John Knudtson is the Vice President of Business Development for Motiv Power Systems. His long career in commercial vehicles includes more than 20 years with Utilimaster, a major manufacturer of delivery van bodies, where he served as Vice President of Product Development. While there, he developed relationships with many of the major U.S. delivery fleets, such as FedEx, Frito-Lay, UPS and the USPS. By gaining an understanding of their business, he was instrumental in developing innovative solutions to reduce their total cost of operation. He also worked with a major automotive OEM to initiate, plan and execute the development of a brand new, highly innovative, fuel-efficient commercial van. John has also worked very closely with many major vehicle OEMs such as Ford, GM, Navistar, Mercedes and Isuzu on joint vehicle development projects. Many of these projects involved the development of new vehicles using alternative propulsion systems and other highly innovative systems. These included the development of a diesel-electric hybrid van with Freightliner and Eaton, a gas-electric van with Ford and Azure Dynamics, and an electric straight truck. John brings an exceptional understanding of delivery van and truck requirements to the Motiv team. He leads tasks that require technical expertise in these vehicles and the use and maintenance systems of the vehicles.