21 E-Mobility Engineering | January/February 2026 BAE Systems Class 7 truck demo | Dossier as possible as a solution to hybridise or electrify their trucks. The approach was driven by the fact that different OEMs are taking different sustainability journeys, and Matthews explains: “Over the last 20 years, there has been a lot of learning going on, with OEMs experimenting with hybrid systems, pure battery systems and fuel cell solutions and customer requirements have become more advanced. “A lot of these guys are still trying to figure out the right solution. If you look at the likes of Daimler, Volvo and other guys, they have one flavour, then the next generation has a different flavour and the next generation different again. So, we thought this was the perfect time to introduce a flexible system that can be adapted to every approach. “At the same time, the proliferation of battery options, drive configurations and charging solutions has introduced many more ways to solve the same problem. Those two things inspired us to offer a more flexible solution so we could accommodate early concept and development stages much better than fixed or bespoke solutions. “We saw that we could deliver a product where the same solution that works for a battery-electric also works for a fuel cell electric or a hybrid-electric approach, and you don’t have to come up with a whole new platform and design every time. We wanted to bring that into the market and really push it. hybrid or pure-electric power, simply by changing its specification. The new truck electrification system is an adaptation of that, and Matthews explains: “It seems strange that the pioneers are the transit guys, but they have been stepping out a lot earlier when it comes to electrification than the truck guys – and as soon as we saw the pure-electric trend starting to happen in transit, we went back to look at trucks.” Matthews is now confident truck electrification has “some serious backing and interest” behind it, but in a nascent market, developing a cleansheet design with an OEM was not an option. So, instead, the team at BAE Systems built a modular-based system that could be taken to as many OEMs We thought this was the perfect time to introduce a flexible system that can be adapted to every approach The BAE Systems battery-electric truck solution can be used to adapt existing diesel truck designs (All images: BAE Systems) The key to the BAE Systems design is modularity – which allows the battery-electric packaged to be suited to all work modes
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