Under an agreement announced this week with TVA, Volkswagen has modified its ID.4 model with a number of enhancements to allow TVA to use the vehicle for its drone response team that helps inspect and maintain TVA's more than 16,000 miles of transmission lines.
VW said the test vehicle, a "Mobile Drone Response Vehicle," has added a trunk-housed custom storage unit for drone and field equipment and the vehicle is outfitted with a portable power station.
VW has also added a Thule Caprock platform roof rack, supplemented with a Thule retractable side awning, along with a heavy-duty suspension and bigger wheels to haul the weight of additional equipment. A full-display digital rearview mirror also gives more visibility for the driver, VW said.
The Mobile Drone Response Vehicle will debut at the 2022 SEMA Show in Las Vegas on Nov. 1, Volkswagen said.
The VW-modified ID.4 is one of several EV models TVA has purchased or is testing out as it converts its 400-light-duty cars and 800 medium-duty trucks to EVs over the next eight years. TVA spokesman Scott Fiedler said in a telephone interview that TVA has already purchased 75 EVs for its workforce fleet and is continuing to buy more from a number of auto manufacturers.
"Electricity is the clean, low-cost, reliable fuel that will decarbonize our nation's transportation network," TVA Chief Operating Officer Don Moul said in an announcement of the year-long test vehicle program with Volkswagen. " TVA is on the leading edge of electric vehicle adoption, and with partners like Volkswagen we are moving farther and faster together to accelerate the use of electricity in all sectors of the economy to make our carbon-free vision a reality."
The partnership is not the first time TVA has involved Volkswagen vehicles in e-mobility research. In March of 1978, the Electric Power Research Institute, EPRI, selected TVA as the host utility company to perform field-testing and demonstration of five all-electric Volkswagen Kombi vans and five 8-passenger buses. In its entirety, VW produced about 70 electric vans for fleet research purposes.
"TVA has a long history of innovation, and we're thrilled to collaborate with them in their transition to a fully-electrified fleet," Hein Schafer, senior vice president of product marketing and strategy for Volkswagen, said in a statement. "This effort is leading by example, and with the aid of our ID.4 vehicles, stands to show the industry how viable EVs are in fleet applications."
The ID.4 is Volkswagen's first all-electric SUV and the brand's first global EV. Volkswagen began shipping the first of its ID.4 models assembled at its Chattanooga assembly plant to dealers last month.
TVA is also seeking to promote more electric vehicles by working with the state of Tennessee and local power companies to build a "Fast 50" network of fast recharging stations every 50 miles on major highways and interstates in TVA's 7-state region.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, emissions from gas-powered vehicles are the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions linked with global warming.
©2022 the Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
