Comments on: Report: Medium, Heavy-Duty Hybrid Trucks to Hit 100,000 Annual Sales by 2017

By: tapra1

tapra1 — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:15:48 +0000

said Pike senior analyst Dave Hurst. “As fuel prices have increased, truck manufacturers have responded by expanding their offerings of alternative drivetrains to help reduce emissions and fuel usage by trucks.”Mobile News

By: Wellsoup

Wellsoup — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 22:02:37 +0000

13,000 gallons at $3.50 per gallon over 5 years for a freight truck is $227,500 in fuel costs. Certainly, is would pay to have the large truck manufacturers use aluminum and carbon fiber as whole or in part, regenerative braking, stop/start idling, and solar roofing for better mpg and the life of the truck. Thus, large trucks are not efficient and with lighter lithium batteries hybrids get the same or better mpg.

By: John K.

John K. — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 03:26:34 +0000

Whatever happened to hydraulic hybrids? I thought those were the best for heavy trucks, esp in stop and go driving (e.g., delivery trucks, buses, etc).

By: simon@syd

simon@syd — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 10:37:34 +0000

I wonder if a hybrid would be quieter – eg in regen braking?

By: AP

AP — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:12:19 +0000

They should roll hybrid powertrains out on city delivery trucks, where there is a lot of braking and idling. Then you can use regenerative braking and idle with the engine off.

Why would we subsidize electric trucks? They're only good in the city (short range), and a hybrid would give you 90% of the benefit.

On the highway, hybrids may actually decrease fuel economy because of the energy losses in the electric motors. It's more efficient to convey energy from the engine to the wheels through a conventional transmission than through motor/generators.

Large trucks are very efficient to start with, so they're hard to improve much.

By: MrEnergyCzar

MrEnergyCzar — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 02:25:48 +0000

It looks like the biggest guzzlers will make the slowest gains in efficiency. A gas tax predictably increasing by 50 cents per year for 10 years will change all of this...

MrEnergyCzar