Sci-Fleet Motors
TOP DEALER LEARNS HYBRID HINO FIRST HAND
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TOP DEALER LEARNS HYBRID HINO FIRST HAND
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A leading Queensland automotive dealer is acquiring first-hand hybrid truck operating experience and playing a part for the environment with a new Hino 714 Hybrid truck.
Sci-Fleet has commissioned the Hino hybrid to deliver Hino, Toyota and Lexus spare parts in the Brisbane metropolitan area.
It replaces a six-year old solely diesel-powered Hino truck.
Hino’s 714 Hybrid offers fuel savings of between 20 and 30 per cent, compared with a solely diesel-powered truck with the same payload.
The direct relationship of fuel use to CO2 production (one litre of diesel fuel burned creates 2.68kg of CO2) means it offers significant savings in greenhouse gas production.
The 6500kg GVM-rated Hino hybrid truck has particular benefits in stop-start city and suburban operations.
It has an idle-stop feature, which switches off the 4.0-litre diesel engine when the truck is stationary, and regenerative braking – to capture energy that would otherwise be lost through the mechanical brakes as heat.
The general manager of the Sci-Fleet Group of Companies, Craig Andersson, believes that operating the new hybrid truck through the company’s parts department will provide valuable user experience.
“We see our new parts delivery truck as not only a way of promoting the Hino brand but also as an opportunity to acquire direct experience of hybrid trucks for ourselves rather than relying on second-hand information,” he said.
“We’ve designed the body and the paint scheme so it is an icon on the road – combining the green theme with appropriate, eye-catching signage. The fit-out looks sensational compared with the standard tray body on the truck it has replaced.
“We decided that we needed a different style of body as well as a vehicle that is suited to stop-start operations, and the Hino Hybrid is certainly that.
“The truck will operate primarily in the Brisbane metropolitan area, but it will travel to the north coast, west to Ipswich, occasionally down to the Gold Coast.”
Hino’s new 714 Hybrid truck was designed to deliver benefits in lower running costs, lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduced gross emissions.
Technically, it meets Japan’s new long-term emission standards which are tougher than Euro V emission standards. It therefore reduces the emissions of particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx), as well as carbon dioxide, to the lowest level of any Japanese light duty-truck available on the market today.
The Hino 714 Hybrid mixes and matches the power of a 100kW/353Nm 4.0-litre diesel engine and an electric motor that delivers 36kW of power and 350Nm of torque. The combined power is fed through a six-speed manual transmission.
There is no need for an external power source.
The truck generates its own electricity while on the move and through regenerative braking – then stores that energy in a high-voltage battery until it is required to help power the truck.
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