First Mass-Produced Electric Truck Unveiled (nhk.or.jp)

AmiMoJo shares a report from NHK WORLD: Japan's Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus has unveiled what it says is the world's first mass-produced electric truck, as automakers around the world go all out to develop cars that run on battery power. The vehicle can carry about 3 tons of cargo and travel about 100 kilometers on a single charge. The truck, unveiled on Thursday, will be used by Japan's largest convenience store chain, Seven-Eleven. Seven-Eleven President Kazuki Furuya says some people complain about the noise delivery vehicles make, and says he is very impressed at how quiet the electric truck is.

Comments

An people will complain

[Kokuyo]

It's too quiet. How can pedestrians keep being absorbed in their smartphones if you can't hear traffic anymore over the music you're playing on your headphones?

Re:An people will complain

[Freischutz]

It's too quiet. How can pedestrians keep being absorbed in their smartphones if you can't hear traffic anymore over the music you're playing on your headphones?

Just do what electric car manufacturers are already doing, put some speakers on the car and play a distinct whizzing noise when the vehicle is moving that intensifies when the driver steps on the accelerator. If pedestrians smartphone zombies become a major problem we can always take the pedestrian detection AI from self driving cars, install it in these trucks and have it play a very loud recording of a shrill female voice yelling in a cranky tone of voice (think Michelle Wolf) the words: "LOOOK OUT!!! ...you brainless smartphone zombie!" every time one of them seems likely to wander onto the road.

Re:An people will complain

[coofercat]

Our hybrid Outlander makes a sort of whirring noise at low speeds so you can hear it coming. It's not one of the components making that noise - it's actually made deliberately and turned off once you're moving a bit quicker (when normal road noise is enough). It doesn't seem like lack of noise is a hard problem to solve.

As for headphones... I turn mine up a notch or two when I'm walking along main roads and down again when I get onto quieter roads. Again, seems like a solved problem.

What's not solved though is the dirt produced by ICE engines in trucks and buses. Electric's a nice step forward in that regard. Whether it works in all circumstances is besides the point - if it can move stuff around cities it'll be just fine. Outback road trains can continue to be diesel for a few decades more without any real harm done to anyone or anything, but stuff where people live needs taking care of in pretty short order.

Re:An people will complain

[Kokuyo]

So we're back at neighbours complaining about noisy delivery trucks :D.

Personally I'm all for pedestrians not having right of way and drivers being protected from liability when pedestrians show an IQ level just below ground coffee.

Re:An people will complain

[I75BJC]

Oh the other hand, a person meeting your description stands a chance of being noticed by the Darwin Awards. And, why is the stupidity of others my concern? They are not children and do not need parental control -- they are adults. Let the consequences of their actions teach them appropriate behavior.

Re:An people will complain

[Dutch Gun]

It's still far better to rely on electricity for small-scale transportation wherever we can. Some areas have green power. In my state, for instance, most of our power is generated from hydro. For other areas, we're transitioning over time to cleaner energy generation, so we'll see bigger improvements as more of our power is generated pollution-free.

I'd also argue that even if power is generated from dirtier sources like coal, I think it's arguably better to have fewer of those dirty sources to deal with, rather than spewing toxic gasses from a million smaller engines right in the middle of where everyone lives and works every day.

Re:An people will complain

[b0bby]

And even if an electric car is powered 100% by coal, its emissions will be about the same as a Prius today. Any improvements over time will only make that better.

Too bad you didn't link to any HTML

[drinkypoo]

When I clicked the link, all I got was a page that made it clear that it was a Javascript site, not a HTML site.

Here are three links which are higher quality than the garbage you linked to this story: one two three. Is this site news for nerds, or dick-jerking for people who don't care if the web goes to shit? Clearly, the latter.

Milk floats

[Anonymous Coward]

Electric trucks were in common use from about 1900 till about 1970:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbilt_Electric_Trucks

Re:Milk floats

[Hognoxious]

Those don't count. Only Japanese things count. In a pinch, Chinese will do.

It's actually a Daimler brand...

[denzacar]

Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation is owned by Daimler. So it's German AND Japanese.
Also, these very same trucks were presented in US as well, about a month ago.

Re:Far from the first.

[Sique]

Depends on the local definition for a truck. In most E.U. countries, vehicles lighter than 3.5 tons are not considered trucks. Most light trucks sold in the U.S. would be called cars in the E.U..

I guess UPS built theirs by hand then for years

[nospam007]

from a couple of years ago..
'UPS Deploys 18 New Zero Emission Electric Trucks In Texas '
https://pressroom.ups.com/pres...

In Amsterdam (Netherlands) they have been using electric trucks for at least 5 years.

Re:100Km? That's it?

[coofercat]

Seems pretty useful for getting stuff around town. I'm not sure how far they come from, but the trucks pulling up to the supermarket across the street where I used to live seemed to be coming pretty much constantly. They wouldn't stop for 2 hours, I'll grant you (probably less than an hour), but they'd still get some charge in that time. Stopping even 50% of those trucks spewing out diesel fumes would probably make a noticeable difference to air quality in the area.

Sure, the ones that do 200 miles to get where they're going aren't going to be replaced by this. They also need to be replaced by this sort of thing much less than the short-haul, inner-city traffic. So yeah, this won't replace every truck on the planet, but it doesn't need to.

Electruck?

[Anonymous Coward]

The first electric truck, and they didn't call it the "Electruck"?

Re:Far from the first.

[Sique]

In Austria, we even have "fiscal trucks" (Fiskal-LKWs). Those are cars, that are used commercially, and are taxed as trucks, but from a traffic law point of view are cars, can be operated with a car driver's license, and have the same speed and parking limits as passenger cars.

Re:First?

[Rei]

Not even close to "first electric truck of the century". Some companies have been at this for ages. Smith Electric Vehicles, for example, started with electric delivery trucks in the 1920s, switched to milk floats, then in the modern era back to full-sized electric delivery trucks.

Re:First?

[Rhipf]

But the 1920s was last century. :-)