Business Fleet, November/December 2020

HINO UNVEILS ZERO EMISSIONS TRUCK LINEUP Hino Motors has stepped onto the zero emissions stage by announcing Project Z a development path to zero emissions commercial vehicles Hino introduced a line up of zero emissions trucks ranging from Class 4 to Class 8 as well as its partners in advanced electric drive systems The ZEV products included a Class 5 Hino M5 chassis equipped with an SEA Electric SEA Drive 120a and a Class 7 4x2 XL7 tractor powered by Hexagon Purus full electric drive system Project Z will consist of demonstration vehicles in the first half of 2021 customer demonstrations in 2022 and production prior to 2024 according to the company The M5 box truck is equipped with SEA Electric Sea Drive 120A electric powertrain The trucks 138 kWh batteries and JJE high voltage electric motor deliver the equivalent of 170 hp and 1100 lb ft of torque Tony Fairweather president of Australia based SEA Electric said the battery pack can deliver 240 miles of range on a single charge with no load in the box Hino partnered with Hexagon Purus Systems known for its Agility brand compressed natural gas storage tanks on its battery electric Class 7 XL7 4x2 tractor The truck uses two saddle mounted 220 kWh battery packs mounted in vibration minimizing racks for improved durability Range for the truck is about 200 miles PHOTO COURTESY OF XL FLEET PHOTO COURTESY OF HINO XL Fleet has announced a merger with Pivotal Investment Corporation II a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company SPAC The combined company will be named XL Fleet the anticipated value of the company is about 1 billion with the transaction expected to be completed in the fourth quarter Founded in 2008 XL Fleet is a provider of hybrid and plug in hybrid powertrain conversions for U S and Canadian commercial fleet vehicles built by Ford Chevrolet GMC and Isuzu While the overall fleet size with XLs hybrid and plug in hybrid systems will be at an estimated 4200 units when 2020 is complete the company claims a client base of more than 200 customers including FedEx The Coca Cola Company and Verizon According to an investor presentation XL expects to double its 2020 sales to over 9000 units in 2021 Other areas of focus will be product development international expansion and development of applications infrastructure and vehicle financing under the heading of Electrification as a Service On the product side the merger will allow XL to accelerate its existing product pipeline in vehicle Classes 2 to 6 for existing clients as well as new ones said Eric Foellmer director of marketing And it allows the company to widen beyond its hybrid and plug in hybrid systems to fully electric options which XL had already been developing Foellmer said ROUSH CLEANTECH OFFERS ELECTRIC TRUCKS Roush CleanTech is providing Penske Truck Leasing with all new Ford F 650 batteryelectric vehicles for deployment across Southern California The 26000 pound GVWR truck achieves a horsepower of 335 at 1844 lb ft of torque and continuous horsepower of 201 at 907 lb ft of torque There will be three wheelbase options to fit various applications Our fleet customers and partners have asked us to focus on the Class 6 segment as that is the area of pain and expense with traditionally fueled vehicles Our ability to leverage our electric vehicle product development expertise to bring a non CDL truck to the market that offers almost 8500 pounds of available payload and 100 miles of range answers two of the biggest concerns fleets have to a greater adoption rate said Todd Mouw president of Roush CleanTech The demonstration units were funded in part by the South Coast Air Quality Management District the regulatory agency focused on improving air quality According to the company Roush CleanTechs battery electric vehicles have a maximum speed of 65 mph and a 100 mile range emit no exhaust and zero emissions and adhere to the California Zero Emissions Powertrain certification program Production of the electric truck starts in summer of 2021 The merger will allow XL to accelerate its existing product pipeline in vehicle Classes 2 to 6 for existing clients as well as new ones Project Z is Hinos development path to zero emissions commercial vehicles Roush CleanTechs battery electric vehicles have a maximum speed of 65 mph and a 100 mile range XL Fleet Goes Public WWW BUSINESSFLEET COM 5 BUSINESS FLEET November December 2020 PHOTO COURTESY OF ROUSH