Toyota is celebrating Earth Day by unveiling a new
fuel cell electric semi at the Port of Los Angeles. Jointly developed with Kenworth,
the latest semi is an evolution of previous “proof of concept” trucks – known
as Alpha and Beta – which were created as part of Project Portal.
The semi is based on the Kenworth T680 Class 8 and
uses Toyota’s fuel cell electric technology. The companies didn’t go into too
many specifics, but said the new semi “expands on the capabilities” of previous
trucks as it has “enhanced capability, packaging and performance.” Speaking of
the latter, the new truck has an estimated range of 300+ miles (483+ km) per
fill up and Toyota noted this is “twice that of a typical drayage trucks’
average daily duty cycle.”
A total of ten trucks will be built as part of the
Zero-and-Near-Zero Emission Freight Facilities Project and they will be used to
use haul cargo received at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Four of the
trucks will be operated by Toyota Logistics Services, which is responsible for
processing and distributing Toyota products sold in the United States, but UPS
will use three of them.
Fuel cell vehicles haven’t caught on with consumers,
but Toyota North America Executive Vice President Bob Carter said the company
is “committed to fuel cell electric technology as a powertrain for the future
because it’s a clean, scalable platform that can meet a broad range of mobility
needs with zero emissions.”
