Summary Excerpt
The U.S. trucking industry consumes more than 52 billion gallons of fuel each year and accounts for 21% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from transport activities. Applying hybrid drivetrain technology to medium- and heavy-duty vehicles can improve fuel economy by 20-50% with a corresponding decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and smog-forming pollutants. The per vehicle fuel savings and CO2 reductions possible with hybrid trucks are much more dramatic than those for passenger hybrids, with a medium-duty truck saving 300-700 gallons of fuel per
year and saving 3-8 tons of CO2 emissions. Despite these obvious benefits, the hybrid truck industry is still in a relatively early stage. Hybridizing these large vehicles poses more complex technical challenges because commercial trucks must carry tremendous weight, operate in near continuous use, make many stops and starts, and often perform tasks not demanded of passenger vehicles (for example, operating the boom on a utility truck). Global market introduction of hybrid commercial trucks is about 10 years behind passenger hybrids.

The United States is well positioned to lead the development of hybrid trucks. At least 25 U.S.-based truck makers and 14 U.S. hybrid system developers are actively involved; many now have prototypes or are producing available hybrid models. A range of U.S. electric hybrids are available for different applications such as package delivery vehicles, beverage haulers, and utility boom trucks. More than 95 U.S. commercial and utility truck fleets have so far purchased or are testing these hybrids, beginning with FedEx Express, which ordered the first hybrid trucks in the United States, United Parcel Service (UPS—total fleet of 73,000 vehicles), and Coca Cola
(total fleet of 22,000 vehicles). Other large fleets adopting hybrids include Verizon (59,000 total vehicles) and Pepsi (19,000 total vehicles). In response to this rapidly growing demand, the hybrid truck industry is growing quickly, from only 200 vehicles produced in 2006 to an expected 4,850 in 2010.

Read Manufacturing Climate Solutions Carbon-Reducing Technologies and U.S. Jobs Chapter 9, Hybrid Drivetrains for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Trucks by the Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness, Duke University

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