Is There a Heavy-Duty Hybrid in Your Future?
More travels… This week I’m in Atlanta, at the National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA) Work Truck Show. I just got out of a session called “Hybrid and Alternative Fuels Commercial Vehicle Initiatives,” and I was surprised to learn how far medium-duty and heavy-duty hybrid trucks have come along. International is already producing Class-6 and Class-7 hybrid utility trucks, and several other manufacturers are following right behind. But just wait until 2009: that’s when Mack, Volvo and Peterbilt plan to introduce hybrid Class-8 tractors, and that will be a very interesting development.
Just think about it: a Class-8 tractor that derives its torque from a combination of a diesel engine and an electric motor, so that your fuel economy gets a sizeable boost and your emissions are reduced significantly. It uses regenerative braking, transferring braking energy into additional charging for the drive batteries (some transit fleets using hybrid buses with regenerative braking report that they can go a full year between brake jobs). And the technology is transparent to drivers: in medium-duty applications, drivers don’t notice any difference in performance between hybrids and traditional trucks.
I know what you’re thinking: they’re going to be expensive. Yes, there will be incremental costs, but a lot of people at the meeting today are working hard to make sure there will be financial incentives to soften the blow.
Let’s face it: you’re going to have to change the way operate whether you like it or not. All things considered, a hybrid is a pretty attrative way to go.
February 28th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Timely article. It is time for a class 7 or 8 heavy duty hybrid. I have been aware of this development for several years and I am looking into purchasing one as soon as they are available. In the waste business all of our work is done in 200 foot drives. I am excited with the hybrid hydraulic drive being developed by Autocar. The added weight of the large batteries, along with the added charging times and duty cycles for the electric hybrids, makes the hydraulic hybrid a more appealing unit for my fleet. You need to keep these hybrids in the forefront of your reporting. They will be the way of the future. California truckers already know the horrors of CNG and LNG. Electric and hydraulic hybrids coupled with the newer emission compliant diesel engines seems to be the way to not only meet todays emission standards, but also provide a possibility of tomorrows emission regs by reducing CO2 as well.
March 6th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
The brake life will far exceed one year. In heavey duty buses it has already gone beyond two. I have heard comments like there is a possibility of never touching the brakes over the life of the bus (12 years). One year is a very very conservative estimation. On the drive line side in trucks I have to beleive there is also going to be less drive line shock and thus a possible savings as well. Lots of positives to hopefully offset the cost. Not too sure there is a complete ROI yet.