Power play

Simon Duddy: Emissions regulations are making diesel powered trucks more expensive to construct. Is the price difference between diesel and electric heavy trucks narrowing?

Dave Rylance: The emissions regulations have not been such an issue for Toyota as our experience in building engine solutions for all types of vehicles has been based around continual improvement with a focus on the environmental impact. If you take our new range of high tonnage engine-powered Tonero trucks, from 3.5 to 8t. The engine technology chosen for these trucks is based on previous experiences. The diesel engine utilises a variable turbo and exhaust gas recirculation system to reduce emissions, improve efficiency and reduce fuel consumption. Crucially, this has enabled us to achieve a cleaner highly productive engine without the need to fit DPF filters that are expensive and push the manufacturing costs up.

SD: What about whole life costs?

DR: Whole life costs are very simialr between internal combustion (IC) and electric forklifts, giving our customers greater choice.

However, there are cost reducing solutions by opting for an electric powered truck for single shift type operations. The differential relating to the purchasing price between IC  and electric is closer than they used to be and although the electric solution is still more expensive, it is compensated by the reduction in fuel running cost during a typical 5 year contract period. A common rule of thumb measurement for comparing the running costs between I/C V Electric based on a single shift application is that an electric powered truck will cost 40% less than the fuel operating cost of an I/C model. This could mean a reduction in running costs of around £3,000 per annum.

HSS: Could diesel trucks eventually be priced out of the market altogether?

DR: There will always be a requirement for diesel trucks in the foreseeable future although the continuing regulation targets to reduce engine emissions further will apply a lot pressure on manufacturers to keep their prices as low as possible. Diesel powered provides high levels of power and torque along with flexibility for many customers. There will be a steady increase of electric trucks replacing diesel trucks in the market, however the how much and the speed of this will depend on future emission regulation. 

SD: Are electric trucks suitable for all applications?

DR: Of course an electric truck will not satisfy all the varying kinds of applications that forklift trucks operate in although designs of electric trucks have been improved to work both indoors and outdoors and in more challenging operations that they were previously designed for. The newly introduced Toyota Traigo 80 volt 4.0 to 5.0t range is a good example of this, being designed to operate efficiently and reliably for most applications.

The running cost advantage reduces substantially when the truck is required to run over multiple shifts when an additional battery and battery changing need to be specified.

HSS: Traditionally there have been concerns about electric trucks completing a full shift. Is this still true?

DR: The Traigo 80 is 20% more efficient that the previous 7FBMF model, and this is very noticeable in operation. This of course is very dependent of what the truck is actually doing within its operation cycle on site and is very difficult to put an actual time on it, however within the VDI test cycle tests we typically experienced running times to be increased by around 1 hour. This should give customers who avoided an electric truck solution in the past more confidence that the truck can be used for longer periods before re-charge.

In addition performance parameters can be varied to extend operation hours to meet operational needs.