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The T-pod is an e-truck concept, developed by Einride, that will carry 15 standard pallets and a total weight of 20 tons. It will drive a distance of 200 kilometres on one charge and it will require no driver on board: the t-pod will be self-driven or will be driven remotely.

Einride plans to start running the T-pod between the cities of Gothenburg and Helsingborg. This would be for a capacity of 2,000,000 pallets per year, an equivalent of some 400,000 passenger cars on the same route, achieved with few to no emissions. The T-pod will only be 7 metres long, this will help provide greater flexibility and further reduce waste. Filip Lilja, COO at Einride, says that they are “transforming the existing transport chain from the ground up. The big companies behind long haul trucks keep building bigger trucks to increase efficiency, which ultimately means even more emissions. We are changing that by creating a secure solution that is, not only cost effective, but dramatically minimizes the negative environmental impact of the transportation industry.”

Founded by experienced entrepreneur and former Volvo employee, Robert Falck, Enride promises to revolutionize what they call an ‘outdated industry’ in a relatively short period of time: Their plan is to have 200 T-pods on the road by 2020.

The T-pod is certainly not the only self-driving or electronic transport we’ve seen in development. Only recently we’ve reported on a similar solution for cargo ships and a solution to retrofit trucks with self driving technology. However, with its focus on the smaller scale and initial focus on just one inter-city route, could the T-pod be showing us a realistic road to the future of road haulage?

website: www.einride.eu