vehicle reaches approximately 42 mph does the engine directly propel the vehicle in direct-drive mode, said the company. Tom DeCoster, business develop- ment manger, Energy Recovery, at Parker, explained the benefits of tar- geting refuse applications. “If you look at the amount of fuel consumed and you improve fuel savings by 40%, you also reduce carbon output by 40%. Those numbers begin to add up dra- matically. So, in the heavy truck voca- tion market, the industry was asking ‘how do we get a significant improve- ment’ and it’s almost easier to achieve dramatic fuel usage and carbon out- put reductions in the vocation market than it is the over-the-road market because of the heavy losses incurred during start-stop city driving. “So if you look at what we’ve been able to achieve with the Run Wise — anywhere from 35 to 50% fuel sav- ings — an over-the-road application is not going to see that kind of fuel sav- ing percentages. Companies that are working on over-the-road applications are claiming 3 to 7% fuel savings, and that seems reasonable to me. Parker is initially targeting vocational markets where the savings potential is much higher,” said DeCoster. Another company targeting voca- tional applications for its hybrid tech- nology is Eaton Corp., which recently announced plans to begin offering retrofit versions of its Hydraulic Launch Assist (HLA) hybrid power system for refuse trucks later this year. The Refuse Retrofit Program will be offered through select qualified partners and installers. Eaton said it is currently seeking partners for the program. “By retrofitting existing trucks, Eaton is giving our customers a best-of-both- worlds scenario,” said Seth Deutsch, manager – Hybrid Market Planning at Eaton. “They have been asking for a hybrid solution that does not require the purchase of a new truck, and we’re pleased to deliver the retrofit option.”
14 DIESEL PROGRESS NORTH AMERICAN EDI TION February 2010
The chart illustrates the annual fuel consumption and savings from hybrid technology per vehicle type based on Bureau of Transportation statistics from 2008. While the percentage of fuel saved in heavy-duty applications may be less, the number of gallons is still significant.
Hybrid, 20% Fuel Hybrid, 50% Fuel
Conventional Savings Savings
Type of
Vehicle
CO2 CO2 CO2
Fuel Use Emissions Fuel Saved Reduced Fuel Saved Reduced
(gal/yr) (tons/yr) (gal/yr) (tons/yr) (gal/yr) (tons/yr)
Passenger Car 547 5. 3 110 1 274 2. 6
Light-Duty 610 6. 8 123 1 306 3. 3
Truck
Medium-Duty 1475 16. 4 296 3 738 8. 2
Truck
Heavy-Duty
12,840 14.5 2569 29 6421 71.3
Truck
Parker Hannifin Corp. offers the Run Wise hydraulic hybrid technology for refuse truck applications. Due to the start and stop nature of the refuse truck’s drive cycle, they are conducive to the braking regeneration that serves as a backbone to hybrid technology.
INDUSTRY NEWS
The Eaton HLA system is a parallel hybrid system in which the conven- tional powertrain is supplemented by the addition of hydraulic pump/ motors and accumulators that help launch the vehicle in start-stop appli- cations and provide energy recovery through regenerative braking. Ben- efits of the system, Eaton said, are 20 to 30% improvement in fuel economy, longer brake life and increased vehi- cle productivity. Eaton manufactures a wide array of hybrid technologies targeting commercial vehicle applications, in- cluding hybrid-electric, plug-in hybrid- electric and two hybrid-hydraulic power systems. While one of the benefits of diesel hybrids is that they can use the exist- ing commercial fuel infrastructure, more interest has also been garnered by Class 8 trucks powered by natural gas engines. Daimler Trucks has developed a Freightliner Class 8 natural gas truck that incorporates a Cummins West- port ISL G cooled exhaust gas recir- culation (EGR) engine available in ratings to 320 hp. The truck can haul up to 80,000 lb. and is designed for regional haul applications, such as the ports in Los Angeles, Calif.
