Australia Post to trial two new Hino hybrid vehicles
Australia Post has become the first customer in Australia to take delivery of a new hybrid truck which has the potential to reduce the environmental impact of its sizeable fleet.
The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, accepted the new truck’s keys from its manufacturer, Hino Australia, on behalf of the corporation.
According to Coonan, the vehicle – which combines a diesel engine with hybrid technology – has great potential for Australia Post’s operations.
“Based on Hino’s predictions, the corporation anticipates being able to achieve up to 30 percent fuel savings, as well as a 25 percent decrease in Co2 emissions, compared with other similar vehicles in this class, which is great news for the environment,” she says.
Australia Post is trialling two of these vehicles to transfer mail from inner-city lodgment areas back to its sorting facilities throughout Sydney.
The vehicles are ideally suited to urban stop-start operations, where constant use is made of the electric motor. They are also particularly useful to Australia Post in the city because they can access areas with underground docks that have height and width restrictions.
Steve Lotter, Hino Australia’s Chief Operating Officer, says Australia Post’s decision to take the hybrid is consistent with global experience in which leading postal services can readily recognise the potential of the hybrid system.
Lotter says that over the past two decades the motoring industry has introduced important breakthroughs, such as airbags and anti-lock brakes. Each started in a small way, but were soon taken up by the majority of manufacturers until they became universal and low-cost through economies of scale.
“Hybrid will go the same way. In 10 years, the thought of life without it will be inconceivable,” he predicts.
The Australia Post fleet travels a distance of approximately 173 million kilometres every year in delivering around 21 million items of mail each working day to over 10 million delivery points all over Australia.
