Lightning Systems adds to product line

LOVELAND – Loveland’s Lightning Systems has added to its product line with an all-electric system.

Lightning Systems produces mainly hydraulic-hybrid vehicles. The electric system is for the Ford Transit van in partnership with Michigan-based New Eagle.

The Loveland Reporter-Herald reported that vehicles equipped with the system will go on sale in early 2018, according to a press release from Lightning Systems and New Eagle.

Lightning Systems is a 9-year-old Loveland company formerly called Lightning Hybrids. The company’s technology stores energy in a hydraulic accumulator as a vehicle brakes and uses the energy for acceleration. Lightning Systems specializes in medium-weight work vehicles such as delivery vans and shuttle buses.

Tim Reeser, CEO and co-founder of Lightning Systems, announced the product Wednesday at the Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo in Novi, Mich.

The company will release the price of the new system in the next few weeks, according to spokeswoman Bonnie Trowbridge.

New Eagle is an Ann Arbor, Mich., company that specializes in the electronic “brains” that drive mechanical systems, according to the release.

“We saw a real need for a zero-emissions product in this segment of the fleet market,” Rich Swortzel, president of New Eagle, said in the release.

The LightningElectric package will be available first on heavy-duty Ford Transits with a 10,360-pound gross vehicle weight rating, the release said.

The vehicles will have an electric range of up to 125 miles, according to the release, and a payload of as much as 3,500 pounds.

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