Alkane Truck Company announced Wednesday that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Harrison Truck Centers to become a certified assembler and authorized dealer of Alkane’s low-emission alternative fueled trucks.
The initial assembly roll-out will include Class 7 propane, Class 7 Near-Zero natural gas- and Class 8 Near-Zero natural gas-powered trucks, the company says.
Alkane Truck Company says that it is a uniquely competitive OEM alternative fuel truck company that utilizes strategic supply agreements with leading truck component manufacturers worldwide to minimize the significant financial investment in design, component test compliance, tooling and production facilities of a typical OEM truck manufacturer.
All of Alkane’s medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks are shipped to Alkane as ‘knock-down’ kits from each component manufacturer. Every component is then tested and approved under DOT regulations before being integrated and assembled at an Alkane-certified assembly facility by skilled American workers. This paradigm qualifies Alkane as a U.S. OEM since the domestic value-add content exceeds 51 percent.
This designation allows Alkane to:
- issue its own VINs (Vehicle Identification Numbers)
- qualify for government and military contracts, and
- deliver a profitable and competitively-priced alternative fueled vehicle.
Headquartered in Elk Run Heights, Iowa, Harrison Truck Centers has been a family business since the late 60s. Harrison began as a truck equipment body builder and later became an Oshkosh truck dealer. In the late 90s, HTC acquired its first Freightliner dealership in Iowa and has added Freightliner or Western Star dealerships in Clear Lake and Des Moines, Iowa, and four more locations in southern Minnesota.
“Harrison’s technical and production capabilities in truck assembly are impressive. Their market leadership role in assembling production volumes of glider kits will allow Alkane accelerated scalability without the typical start-up learning curves. This new partnership will help ensure that our Class 7 propane production launch remains on track for the first quarter of 2018 followed by final DOT testing of our Near-Zero 8.9L and Near-Zero 11.9L natural gas-powered trucks later in the year,” says Alkane’s founder and Chief Executive Officer Robert Smith.
“Alkane’s clean-burning trucks will provide fleet owners a low-NOx emissions solution, positioning Alkane to take full advantage of the billions of dollars in incentives slated for federal- and state-funded clean air initiatives in 2018.”
