E-Mobility Engineering 015 l EMotive Scarab off-road truck dossier l In Conversation: Giulio Ornella l Hall effect and magnetic sensors focus l Challenge of batteries for heavy-duty EVs l Alpha Motor Corporation digest l Automated charging insight l HVAC systems focus

Peter Donaldson traces the development of this go- anywhere EV created to carry multi-tonne payloads Six-packmuscle E Motive’s 12 t Scarab 6x6 electric off-road truck is designed to appeal to a range of industries including agriculture, forestry, quarrying, mining, adventure tourism and airfield firefighting – all areas where large zero-emissions vehicles are becoming increasingly attractive. Managing director Dan Regan reports excitement about the vehicle from the agricultural industry in particular. “People in agriculture feel like they have been forgotten. A lot of innovation in the UK is supported by the government, but only in recent months have we started to see agriculture-themed Innovate UK projects in the spotlight,” he says. “However, in terms of commercial interest, airport fire tenders lead the way, largely in the Middle East where there is a lot of work around zero-emissions, zero-carbon cities, which will have airports.” EMotive is also talking with an adventure tourism company in Iceland, an environmentally sensitive country with plenty of geothermal energy. “The Icelandic government loves the income from tourism, but doesn’t love big diesel buses, and they have a very clean way of charging EVs,” Regan notes. As an idea, the Scarab had its genesis in the mind of inventor and entrepreneur Bruce Palmer as far back as 1999 when, long before founding the company, he began work on a prototype six-wheeled all-terrain vehicle intended for agricultural use. Wood and cardboard mock-ups led to a more substantial proof-of-concept vehicle dubbed the Mk1, which made use of Land Rover components, including the V8 petrol engine and driveline parts. Working with this machine, Palmer learned a lot about suspension geometry and stability, particularly the balance between off-road ability and stability at speed on the road, Regan explains. “He then started de-constructing this machine to build Prototype B, whose agility he experimented with, investigating axle travel and power distribution between the wheels, which was all mechanical at that stage,” he says. “That lasted until 2001, when he was confident that he’d come up with something that was scalable. “He then realised it would take 6 or 7 years to get it into production and that the future of such vehicles would obviously be electric. Looking at the market for electric components, he found that it wasn’t ready, so he parked the project and waited for suitable components to become available in volume at the right price.” By 2016, Regan continues, there were many small passenger cars available from major manufacturers, indicating that the time was right to move forward. Palmer then dusted off the project, created a company and approached a contractor in Dorset, southern England, that was doing a lot of design work for the UK’s Ministry of Defence, asking them to come up with The Scarab is designed as a flexible modular platform intended for roles including agriculture and forestry, airport firefighting and adventure tourism (Courtesy of Poppy Jakes Photography via EMotive) 20 Autumn 2022 | E-Mobility Engineering