The sales of what the Truck Industry Council describes as ‘Alternate Fuel’ commercial vehicles are hardly setting the world on fire, but they are slowly climbing and building momentum in a gradual but improving way.
This follows the latest registration statistics for the category by the Truck Industry Council which show that alternate fuel trucks and vans powered by either hybrid or battery electric systems amount to just 1.39 per cent of the total market for trucks and vans over 3.5 tonnes for the year to date to the end of October.
This figure represents a total of just 454 alternative fuel commercials registered to the end of October with the monthly tally amounting to 59 units.
Hino’s hybrid diesel powered trucks are the top sellers in the category having registered 23 trucks in October for a year to date tally of 173 units.
It’s been a slow burn for Hino with its pioneering hybrid diesel trucks which feature a primary diesel engine coupled with an electric power plant that can drive the truck on electric power at low speeds and supplements the diesel engine under load. The benefit for hybrid buyers is that that the system delivers lower fuel consumption with strong torque and power from the supplementary electric motor, which also benefits braking through the regenerative generator, that not only retards progress while slowing but recharges the truck’s battery pack in the process.
Next behind the Hino hybrids on the alternative fuel hit parade was Foton Mobility which has registered 139 battery electric trucks over 3.5 tonnes so far this year and moved 18 units for the month of October.
Volvo, Hyundai and Fuso all registered a handful of battery electric powered trucks in October with the Swedish brand being the only maker to sell any heavy duty electric trucks in October registering a total of five of its FH or FM models for a total of 18 BEVs so far this year. Mercedes is the only other brand to sell any heavy duty electric powered machines this year and so far has registered Seven of its eActros up to the end of October, but did not register any for the month.
Korean maker Hyundai, which distributes its electric trucks via its subsidiary Hyundai Australia and diesel powered models through an independent distributor, registered two of its BEV powered light duty trucks in October, to bring its tally for the first ten months to 16 electric machines. Ironically Daimler’s Japanese brand Fuso also sold two of its BEV eCanters in October to also bring its tally to 16 registrations for the year so far.
In medium duty Foton Mobility sold two battery electrics in October, bringing its tally in this weight sector to three so far this year, while Volvo, Fuso and Mercedes also sold a small number of medium duty BEVs, with Fuso and Volvo both netting one sale in October, bringing Fuso’s total in electric mediums to eight for the year , while Volvo’s tally is three and Mercedes two.
Hino led the way in light duty with its 23 hybrids for the month and 173 for the year, while Foton Mobility was next best with16 for the month and 136 for the year so far. Hyundai sold two for the month and 16 for the year leaving Fuso with a single registration in light duty in October, making its tally eight for the year.
Its still slim pickings in the electric heavy van sector with Mercedes Benz leading the pack with four of its eSprinters registered in October to take its tally to 18 for the year to date. However Ford actually leads the field for year to date sales in electric vans having registered 42 of its electric Transits up to the end of October, although it trailed Mercedes for the month with three registrations. The only other brand to register in the TIC’s electric van sector was LDV with two units for the month and 20 for the year.
Alternative fuel vans, read battery electric, because there are no hybrids or other alternative fuel machines in the mix, has seen a total of 80 registrations so far this year with eight units in total being registered in October. That means that electric vans represent about 0.9 per cent of the total heavy van registrations in Australia so far this year.
It will be interesting to see how quickly the alternative fuel sector commercials are sold in the coming months and over the next year or so as recharging facilities increase and the pressure of rapidly rising fuel costs place a burden on transport companies and operators.
