Volt Weblog

UPS hydraulic hybrid delivery truck

I try to cover a wide variety of topics here even though my main focus is on the Chevy Volt.  I’ve covered new forms of generating E85, the new Chrysler EVs, the toyota prius, and a few other topics.  These all had one thing in common though, they focus on us becoming a more fuel efficient country.  One that can help protect the environment and reduce dependency on foreign oil.  Of the cars talked about, they also all had something in common: they all use an electric motor to some how supplement the overall mileage achieved.

That’s why this story is particularly exciting for me.  A hydraulic hybrid doesn’t need the cumbersome batteries or electric motor.  It’s a lot simpler than that.  Now that doesn’t mean that it’s better, I believe that electric cars are our future.  We just need a small leap in battery technology to make that happen.  And until then hybrid systems remain something that isn’t all that efficient in bigger trucks.  Sure, Chrysler and GM have hybrid SUVs, but they aren’t going to haul all the things that a UPS or fedex or 18 wheeler needs to.

The theory behind the Heavy Duty hybrid is pretty straightforward.  The big trucks use really efficient diesel engines right now.  When up to speed they get pretty good fuel economy considering the weight they’re carrying.  The problem is getting the trucks up to speed.  Everytime they have to slow down for a stop sign or stop light they have to get going again.  It’s that initial acceleration that eats into the mileage of these trucks.  So for a delivery truck that runs around mostly in the city it won’t get optimum mileage most of the time.

That’s where the hydraulic system comes into play.  It uses the same braking that electric hybrids do, but instead of recharging the batteries this system pressurizes tanks.  The tanks store the pressure up until it’s time to accelerate and then release the pressure across a specialized transmission to aide the truck in getting up to speed.  This alleviates a lot of the lost mileage cause by stopping.

ford hydraulic hybrid

In the city these hydraulic hybrids could get 50% better fuel economy and reduce their emmissions by 40%.  The initial fleet is only going to be a few in operation in the Minneapolis, MN area.  But it’s more than none, and UPS has plans to roll it out to more locations later on in the year.

Ford has long been linked to a hydraulic hybrid version of their F150.  Most of those sources purport that the new Ford would get 60 mpg and would be released in 2008.  Obviously the release date is premature, but it would be nice to see this kind of application find it’s way into more mainstream autos.  The hydraulic system should be a lot cheaper than an electric hybrid system would with fewer parts to break.  It would go a long way to helping reduce the amount of gasoline we use in our trucks.

Tags: fleet, hybrid, hydraulic, test, ups

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 8:08 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.