From May 12 to 14, the Japan Track Show 2022 was held as scheduled in Japan, where Isuzu presented trucks with three different energy sources, namely pure electric, LNG and fuel cells, and also demonstrated its long-tested dual-truck technology.
Due to geographical constraints, 90% of Japan's domestic freight is carried by trucks. Japan is facing a serious shortage of drivers as about 40 percent of local truckers are over the age of 50 due to aging and a shortage of children.
To ease the crisis, Japan's transport ministry began organizing trials of dual trucks in 2016, allowing one driver to transport two trucks to save labor and boost productivity.
In October 2016, Japan issued a special notice of "Special Vehicle Permit Standard", extending the maximum length of trucks from 21m to 25m, to prepare for the test of dual trucks.
In 2017, Japanese dual-tandem trucks began to test operation. The test section is centered on Japan's New Totomi Expressway, with a one-way distance of 500 kilometers, including expressways and general roads. In 2019, the test sections of Minigami Expressway, Sanyo Expressway and Kyushu Expressway were expanded on this basis.
Isuzu's double truck is the common C-double car train in Europe. It consists of a main car and a semi-trailer, with a trailer attached to it.
The internal dimensions of the tractor part and the trailer part of the 25m dual truck are both about 10m, with a total length of 24.1m. The maximum load of the tractor part is 13.5 tons, the trailer part is 12.4 tons, and the load of the connected truck is 25.9 tons.
The main car part supports the dumping box mode, the chassis and the top can be separated freely; The semi-trailer part can support the drop mode, the main car and the trailer can be freely matched. The combination of the front and back parts can realize a variety of transportation modes, and the collocation of appropriate transportation scenarios can maximize the efficiency of transportation.
Nowadays, in addition to several logistics companies that participated in the early testing of Yamato Transportation, Nippon Express, Nisinu Transportation and Japan Post, Fukuyama Transportation and Senko have also introduced Isuzu 25m tandem trucks to carry out trunk transportation between Kanto and Kansai.
According to the actual calculation, under the condition of the same transport capacity, the dual-tandem truck can reduce the annual driving time of the driver by 50% and the annual CO2 emission by about 50%.