Less than a year ago, Hino Trucks in the US announced that it was building a heavy duty hydrogen fuel cell electric truck. This video shows the XL8 prototype powered by a hydrogen fuel cell electric drivetrain, now on show at the 2021 ACT Expo in Long Beach, California, USA.
“It’s amazing what our team has been able to accomplish in a relative short period of time,” said Glenn Ellis, Senior Vice President Customer Experience, Hino Trucks. “I know our customers are going to be extremely impressed with this fuel cell electric truck. We are looking forward to validating the performance, reliability and efficiency of our hydrogen fuel cell electric system in the XL Series chassis.”
In recent years, with the rapidly expanding interest in heavy-duty electric trucks, Hino Trucks and Toyota Motor North America decided to jointly develop a Class 8 fuel cell electric truck (FCET) for the North American market.
The project leveraged the US-only Hino XL Series chassis with Toyota’s fuel cell technology to deliver this new prototype. This collaboration expanded upon the existing effort to develop a 25-tonne fuel cell truck for the Japanese market which has been in development in Japan for some years.
“From our Project Z announcement last October, we have received significant interest from customers, and now we have something tangible to show them in our prototype FCEV” said Bob Petz, Senior Vice President of Vehicle and Parts Sales, Hino Trucks.
US customers, interested in learning more about the hydrogen fuel cell electric Hino XL8 got a chance to see it in person at this week’s ACT Expo in Long Beach.
“A fuel cell powered version of the Hino XL Series is a win-win for both customers and the community,” said Tak Yokoo, Senior Executive Engineer, Toyota Research and Development. “It will be quiet, smooth and powerful while emitting nothing but water. Toyota’s twenty plus years of fuel cell technology combined with Hino’s heavy-duty truck experience will create an innovative and capable product.”
