Toyota's heavy fuel truck project moves from alpha to beta



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In 2017, we took a look at Project Portal, Toyota's plan to test a zero-emission heavy truck at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, California. The idea was to feed an 80,000 lb (36,288 kg) class 8 semitrailer with hydrogen fuel cells, then put it to work by carrying marine containers into the water. one of the busiest ports in the country. Now, Toyota has taken lessons learned from 10,000 miles of hard work as a dump truck and built a second-generation vehicle with even more reach.

The first truck, known as Alpha, used a pair of development engines. the Mirai sedan being run in series. These gave him 670hp (500kW), 1,325ft-lbs (1,796Nm), and a range of 200 miles (321km). Although Toyota did not increase the capacity of the 12 kWh lithium-ion batteries on the new Beta truck, it managed to increase this range by 50% to more than 300 miles (482 km) between refueling. The beta retains the same power and the same torque as its predecessor.

The second generation truck now sports a sleeper cab and a revised hydrogen storage system that frees up more interior space without requiring a longer wheelbase. Toyota believes that Beta is also more manageable than the previous Alpha

"When evaluating the first truck in our test facilities and on the current roads in the Los Angeles area, we have drawn up a list of the two. improvements for the beta truck building process, performance improvements, "said Andrew Lund, chief engineer of the project." We had to go beyond a proof of concept, that the first truck has completed, for something that is not only better than the original but also more commercially viable. "

Toyota notes in its release that more than 16,000 trucks are operating in the two ports of Southern California. "courier of these big vehicles means that they are mature candidates for zero emission powertrains." Like electric buses and hybrid garbage trucks, their daily work cycles im Plenty of driving at the stop – good for regenerative braking – and a lot of idling. And there is no need to build an important refueling infrastructure since the routes are located in a relatively small geographical area. Replacing the existing fleets of dirty diesel vehicles with fleets that emit only water would certainly be a good thing with respect to the quality of the local air.

Image rating by Toyota

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