During a press conference at NTEA Work Truck Week, Hino Trucks announced an expansion of its product range to include electric vehicles. Hino Trucks will offer an electric version of their M- and L- Series medium duty trucks branded Me Series and Le Series available in 2024.

Hino Trucks will begin production of these new vehicles integrating SEA Electric’s SEA-Drive power system. SEA Electric launched its first model in 2017 and has since released several medium- and heavy-duty commercial electric vehicles including delivery trucks, garbage trucks, tipper trucks, tilt tray trucks, reefer trucks, cherry picker trucks, school buses, shuttle buses, cargo vans and passenger vans. SEA Electric’s SEA-Drive power-system is adaptable to most OEM glider chassis platforms from Class 3 to Class 8 (3.5t to 29t).

The Hino Class 5 M5e cab over and Class 6 L6e conventional models made their debut during the show, and come equipped with battery capacities of 138 kWh (SEA-Drive 120 Power-System) and 220 kWh (SEA-Drive 180 Power-System) respectively.

Starting in 2024, Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) mandates are starting to kick off in California which are growing the demand for electric vehicles (EV), and many of our customers want to add EV’s to evaluate operational capabilities. Over the past several years, we have made significant strides in the push toward electrification. This strategic collaboration with SEA Electric is part of our plan to provide powertrain options to meet the needs for our customers and markets throughout the United States.

—Glenn Ellis, President of Hino Trucks

To compliment the EV transition, Hino Trucks is building infrastructure to support these trucks with Hino INCLUSEV, a portfolio of end-to-end electric vehicle enablement exclusively available through Hino’s nationwide dealer network. This is a customer-centric, dealer-unified end-to-end EV enablement solution that includes consulting, sales, infrastructure, single-source financing, support and service.