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Batteries included
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With 10 Mitsubishi Fuso Canter Eco Hybrids being tested in real-world conditions in London, its high time CM got behind the wheel of one of them...
Words : Colin Barnett PARKED OUTSIDE the main doors of the NEC during the 2006 CV Show, a single Japanese-spec Mitsubishi Fuso Canter marked the low-profile debut of a keystone of the DaimlerChrysler (as it was then) global environmental project. Before it returned to Japan, CM nagged the Mercedes-Benz UK press office until it let us have an exclusive drive in the towns and countryside around its Wentworth Park facility near Barnsley (CM 1 June 2006 'Mix and Match').
More importantly, the vehicle attracted the attention of a number of key UK operators, and last week eight of them formally accepted 10 vehicles for a three-year trial in real-world conditions in London (CM 14 August 'Canter hybrids are Capital idea'). This is part of Daimler's ongoing global series of trials of alternative CV drivelines involving 3,000 vehicles from brands as diverse as Freightliner, Thomas Built Buses and Mitsubishi Fuso.
In an ideal world, this trial would have involved some of the 300 Canter Eco Hybrids already in service in Japan, but UK legislators refused to accept the Japanese equivalent of Euro-4 so the 10 trucks taking part are effectively European trucks re-engineered at the factory in Portugal.
A key part of the hybrid concept is the downsizing of the diesel engine, so the 4.9-litre 180hp unit is replaced by a 3.0-litre 145hp one. The trial trucks have effectively been largely hand-built, and as Daimler's UK CV sales boss Ian Jones points out, this legislative intransigence and the extra homologation took up £1.5m of the R&D budget that could have been better spent.
Competitive payload
Between the smaller engine and the relatively conventional automated manual transmission, there's a combined generator/motor that regeneratively charges 1.9kW of lithium-ion batteries during coasting and powers the driveline when required. The extra weight of the hybrid installation is some 200kg, which still leaves the Canter with a highly competitive payload.
The installation is intended as a joint venture between diesel and batteries rather than the hybrid running solely on battery power. According to Daimler's Roland Dold, the engineer in charge of alternative drivelines. it could be done — but with the current battery pack, range would be measured in hundreds of metres. The lithium-ion batteries are the best solution currently available, and Dold reckons it will be at least five years before more powerful alternatives become cost-effective. In the Canter application, the batteries should have a nine-year service life.
At the wheel, there's little to differentiate the Eco Hybrid from a regular Canter. An extra warning light on the instrument panel advises that the electrics are ready for action, and there is a simple auto transmission quadrant. The engine stop-slart system fitted to the Sprinter and Atego could have been used, but was left off to gain a more accurate comparison with existing vehicles.
In this first European spec, the diesel engine runs continuously, albeit only at tickover and at low speed when the electric motor provides the prime motive force. At steady cruising speeds, this role is taken by the diesel engine — and when maximum power is required, both sources join in.
With last week's formalities taking place at the SMMT HQ just across the road from Her Majesty's back garden, we spent an hour or so driving the Eco Hybrid in the vicinity of Hyde Park Corner and Belgrave Square, dodging the kamikaze tour buses.
As a driving experience, it's best described as reassuringly disappointing. Apart from the slightly disconnected feeling of engine and road speed being at odds at low speeds, it drove just like a Canter 7.5-tonner with a decent automated manual transmission and plenty of torque in reserve.
The only negative related to the transmission, which occasionally took its time in responding to urgent demands for power. Otherwise, there was nothing to prevent any driver being productive within 10 minutes. •