Motiv Electric Trucks has appointed Scott Zion as chief product and engineering officer. He will have overall responsibility for the product roadmap and for ensuring Motiv’s technologies and finished vehicles are designed, validated, and tested to perform to the highest quality standards while meeting customer specifications.

Zion joins Motiv with more than 30 years of experience in vehicle engineering and electric vehicle technology. Most recently, he served as chief product officer at Bollinger Motors, where he led product strategy and development for electric commercial vehicles. 

"Scott’s proven expertise in product planning and his experience leading engineering and product teams in the commercial electric trucking space is a perfect fit for where Motiv is today," said Scott Griffith, CEO of Motiv Electric Trucks. 

Prior to that, he held leadership positions at Xos Trucks as head of engineering and as director of medium-duty vehicles.

Zion also spent more than six years at Hino Motors Manufacturing USA where he was the general manager and chief engineer of Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Programs. 

He began his career at Ford Motor Company in the early 1990s, working on electric vehicles. While at Ford and eventually Visteon, Zion held a variety of engineering roles in transaxle engineering, battery systems, chassis systems, and axle/driveline systems.

"His background and leadership will be critical as we scale our team to continue to design and produce the most technologically-advanced, reliable, sustainable, and cost-competitive electric trucks and buses for the largest fleets in North America,” Griffith added.

Leadership Responsibilities at Motiv

In his new role, Zion will have overall responsibility for driving and leading cross-functional excellence across the full product and engineering disciplines and setting direction for design, performance, attributes—with performance, quality, and cost targets—to deliver all commercial medium-duty electric truck products to company quality targets with the intent to exceed customers' expectations.

"Medium-duty commercial trucks are especially well-suited for electrification given their relatively short-range use cases, predictable duty cycles, and depot-based charging, which avoids dependency on public charging infrastructure," said Zion. “Motiv has been able to lead the electric medium-duty trucking industry by listening to and partnering with its customers and building products and technologies that meet their needs. I am looking forward to joining the talented team and building on their excellent foundation."

Zion’s Educational Background

Zion holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Aerospace and Lightweight Structures from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and a Master of Engineering Management from Wayne State University.

Motiv’s Electric Step Vans & Trucks

Motiv has developed, manufactured, and deployed electric step vans, box trucks, shuttles, and buses for the last 15 years, putting nearly 400 vehicles on the road that have collectively driven more than 5 million miles. 

Today, 10 of the largest 20 medium-duty truck fleets in North America have deployed Motiv vehicles, including Purolator, Vestis (formerly Aramark Uniform Services), Cintas, Bimbo Bakeries and other leading brands.

Motiv now accounts for 45% of electric step vans in California and 19% of step van deployments in the U.S. overall. Most importantly, Motiv leads the industry with repeat/follow-on orders; since its founding, 64% of vehicles have been delivered to repeat customers.