Electric trucks in Japan – a tale of tests and trials

“I am convinced that electric trucks are the future of inner-city distribution”, said Marc Llistosella, President and Chief Executive of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) when inaugurating Japan’s first public power charging station for trucks in May 2017. There are two ways to view Llistosella’s statement. On the one hand, with the launch of the Fuso eCanter, a fully electric light truck, in 2017 and now with the setting up of the charging infrastructure, Mitsubishi is establishing a strong hold in Japan’s electric/electrified trucking space, marking its territory as one of the few players in the country to go beyond the trial phase. There is a future for electric trucks in Japan, though from the current view it seems to be focused on LCVs and mid-range trucks, largely for inner-city use On the other hand, the reference to ‘inner-city distribution’ emphasizes the fact that there is still significant effort needed to make electric trucks a viable long-distance, inter-city distribution mode of commercial transportation; however, it is time that trucking looks to electrification to replace traditional delivery and carriage transport modes within city borders. In less than a decade, from 2009 when a trial initiative was launched to convert Japanese postal trucks from gasoline to electric, to 2017 when Honda and Japan Post announced demonstration testing of electric delivery motorcycles, Japan has surely seen several initiatives in the electric commercial transportation space. Despite these efforts, electric commercial transportation has not made much progress and is way behind electric passenger vehicles on a trajectory towards becoming mainstream. Most electric truck projects in Japan remain at a testing and trial stage, and have not moved into commercial production yet, while the end users, though interested in a greener transportation fleet, do not seem to be pushing as much as one would expect. The reference to ‘inner-city distribution’ emphasizes the fact that there is still significant effort needed to make electric trucks a viable long-distance, inter-city distribution mode of commercial transportation There is, of course, the product and infrastructure aspect; OEMs seem to be working on electric trucks in fits and starts, as concerns continue over long-range capabilities of batteries as well as the availability of charging infrastructure specific to these transport vehicles across the country. There is also the government aspect as, surprisingly, there seems to be little direct government commitment to electric commercial transportation, in contrast to the support for electric passenger cars. Most effort seems to be coming from the OEMs, in the development of both electric trucks as well as charging infrastructure. This is in stark contrast to, for instance, R&D of electric passenger vehicles as well as electric car charging stations, the latter of which, driven by both public and private initiatives, have outnumbered gasoline stations in Japan. Given these constraints, especially with no immediate-term solution in sight to the charging infrastructure issue (unless the limited number of overhead charging tests run mainly by German OEMs prove successful and the technology is adopted by Japanese OEMs, which can also take time), OEM focus continues to be on commercial electric vehicles for lightweight and short-distance applications, specifically as delivery vehicles or special refrigerated transport systems for retailers for their inner-city distribution. One could say that perhaps that is not a bad situation – at least local transportation will become electric – and if this were to spread across Japan, it could be considered a fairly considerable success. But this does raise questions about the economic viability of using these vehicles only within city borders, and whether it justifies the costs associated with being green only locally for the users. Most electric truck and charging infrastructure development seems to be coming from the OEMs. This is in stark contrast to, for instance, R&D of electric cars as well as electric car charging stations, the latter of which, driven by both public and private initiatives, have outnumbered gasoline stations in Japan Most electric/electrified truck-related efforts have focused on delivery trucks (for retailers, refrigerated and otherwise), primarily to run as part of the logistics networks of retailers within city borders in Japan. Toyota tested its first electric delivery truck in 2012, then again with Hino Trucks in 2013; neither, however, have been converted into commercial propositions. Nissan’s Leaf-based truck testing in 2014 (e-NT400) also seems to have made little impact in Japan. One of the very few OEM success stories is the Fuso eCanter, the all-electric truck produced by Daimler’s Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC); the vehicle was launched in early 2017 after extensive testing. The company now has plans to introduce an electric-powered truck in every truck class by 2020. Fuso eCanter’s first commercial customer is retailer 7-Eleven, which expects to commission 25 units of the new eCanter in its fleet during 2017, with the aim of cutting its delivery vehicle operating costs by approximately 40% compared to diesel vehicles. There is clearly a market for these products, albeit the uptake is slow and not that popular among retailers, stemming primarily from the core issue of charging infrastructure. What is also worth noting is the fact that MFTBC has been developing and testing electric trucks since 2010, launching the eCanter in 2017. It might seem like a long time from developing, to testing, to production, but if this is put into perspective against the development of electric passenger cars, OEMs such as BMW invested decades in testing before production. From an R&D perspective, Japanese OEMs continue to invest in the electric trucks concept, but the need of the hour is a push from the government, as it was with electric passenger cars, to offer incentives for the adoption of these trucks and co-invest in infrastructure. As has been the case with electric cars, R&D will contribute to bringing the costs of charging infrastructure down, and over the medium to long-term, the range of these trucks is likely to extend to inter-city coverage As has been the case with electric cars, R&D will contribute to bringing the costs of charging infrastructure down, and over the medium to long-term, the range of these trucks is likely to extend to inter-city coverage. The question is, how soon will the Japanese government step in, if at all, and create a similar environment for electric truck development and commercialisation as it did in the case of electric passenger vehicles? There is a future for electric trucks in Japan, though from the current view it seems to be focused on LCVs and mid-range trucks, largely for inner-city use. This might be a good thing after all. Perhaps, if OEMs and the government focus on inner-city applications for these commercial vehicles, increased competition and incentives will bring the cost of ownership down, making electric trucks an attractive substitute to traditional delivery vehicles.

Electric trucks in Japan – a tale of tests and trials

There’s a future for electric trucks in Japan, writes Indraneel Bardhan of EOS Intelligence, who believes EV success will most likely be in LCVs and mid-range trucks

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