Hino previews Hybrid Electric tilt tray prototype

During a recent press briefing in Melbourne last Friday (May 3), Hino Australia unveiled a prototype tilt tray truck based on its 300 Series Hybrid Electric platform.

Produced in collaboration with Japan-based body builder, Kyokuto, the truck is the first of two prototypes to be made and will now commence testing and evaluation here in Australia, before signing on as a recovery vehicle for the Repco Supercars Championship in coming months.

According to Hino President and CEO, Richard Emery, the prototype is just one way the brand is rising to meet the truck industry’s transition to sustainability.

“We’re building up opportunities to go to the market and say, ‘This is the perfect execution of Hybrid Electric’, and one of the things we’ve done is discuss with Supercars the changing of our recovery vehicle,” he said.

As part of Hino’s partnership with Supercars, which also sees it sponsor Team 18 and Mark Winterbottom’s #18 Chevrolet Camaro, the truck brand provides a Hino 500 FE 1424 Crew Cab as the official recovery vehicle.

“Supercars is struggling to alleviate its [carbon] footprint and Porsche has come on board this year with [Porsche Taycan GTS] electric safety cars, so we thought this is a big opportunity for Hybrid Electric,” Mr Emery said.

Body builder Kyokuto has a long-standing relationship with Hino and already builds the brand’s Built to Go tippers. It’s also working on a prototype tipper for the Hino Hybrid Electric, Mr Emery said.

Based on Hino’s 300 Series 916 Hybrid Electric, the tilt tray prototype has a unique specification and adopts a ‘zero tilt’ design. “The tray ends up sitting flat on the ground, which helps in Supercars when you’re dragging a crashed race car onto it,” said Mr Emery.

“It’s something that Kyokuto specialises in. Now we tend to use local tilt tray builders, but they [Kyokuto] offered to do the work and adapt it to the Hybrid Electric, so this is the first prototype – we’ve only had it for a couple of weeks.”

The creation of the prototype also represents another way Hino is seeking new ways to capitalise on the surging interest in its Hybrid Electric platform.

As some truck manufacturers move directly to battery-electric solutions, Hino says its Hybrid Electric is the only light-duty offering to provide something of a ‘middle ground’ or ‘stepping stone’, the Hybrid Electric platform offering improved fuel efficiency without the issues of charging, range, payload penalties incurred by large battery packs, and so on.

Initially introduced to Hino’s local line-up in 2007, the Hino Hybrid Electric message finally appears to be cutting through.

“Two years ago we were doing 50 a year, last year we did 200 with more on the order books,” said Mr Emery. “That should be in the mid-300s this year and 500 next year.”

The Hino Hybrid platform is also Euro 6, so it’s unaffected by incoming regulations stipulating mandatory Euro 6 compliance for all new heavy vehicles sold from November this year.

“We need to expand the offering on Hybrid Electric,” said Mr Emery. “It suits certain applications, so we’re building some prototypes now for certain applications. We’re building a council-type spec, some more Built to Go models, and we think they’re a good basis for a tilt-tray – that’s another opportunity.”

Hino expects the truck, which will eventually adopt a blue livery to highlight its hybrid drivetrain, will enter service with Supercars around the middle of the year, possibly in time for the Sydney SuperNight event to take place under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park over July 19 to 21.

It will also be at next week’s inaugural TruckShowX, an industry event showcasing low- and zero-emissions trucks to be held at Cape Schanck, Victoria, over May 12 to 14.