Greenville green technology firm Viatec, which specializes in electrification of utility trucks, is experiencing rapid growth as it expands its market.
Viatec CEO Robert Rizika describes business as “pretty good,” and getting better.
“We’re growing, and we think that will double this year. We're working hard to make sure that we can show customers how they get their value, where it comes from, and how to validate it and monetize it.”
Rizika joined Viatec in 2024. He has been a serial entrepreneur in the technology sector, developing and selling startups to large companies such as Yahoo! and Juniper Networks. Viatec was attractive to him because he is at the stage in his career where he wants to be part of a successful company that provides value to customers and to the world.
“My view was, Viatec is making a real difference in the environment, and it’s making a real difference in how business is conducted while also saving money. There are competitors in this field, but none of them compete very well against us. Neeraj (Chirmulay, Viatec’s chief technology officer) has done an unbelievable job building the technology and driving it, and as a result, we're in particularly good position. Our systems are much more reliable than anyone else’s out there, and we get great feedback.”
Return on investment is a key attraction, Rizika says, with the system paying for itself in 2½ years on a vehicle a customer might keep for eight to 10 years. Viatec’s products also help improve safety and reduce carbon emissions.
Viatec launched in Greenville in 2015, with a product idea that was completely different at the time. Chirmulay notes the world was considerably different 10 years ago technology-wise.
“The idea back then, which we ended up patenting, was this electro-hydraulic hybrid system. Electric hybrids were sort of commonplace, and electric vehicles were starting to appear, so this was our idea of how we could combine the benefits of hydraulics and electrics for bigger trucks.”
Electric wasn’t viable for bigger vehicles at that time, and pure hydraulics had limitations. Viatec’s objective was to combine the two and make something better. In the process of talking to prospective customers, Viatec was introduced to Duke Energy
“We started talking about how they have bucket trucks, and how they use those bucket trucks every day,” Chirmulay notes. “What they cared about was the boom part because their trucks spent so much time idling at the side of the road, just running their engines. They didn't really care about the driving part, because their trucks weren’t driven that much. So that's where SmartPTO (Viatec’s signature product) was born.”
“We prototyped it and tested it out around 2017. Duke Energy installed their first one in late 2018, and fast forward to present day, we have probably 600-plus of those units installed all over the world. We sell to utilities across the U.S. and Canada, and even in Australia and New Zealand, and recently, Israel.”
A Duke Energy spokesman reports the company uses several types of Viatec technology with its trucks. These include:
Altec AA55 bucket trucks that lift buckets in the air
Underground trucks that run air-conditioning when the vehicle is off
APU auxiliary power units that run heat and air in small bucket trucks so the cab can shut off
None of those are in a pilot program any longer and are part of Duke Energy’s fleet electrification strategy.
Viatec’s customer base continues to be mostly electric utilities, but there are some gas utility users. But Chirmulay notes that the product is not just for utilities, but for any company wishing to avoid engine use when their trucks aren’t being driven.
Savings depends on how much the technology is used, but a utility truck typically uses 1.5 to 1.75 gallons of diesel each hour it is working on the side of the road. Trucks normally run their engine for three to five hours.
“So, you save that much just in fuel. Every hour that the engine idles, there is also wear and tear on the engine, which shows up later on as maintenance costs. If you add it all together, a heavily used unit installed on a truck could be saving you as much as $15,000 to $20,000 a year, effectively, in fuel and maintenance and depreciation.”
Zero Motorcycles, a California-based manufacturer of electric motorcycles, has been Viatec’s technology partner from the beginning.
“They were the technology leaders in the EV motorcycle space,” Chirmulay says. “They had already invested heavily in developing and testing, validating, and commercializing, so they lined up really nicely, performance-wise. It made sense to partner with them to leverage tried-and-tested technology. Rather than reinventing all of those small bits, we could essentially use an electric motorcycle in a box for the core of our system, and focus on making the system work with the trucks we were working with.”
All of Viatec’s units are equipped with telematics, so the company is able to collect data from actual usage in the field, and show it to customers.
“If the truck is used, with the ideal use case, which is three to five hours a day of line work that the truck goes out and does, and uses our system to do perform the work, payback could be as short as 2½ years.”
Viatec plans to expand its range of applications into areas including construction cranes, service trucks, and emergency vehicles.
“Of course, there will be improvements in technology. Batteries will become cheaper and lighter and smaller, and as a result, we want our products to become more efficient, and better performing over time. We also want to create some newer products that might address slightly different needs. So, we will be looking at new applications where we might be able to achieve the same thing.”
Chirmulay says Viatec’s technology is appealing to any company that wants to reduce use of their vehicle engines, and reduce noise and emissions.
“Engines have a lot of downsides when you use them on the job site the way they do. Engines produce noise and they produce emissions, so they negatively affect the health of their linemen. At the core of it, everybody agrees it would be much nicer if we had a cleaner and quieter way of doing our work.”
One challenge that Viatec sometimes faces is that earlier technologies from other companies utilities tried were often unreliable and didn’t perform as promised. So, sometimes there is some hesitation about trying anything with batteries.
Chirmulay sees significant potential for international expansion. Canada, with its preference for clean solutions, has shown a lot of interest. Europe could be a robust market.
“There will also be some challenges to expanding internationally. There are some regulatory or compliance hurdles with specific certifications and such that you have to meet before you can export products that could require some effort and a lot of time. I mean, you also have to account for being able to support your products in different languages, with manuals and tools and websites and literature. Thankfully, because of this current wave of AI, that is becoming a lot easier to do. So, we see a lot of opportunity to expand.”
As Viatec grows, it will continue to base its manufacturing operations in Greenville.
“We definitely will be producing more of these each year. From just last year to this year, we'll probably more than double in unit volume production, and we expect roughly a similar jump from this year to the next. One way or the other, we'll have to make those units, and we'll make them here. Whether it's us making all of them, or whether it's partnering with some manufacturers here, there will be some expansion.”
Rizika touts Viatec as being one of the few companies that can be profitable while helping customers reduce carbon emissions.
“Usually, with green tech, you're spending money, and you may or may not ever get it back, but you know you're helping the environment. Well, we do it cost-effectively. We help the environment, and it's good for business. Our customers save money, and they make more money if they use us.”
Viatec’s current focus is on North America, but Rizika sees greater international expansion as on the agenda, as is exploring potential new customers.
“Right now, we're in the utility industry, and we're going to expand into telecom and construction. We continue to develop new technology, new versions of the technology, and we continue to drive down that path.”
Canadian utility shares positive results
BC Hydro, an electric utility company in British Columbia, Canada, has been using Viatec’s ePTO product since 2023, primarily installed on aerial platforms with 55 to 60 feet of reach. The company has also recently installed it on smaller aerial platforms.
Jason Grijzen, BC Hydro’s vehicle and equipment technologist, says the results have been “exceptional,” and Viatec’s product has provided more benefits than expected.
“The first time we installed a Viatec ePTO and turned it on, we were under the impression that something was broken,” Grijzen says. “The truck was virtually silent, which was odd, as we have purchased and seen demonstrations of similar products, and none of them functioned like the Viatec ePTO. We began using it and soon realized the only noise the system made was the hydraulic fluid moving through the system, at least until the cooling fans turned on. This added a level of comfort and safety for our power line technicians we hadn’t been anticipating.”
In field use of trucks, operators could communicate between the bucket and the ground without shouting. Trucks could be used late at night without generating noise complaints from the public.
“This was a big deal,” Grijzen says.
Data reporting has helped BC Hydro track fuel savings, which have been significant. Savings varies, depending on location and the distance driven.
“Our management is happy with the reduction in emissions, finance is happy with reduced operating costs for the vehicles, and our mechanics are happy with how low-maintenance the system is, and how the overall truck maintenance is reduced. Most importantly, the power line technicians who have to use it every day are happy, because of how comfortable their work environment becomes.”
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