There is a lot of buzz and speculation going on around zero emissions vehicles, but you can make a start on the process and reduce emissions now by using a hybrid electric truck. PowerTorque took to the road to quantify just how much it is possible to save.
Keen observers may have noticed that the truck formerly know as a ‘hybrid’ is now to be known as an ‘electric hybrid. This is because Hino is promoting the range as a first step on the road to zero emissions. As something an operation can do now to reduce its carbon footprint the before the, in development, zero emission solutions start to appear in numbers and become cost effective.
Late last year Hino decided to reemphasise the advantages of the hybrid platform and promote the technology as a first step solution for those looking to decarbonise their fleets.
“We’ve gone from an average of 50 sales a year, that’s the most successful low or zero type emissions vehicle to be sold in the commercial market over the past 15 years,” says Daniel Petrovski, Department Manager, Product Strategy for Hino Australia. “We’ve got over 700 of them already on the road. We’ve got orders coming in this year and have exceeded 300 vehicles already. We’re expecting that we’re going to see a massive shift and will be hitting 500 plus orders by the end of the year.
The objective of this truck test was a simple one. Tim Giles would drive a hybrid electric truck around a typical urban delivery route in Sydney followed by an identical truck powered only by diesel. Measuring the amount of diesel burnt over the journey for both trucks would give the amount of difference in overall fuel consumption and also the reduction of CO2 going into the atmosphere.
Driving style can effect fuel consumption on any kind of propulsion, but we were looking for a best case scenario and drove to try and minimise fuel burn, both on the hybrid and diesel truck.
For the trip around Sydney, in traffic most of the day, the trucks covered 82km, over roughly three or four hours of driving. The diesel 300 Series used 13 litres, while the hybrid used about 10 litres.
More precise measurement from the onboard electronics brings the result to 6.329km/L for the diesel versus 8.265km/L for the hybrid. This is a reduction in fuel burn of 30.58 per cent. Of course, this also equates to a reduction of 30.58 per cent in carbon emissions.
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