We’ve been focusing more on performance- and luxury-oriented cars and concepts launched at the Japan Mobility Show 2023, but as the new name of the Tokyo Motor Show makes clear, the scope now covers other mobility solutions for the future. And these Isuzu vehicles are perfect examples of that.
Let’s take a look at each one.
Isuzu Erga EV
The Erga EV, says Isuzu, is the first mass-produced, fully-flat battery electric vehicle (BEV) bus in Japan. What’s ‘fully-flat’ here is the floor, because the batteries are mounted on the roof and on the underside of the vehicle.
This allows for easier entry and exit for passengers, who will also be able to access all seats without navigating any steps. In addition, the electric powertrain provides smooth acceleration and deceleration, which not only enhances passenger comfort but also improves safety by minimizing on-board accidents.
The Erga EV will be rolled out for public use in 2024.
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Giga Fuel Cell
From a production-ready vehicle, let’s move on to something that’s currently in development. The Giga Fuel Cell is a collaboration between Honda and Isuzu. Prototype testing will commence sometime within the first quarter of 2024, with the launch of the production model to follow in 2027.
Propelling this low-deck 8x4 rigid truck is an AC synchronous electric motor with a rated output of 429hp (320kW). This being a fuel-cell vehicle, the fuel-cell (FC) stack converts hydrogen into electricity to power the motor. A lithium-ion battery is still part of the system, but in this type of vehicle, its function is mainly to capture energy under braking use that to provide supplemental power to the electric motor.
The Giga Fuel Cell has a range of around 800km, Isuzu claims, and it can also serve as a mobile power station via 2 CHAdeMO ports that can supply a maximum of 530kWh. The hydrogen tank can be topped up within a matter of minutes—as if you were refueling a traditional combustion-engined vehicle.
Isuzu EVision Cycle Concept
But for fast top-ups of BEVs, Isuzu also presented a different solution: the EVision Cycle Concept. Instead of having a fixed on-board battery that’s recharged by plugging in the vehicle, it makes use of a battery-swapping system that allows for the depleted batteries to be replaced with fully-charged ones from a charging station.
One benefit of this system is that at battery-swapping stations, the depleted batteries may be charged the during off-peak hours when electricity rates are lower or there’s less load on the power grid. And because it takes much less time to swap batteries than to charge one that’s on board a vehicle, there’s no massive downtime between each leg of the journey.
Isuzu showcased a few more vehicles at JMS 2023, but we’ll save that for a different story. In the meantime, what do you think of these cargo and passenger transport solutions?
