G. David Felt

October 5th, 2020 Hino Trucks, a subsidiary of The Toyota Group Company announced their Project "Z". This was the Company's development plan to offer zero emissions vehicles (ZEV) for class 4 to 8 medium and heavy duty trucks in the North American market with customer demonstrations in 2022 and production starting in 2024. Project Z was a development plan to bring Fuel Cell and BEV to the whole medium and heavy duty product line for customers along side Diesel as the industry started to convert over. The long 5 year plan was expected due to the continued R&D that would be needed on Diesel trucks to meet global emission standards and the development time for fuel cell and BEV trucks. During the Virtual 2021 NTEA Work Truck Show, Hino Trucks announced their intent to produce all class 4 to 8 trucks using Cummins engines for sale in North America. This is the Cummins B6.7 and L9 motors to start being produced in the Hino's L and XL Series models at the end of 2021. Additional models moving forward will come out to cover all truck lines allowing for a much reduced investment in R&D while at the same time allowing Hino to ramp up their efforts to move over sooner to a Zero Emission fleet of trucks. As such, this announcement allows Hino and Cummins to secure long term diesel motor production for existing sales of such trucks and Hino is able to focus on Zero Emission vehicles (ZEV) using BEV and Fuel Cell technology. Hino has now moved up their time line with production of Fuel Cell and BEV trucks in Q4 of 2022 with full production by the end of 2023 rather than the end of 2024. A couple of take aways from both the Cummins and Hino announcements and projects: Hino can shift resources from Diesel R&D to Project Z. Cummins secures long term diesel powertrain commitments. Both OEMs secure a new partnership that helps offset R&D investments. Cummins partnership contracts for diesel powertrain also secures revenue stream allowing Cummins to invest in their own ZEV Powertrains. Both companies have stronger long term growth prospects with this partnership allowing both stocks to grow. Additional commitments by HINO to the battery production industry securing large size battery cell production contracts. Battery suppliers another grow industry to consider. HINO is a very popular truck line used in inner city deliveries as well as the suburbs and rural areas. Having a diverse portfolio of ZEV and Diesel trucks with a solid know power train from Cummins is a win win for Fleet buyers. Hino is lookin to lead the medium / heavy duty truck market in North America as well as around the world being ready for the needs of ZEV solutions while strongly supporting the needs of Diesel fleets. View full article

Agree, dates are meaningless till actual confirmation of it shipped, on the truck, arrived at the dealership. Not surprised by the bump to the build week due to the various parts shortage happening. Thanks for keeping us updated, very excited to see your new truck when it arrives!

That is one way to use the trailer hitch for a storage unit!

There ya go, the only auto's that are decent enough for me. The lone blue Ferrari has some nice attributes, but like @balthazar Most Ferraris to me are MEH!!!!

This is Lovely!

1 out of 2 awesome cars not bad. That Aston is Bomb.Com!

I honestly do not get what is so exciting about driving a Sardine can car. Glad you like them, but a hard pass from me.

Both of my kids got their first shot over the weekend of Moderna. Family should be 100% vaccinated in 4 weeks.

Muscle car war

Congratulations Drew! Great looking Fleet!!!

@trinacriabobSomething like this one? 1978 Pontiac Bonneville | Legendary Motors - Classic Cars, Muscle Cars, Hot Rods & Antique Cars - Beverly, MA (legendarymotorsllc.com) Lovely car, already sold though, a ton of great pics at the link above.

Seems that the Ariya is not the only EV to be coming for Nissan as other web sites are now saying Nissan will have an EV also in one size below the Ariya. Report: Nissan planning small electric crossover below Ariya (greencarreports.com)

H'mmmmm ? What auto's are overloaded with a bigger trailer than their tiny engine can handle for a $100? What Auto's have a big American V8 and are towing itty bitty trailers for $200? What Auto is overloaded and sagging in the butt needing a load leveling system from Germany for $300? What kinds of things are trailered by people with SUVs for $400? Man we could have such fun games while Drew is driving!

An auto one can easily forget. Such a catfish car if there ever was.

Future

This just proves as I have always believed that America can build superior race auto's when we want over the over rated Italian stuff.

Reminds me of a fish, from the cat fish to the whale shark, I have to wonder if the designer is not a fisherman big time and thought using the front of a fish as inspiration would not be a good thing. I will say other than the grill, I do find the outside design pleasing, nothing new or shocking, but nice for those that like cars / sedans. Interior is a great improvement, love all the tech being used here. Very modern take on a sedans interior IMHO.

Per Norway's own news and electrek story following up on the local news in Norway, they hit a record 54% electric auto sales market share for 2020. As more and more EV options come to market, gas and diesel sales have crashed. March 2021 gas auto sales were 4.8% of the market with diesel following at 4.7% market share. This is less than half of the market share they had for the same period a year ago. Norway originally set 2025 as a target of electric auto sales only for the whole country and now are on track to ensure this happens without any issue. As electrick story does point out, Norway is a small and rich country with strong EV incentives. As such, this has made the auto industry take notice and try to figure out how fast the rest of the world could follow. Industry analysts believe the global market will hit 30% at best by 2030 for EVs. Even with or without incentives by local governments, there is strong belief by some that once enough variety is on the market, many will forgo ICE auto's for the simpler to maintain EV's. Frp vil fjerne bensinbilene | DN Norway's gas car sales are crashing to a crawl and rest of the world will follow faster than you'd think - Electrek View full article

Electric Block?

Yes, true, if no depreciation, then you're no fool. Course, I also do not think a person who buys something they like and holds onto it like you or myself that changes auto's every 10 to 15 years is a fool either as we truly get our use/value out of it. On the other hand, a person swapping out auto's every 12 to 18 months could very well fall into that category. The perception is what it is all about. My Escalade is 15 years old and like new. SS is 13 years old and like new and my 1999 Durango is 22 years old and then I have my 1994 GMC SLE Suburban being 28 years old. So not sure I fall into the fool category either. But still, it is an interesting statement from me.

Have my Spotify playing while I work to finish a project and on a Red Hot Chili Kick.