Via Motors VTRUX

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Via Motors will descend on the 2013 Detroit Auto Show with three new full-size electric vehicles. Company spokesperson Bob Lutz will pull the sheets back on each of the extended-range EVs personally, including an 800-horsepower, four-wheel-drive pickup truck, a luxury four-wheel-drive SUV and what VIA is calling the world's first 12-passenger extended-range electric van. Given the company's previous efforts, it's a good bet each of the new products will be based on General Motors platforms.

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Give Bob Lutz a little bit of time and a big idea, and he will create for the world "the kind of vehicle I would like to own." That's what he called the X-Truck concept – from the Lutz-affiliated Via Motors – which debuted at the Detroit Auto Show. If you're thinking that the X-Truck (and Via's other offerings, the Presidential SUV and the VTRUX Van) looks a little like a Chevrolet vehicle, well, it certainly does. It's a converted 2013 Chevy Silverado, after all. The X-Truck, though, has been deeply modified inside and out. The truck now has a plug-in hybrid powertrain underneath while the outside was redesigned by Lutz and his team to look a little meaner and beefier while still offering the "fuel economy of a Prius." The changes include custom running boards, fender flares and modified wheels. It's also been raised five inches. A built-in iPad not only communicates information to the driver, but can also communicate with the service department to solve problems.

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The VTRUX is based on the Chevrolet Silverado and was displayed at the event alongside models such as the Ford C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid and a Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in. The big truck has some options those don't, though, like 120- and 240-volt power outlets that can be used by workmen. With its 300-kilowatt motor and a 150-kilowatt generator, the VTRUX can also serve as an temporary emergency power source, even for utility companies looking to get darkened neighborhoods back up and running.

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The new solar tonneau will be available in two versions, 800- and 400-watts, that will both help power the car's battery or, if used at a work site, any power tools running off of the truck's outboard power outlet. If you park the truck in the sun all day, the solar panels can add up to six (in the 400-watt model) and ten (800) miles of range to the battery pack. That's why the company's slogan is "an electric truck that doesn't need a plug."

Via will not be announcing the price tomorrow, but since the truck and tonneau will be available in March, we don't expect we will have to wait too long.

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Canada is going to soon make a big mark in the global market for electric trucks and vans, thanks to a deal with Via Motors. Sun Country Highway, a Canadian company dedicated to the adoption of zero emission transportation, has inked an $80-million deal with Via to purchase plug-in hybrids for businesses across the country. So far, an order for the first 100 extended-range utility vehicles with an $8-million deposit has been placed with Via. These work trucks and vans, all converted General Motors products with a "solid" 40-mile electric range, are efficient enough that Bot Lutz says they make the Toyota Prius look like a gas guzzler.

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