Toyota launches 100% electric Series 8 Tern truck in the US market

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The Intertubes lit up this morning with news that Toyota will launch a 100% battery-powered pickup truck, only to disappoint American car buyers with news that it probably won’t be available stateside. What will be available is the new ‘Tern’ Series 8 heavy-duty electric truck, which is a big step considering Toyota is noticeably late to the 100% battery electric party.

Toyota is catching on to battery-electric truck fever, with help from a fuel cell truck maker

To make things even more interesting, the new Tern electric truck comes under the umbrella of Toyota Group’s Hino subsidiary, which has been promoting a Class 8 fuel cell electric truck for the North American market. Go and conclude.

The fuel cell angle is a bit more interesting because Hino has teamed up with Norwegian battery and fuel cell company Hexagon Purus to bring its battery-powered electric truck to life, in a deal valued at $2 billion.

Apparently Hexagon Purus can manufacture two types of zero-emission trucks at the same time, and battery power is becoming available in the US market. In March of 2023, the company announced plans to produce all-electric heavy-duty Class 8 trucks for the United States, to be sold through the Hino dealer network and also serviced by Hino.

“The vehicles will be based on the Hino XL 4×2 truck chassis and equipped with Hexagon Purus’ own zero-emission technology, including battery systems, auxiliary modules, power modules and vehicle-level software,” Hexagon explained in a press release.

The 2023 announcement follows an earlier agreement for Hexagon to supply battery packs for several different Hino trucks that will be commercially produced in 2024, so everything appears to be on schedule.

If the company stays on schedule, Hexagon expects to manufacture 10,000 Class 8 trucks for Hino by 2030, a pace dictated in part by the requirements of California’s Advanced Clean Truck Regulations.

“The ACT requires, among other things, that 5% of all new Class 7 and 8 trucks sold in 2024 in California must be ZEVs while new additions to Class 7 and 8 truck fleets operating to and from intermodal seaports and yards Rail should be a ZEV from ‘2024’, explains the hexagon. The ultimate goal is 100% zero-emission truck sales by 2040.

Here comes the Tern Class 8 electric truck

Toyota is clearly aiming for the Turn to jump into the growing lineup of electric trucks in the American market, and they’re not messing around. Earlier today, Hexagon announced that it expects the new Tern RC8 truck to start rolling off the floor of its factory in Dallas, Texas, arriving in the hands of Hino dealers sometime later this year.

In support of the Made in USA project, Hexagon is deploying a US-assembled Hino chassis and an electronic axle from Dana Motors in Ohio. Currently, Panasonic Energy ships its battery cells from Japan, but Hexagon expects future deliveries to come from Panasonic’s operations in DeSoto, Kanasa, starting in 2026.

In case you’re wondering what Tern’s name is, that’s a good question. The tern – a type of seabird – doesn’t look particularly distinctive, say, on the level of an eagle, a peacock, or any number of other birds.

However, there is a good explanation. “We are excited to offer a truck that embodies the endurance and efficiency of the Arctic Tern, famous for its light weight and long migratory journey – a reliable companion you can always count on,” Hexagon CEO Morten Holum explained in a press release.

New Electric Turn Truck and Cold Weather Performance

This reference to Arctic Tern also indicates that Hexagon is confident in the new truck’s cold-weather performance. That remains to be seen, but the old line about cutting cold weather into an electric car’s battery range is getting outdated over time.

Last year, public interest consulting firm Atlas Public Policy released an analysis of effective strategies fleet owners are deploying to maintain lithium-ion battery performance in cold weather.

“Although some degree of cold-weather range loss is unavoidable, municipal and commercial fleets have demonstrated solutions and strategies to enable truck electrification,” Atlas concluded.

“Improved vehicle system level designs, such as replacing resistance heaters with more efficient heat pumps and heated seats, are critical to reducing parasitic battery loads,” they added. Preheating a vehicle can help reduce range losses, and advance planning for operational changes can prepare Fleets to success.

Atlas also noted that battery range and supporting technologies continue to improve rapidly, so we suspect Hino and Hexagon Purus were interested. If so, Tern drivers can expect a range of around 200 miles for city duty cycles, in reference to how much (not how) the car is used. According to Hexagon, city duty cycles account for about 95 use cases for Class 8 trucks.

“Tern is particularly focused on electrifying practical applications for commercial vehicles that deliver the most significant benefits to drivers while reducing or eliminating operational modifications required by our fleet customers,” Hexagon explains.

For the record, the new Tern will feature Hexagon’s Gen3 269-kWh battery packs in 750-volt and 538-kWh configurations.

What happened to Hino’s fuel cell electric truck?

Yes how about that? When Hino markets a Class 8 fuel cell electric truck, Hexagon Purus could be in the running as a partner. The last time Clean Technica Hexagon checked in, and they were reaching out to Ford to provide a hydrogen fuel storage system for Ford’s new F-Max fuel cell truck. The F-Max is Ford’s contribution to the European Union’s ZEFES program, which takes a closer look at both long-range fuel cell and battery-electric trucks.

Meanwhile, in 2020, Hino and Toyota announced plans to develop a Class 8 fuel cell truck for the North American market. A prototype was in the works by 2021. Meanwhile, in 2022, Hino announced a partnership between itself, Toyota and Isuzu with Japan’s Toyota Zero Emission Technologies Partnership Project, aiming to produce a fuel cell light-duty truck for North America. market.

“The joint initiative is expected to contribute to achieving a hydrogen society, as well as carbon neutrality by expanding options for customer use and increasing demand for hydrogen,” Hino explained.

In May 2023 News agency It also said that Daimler’s stake in Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. will tie it up with Hino as investors in the new Mitsubishi-Hino holding company, with the aim of pushing the market towards zero-emission mobility including hydrogen fuel cells.

We’ll keep an eye on that. For now, though, the big news from the Toyota group is the battery-electric Terrain truck.

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Image (cropped): Toyota Group subsidiary Hino Motors teases a Class 8 heavy-duty fuel cell electric truck in 2020, and delivers a 100% battery-electric Tern Class 8 truck in 2024 (Image courtesy of Hino via prnewswire.com ).