Tony Mead, electric operations manager at Marshall Municipal Utilities, demonstrated how MMU’s new electric pickup plugged into a charging station. This summer, MMU started using an electric pickup as a work vehicle, to learn more about how EV’s perform and how much power they use.

MARSHALL — At first glance, it blends in with the rest of Marshall Municipal Utilities’ work trucks. But there’s a lot that sets MMU’s newest vehicle apart.

“It’s definitely a different driving experience, with how quiet it is,” said Tony Mead, electric operations manager at MMU. That’s because the new pickup is powered by an electric motor, instead of an engine.

This summer, MMU added a Ford Lightning electric pickup truck to its vehicle fleet. MMU employees said getting a chance to use an electric vehicle would let them learn more about EVs, and be able to inform the public.

“We wanted to have an electric vehicle in our fleet to give us an opportunity to educate ourselves,” Mead said.

While electric vehicles aren’t widespread around Marshall, there are getting to be a few in the area, and more people have questions about EV’s, said Mead and MMU energy services coordinator Mark Antony. MMU also offers a rebate for the purchase of a home EV charger, Antony said.

Having an electric pickup as part of MMU’s fleet will give the utility more firsthand knowledge on how an electric vehicle performs in different local weather conditions, as well as data on how much power it uses, Antony and Mead said.

Mead MMU had originally put in an order for an electric vehicle in 2021, but the Lightning only just arrived this summer. Since June, the pickup has been used as a general work truck in MMU’s electric department, which means it travels to work sites around Marshall during the day.

“It’s really handy for what we use it for,” said MMU electrical superintendent Nate Janssen.

Eventually, the plan will be to use the Lightning as a locator’s truck at MMU, Mead said.

Mead estimated that the Lightning gets about 230 miles per charge. The pickup uses a level 2 electric vehicle charger, which is the same type of charger that an individual household would use, Antony said. A level 2 charger would put about as much load on Marshall’s electric grid as an electric water heater, he said.

Typically, a home charger would power up an electric vehicle overnight, Antony said. Fast charging stations like the one near Tall Grass Liquor in Marshall, or the Tesla supercharger stations near the Marshall Hy-Vee, take much less time.

Mead said driving the electric pickup is a different experience from a gas-powered vehicle. One of the most noticeable things was how quiet the motor was. The truck also had an unexpected amount of torque, he said.

Other unusual features in the Lightning were additional storage space under the hood instead of an engine, and a built-in inverter that allows MMU employees to plug power tools into sockets on the truck.

“It’s pretty versatile that way,” Antony said.

While the electric truck hasn’t been part of the MMU fleet for very long, Mead and Antony said they could forsee some benefits of using it. The truck would need less maintenance than a gas-powered vehicle – for example, it wouldn’t need oil changes.

Learning more about electric vehicles will also be important for MMU going forward, Mead said.

“It’s about being a good resource for customers,” he said.