C. company is one of only a handful around the world who are converting gas-powered vehicles into electric.
“This presents the ideal solution,” she said. “You’re avoiding taking new minerals out of the ground. But you’re still getting as many kilometres electrified.”
Whether at an airport, car rental company or ambulance service, fleet vehicles tend to rack up more kilometres than personal cars and trucks.
Turning them electric would reduce more emissions and save more money per vehicle than in any other part of the transportation sector, said Kyriazis. Besides, she said, these operators usually have to modify vehicles anyway.
“It’s these types of fleets that are racking up the odometer,” Kyriazis said. “The savings are potentially significant.”
Company looks to small collaborations, big fleets
At the Richmond warehouse, stacks of wooden boxes sit ready to be shipped, each holding components of a BlueForce electric battery or motor.
Around the corner, a 15-seat passenger van sits waiting for an electric makeover before it’s shipped back to its owner—a First Nation in Alberta.
For years, that kind of custom job has been the standard in the electric conversion industry. But now BlueForce is looking to a new kind of model. By sharing its technology through collaborations with other small businesses, the company said it hopes to distribute its electric conversion kits across North America.
BlueForce signed its latest agreement last week with Petawatts Auto Marine RV Ltd., a recreational vehicle conversion company in Vernon aimed at owners of boats, RVs and cars across the Okanagan Valley.
Carroll declined to name several larger pending deals, but did say BlueForce is in talks to retrofit vehicles for the City of Sacramento, Calif.; emergency vehicles for a large health provider in B.C.; and the ground vehicle fleet of a Canadian airline serving international destinations.
Troubleshooting the ‘little things’
Inside the converted Ford truck, there are a few subtle changes.
The gear shifter used to be mounted on the steering wheel. Now, popping the truck into park or drive is done through the spin of a dial and touch of a button.
The altered controls are a window into one of the toughest things to finetune on a converted electric vehicle: Getting the electric engine to “talk” with existing electronics.
That’s where Max Kazakov comes in. Originally from Ukraine’s Donetsk region, the trained electrical engineer used to draft designs for factories and vehicles. Then war came. His family home was destroyed in the full-scale Russian invasion. Kazakov left the country, landed in Montreal and eventually settled in the Lower Mainland two years ago.
He got a job driving for Uber and then fixing electric bicycles and scooters before Carroll said the company recognized his talents. Today, Kazakov is in charge of BlueForce’s quality control, fixing everything from a malfunctioning signal light to a haywire display screen.
“It’s the little things,” he said.
Once those are fixed, the savings could be huge.
Are big savings enough to convince fleet operators?
Upfront, BlueForce’s Ford F-150 conversion kit costs $46,500—about half the price of a new gas or electric equivalent.
Depending on the model, the company calculates that a converted Ford truck driving 20,000 kilometres a year would save between $3,192 (for a F-150) and $10,640 (for a F-750) on fuel—even more when gasoline climbs past $1.90 per litre, according to the company.
And then there’s maintenance. The electric engines have fewer than 20 moving parts—at least a hundred times less than the 2,000 moving parts in an internal-combustion engine. That means there’s less to fix or replace.
BlueForce estimates a converted light-duty truck would save at least $1,000 on annual maintenance, while a heavy-duty vehicle could save up to $10,000 a year.
Fleet operators could use those savings, the company’s pitch goes, to invest in charging infrastructure or help their bottom line.
While the model makes sense, Kyriazis says the big challenge for electric vehicle conversion shops will be to move from a niche market to something bigger.
“Can we do this at scale?” she questioned.
Back in the Ford F-150, Carroll tapped a display showing there are 264 kilometres of range left in the two lithium-iron-phosphate batteries—a distance that goes up to 350 kilometres on a single charge.
The motors, he said, are slightly over-engineered, offering more torque than a new Ford Lightning, and are even powerful enough to move the F-250 and F-350 models. It’s a feature he hopes will get people past the notion that electric motors aren’t built for hard work.
“It’s slightly too powerful,” Carroll said. “It’s fun. It’s definitely fun.”
