Fuso eCanter: Review

Name: Fuso eCanter: Review
Brand: Fuso

We drive the world’s first all-electric series production truck

Following around seven years of development since the first concept was seen in Hanover in 2010, Fuso launched the first production eCanter in New York in September, and at the same time announced that UPS would be the first of a string of companies in the US, Japan and Europe to take the new electric trucks into their fleets.

To coincide with the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show and the announcement of Fuso’s new electric heavy-duty truck the Vision One, we were invited to Fuso’s Kitsuregawa Proving Ground north of Tokyo to drive the new eCanter.

With the growing number of cities, and indeed countries, which will be banning internal-combustion engines after 2025, the race is on in earnest to produce viable electric and alternative-fuel trucks.

Fuso is leading the way in electric trucks. Marc Llistosella, President and CEO of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation and Head of Daimler Trucks Asia, said of the eCanter: “In times when everybody is talking about electric trucks, we are the first to actually commercialise a series-produced all-electric truck.

“Having a long history in alternative drivetrains, we are proud to step into this new era. Our Fuso eCanter comes with years of customer testing, and the assurance of parts, service and warranty through our global Fuso dealership network.”

To say that Mr Llistosella was enthusiastic would be a an exercise in understatement, and his excitement had us very much looking forward to the drive of the eCanter.

What’s it all about?

The eCanter is fitted with a single electric motor fed by six 11kWh batteries and driving through a regular prop shaft and diff. Power is quoted at 135kW (181hp) and 390Nm of torque. By way of comparison, the ‘regular’ Canter we had at the test with 3.0-litre turbo-diesel is rated at 96kW (129hp) and 300Nm of torque.

According to Fuso, the electric eCanter can travel 150km on a single charge.

Vehicle weight is quoted at 2990kg and the GVM for this model is 7490kg. For our test, Fuso had the vehicle loaded to close to its GVM.

Braking is through discs on the front and rear, and the eCanter runs on 205/75R17.5 tyres on steel wheels with duals on the rear axle.

Getting started

The interior of the eCanter is not dissimilar to a regular wide-cab Canter. There are three seats – a single for the driver and a bench double for the passengers.

The dash differs slightly with the speedo incorporating a charge gauge and a big economy gauge showing discharge, economy and charge for when the regenerative braking is pushing some charge into the batteries.

The eCanter has a plug-in key which activates the vehicle, then there is a push-button to activate the drive system. A green ‘ready’ light then appears on the dash and you’re ready to shift into gear and accelerate away.

And accelerate it does! Driven back-to-back with the diesel Canter, this electric vehicle felt punchier, even though the diesel was a 4.5-tonne version and should have had a power-to-weight advantage.

Smooth operator

As you’d expect, the electric Canter is quiet, but there’s quiet, and then there’s quiet. I’ve driven an electric car or two in the past but this was a different experience. A loaded truck that doesn’t make any noise? It just didn’t make sense…

The only real noise in the eCanter comes from the tyres on the road and the wind around the cabin and mirrors. There is a little transmission noise, but it’s negligible. So you can sit and chat to the co-pilot in dulcet tones, or listen to some quiet music on the stereo as you blissfully glide along. It’s also smooth; whether it’s just perceived due to the quiet operation, or whether it’s a function of the bigger wheel and tyre combo, I don’t know – but it certainly seemed like it was smoother than the ‘regular’ Canter.

We didn’t get much of a drive as we weren’t able to take the truck out on the streets of Japan, but the course we had did include a couple of little hills. I stopped on a 10 per cent gradient and gave the eCanter a bootful up the hill from a standing start and it fairly leapt ahead, accelerating all the way.

The downhill was a bit of a different story as the electric motor doesn’t offer much in the way of engine braking. There is a bit of retardation if you engage the regenerative braking. This is done by pushing the left stalk forward as you would with a retarder on a conventional truck.

This isn’t going to help you much going down Mount Ousley but, that said, the four-wheel-disc service brakes are excellent; I guess it’s a different style of driving than we’re used to with diesels.

But back on the quick side of things, one of the other journos did a timed run and although it wasn’t official by any means, he reckoned the loaded truck got from standing to 50km/h in under 10 seconds.

So the eCanter is no slug – in fact it’s quicker than a lighter truck with a conventional engine, so that’s not the drawback.

The elephant in the room is the range. At 150km it’s really not big enough for a day’s work on a city or suburban run, but we were told that Fuso has this under control. As battery technology leaps ahead and charging times plummet, you can be assured that by the time the eCanter reaches our shores in any numbers, things will be dramatically different.

Mr Llistosella told us that in a few years, recharging times for heavy-duty trucks like the upcoming Vision One would be down five minutes. That means that a driver could conceivably pull into a service centre, order a pie and a coffee and by the time he’s finished, his truck would be fully recharged. Hard to believe today but certainly not pie in the sky according to Llistosella: “We’re looking at that being achievable in in three to four years,” he told trucksales.com.au.

Even the eCanter can reach an 80 per cent charge in 40 minutes – something that would be been regarded with a degree of awe not too many years ago – while Fuso claims the truck is capable of 3000 charge cycles per battery pack.

We are also looking at initial purchase prices tumbling in the near future. At the moment, Fuso is offering lease deals on the eCanter so that as the newer, more efficient models are rolled out, the leases can be renewed and transferred to the new models as upgrades become available.

What are the savings?

According to Llistosella, the savings are significant and have been proven during customer tests in Europe. Compared to a conventional diesel truck, the eCanter offers savings of 1000 euros ($A1515) per 10,000 kilometres on operating costs.

This version of the eCanter is referred to as the 1.0 model and Llistosella said that the 2.0 model is due to be launched in 2019. We were told that with this upgrade, not only would the range and charge time be enhanced, but prices will surely drop, and a new driveline would be included.

The new driveline will dispense with the traditional prop shaft and diff and replace it with a direct transaxle. Theoretically, this will give the eCanter more power as it will be more direct and not have the power loss in the direction changes in the differential.

So the future is here. The eCanter is the thin edge of the electrified wedge and if what we heard in Tokyo is true, it will soon be followed by the production version of the Vision One heavy-duty truck. By that time, the likes of Nissan, now the biggest manufacturer of electric cars in the world, will have its electric trucks and vans on the road, and all the others will surely follow.

It’s certainly an interesting time to be in the commercial vehicle arena.

2017 Fuso eCanter: Specifications

Length: 5935mm

Width: 1995mm

Height:2195mm

Wheelbase: 3400mm

Vehicle weight: 2990kg

Front axle weight: 1770kg

Rear axle weight: 1220kg

GVM: 7490

Max power: 135kW

Max Torque: 390Nm