Supplier Team Selected by HTUF

Utility and state truck fleets working together in WestStart’s Hybrid Truck Users Forum (HTUF) program have selected the supplier team of Eaton Corp. and International Truck and Engine Corp. to build more than 20 advanced, pre-production hybrid-electric work trucks for national deployment and assessment.

The trucks promise to improve fuel economy 40-60%, provide engine-off work site operation, reduce maintenance costs and further cut emissions from this class of truck. The trucks offer a “dual use” benefit that supports both commercial truck needs and emerging military needs for efficient drivelines.

“This project takes hybrid truck systems to the next level of commercialization,” says John Boesel, president and CEO of WestStart-CALSTART, the nation’s leading advanced transportation technology industry organization, which operates the HTUF program in partnership with the U.S. Army’s National Automotive Center (NAC). “These are not prototype trucks. They are the early production versions of what we expect will be commercially available trucks in the next two to four years.”

HTUF is a joint program between WestStart-CALSTART (CALSTART being its California operating division) and the NAC to speed the commercialization of hybrid drivelines that could be used in both military and commercial vehicles. Presently more than 50 fleets representing roughly one million trucks are participating in HTUF. The group has worked with fleets and suppliers to identify the best, first-market segments for hybrid trucks and has organized fleet working groups around those applications. The best uses are generally for urban work trucks, especially those with heavy stop-and-go or urban driving, and those with high engine idling times.

“These trucks make sense because the users themselves developed the requirements,” said George Survant, director of fleet services for Florida Power and Light Co. and chair of the HTUF Utility Working Group. “If these trucks now prove out these capabilities and costs, we fleets are prepared to start buying them in the coming years as our replacement vehicle.”

The main fleets committed to the deployment purchase beyond Florida Power and Light include: Alabama Power; American Electric Power; Baltimore Gas and Electric; Duke Energy; Entergy; Georgia Power; HydroQuebec; Missouri Department of Transportation; Pacific Gas and Electric Company; Pepco; Southern California Edison; and TXU Electric Delivery.

WestStart-CALSTART has been playing a national role as coordinator and facilitator of efforts to advance hybrid technology in the trucking industry. As with hybrid passenger cars, hybrid technology can significantly improve fuel economy and reduce harmful emissions from the nation’s medium- and heavy-duty trucks. However, truck hybrids are potentially emerging as a U.S.-led technology: there are already more than 10 different leading U.S. manufacturers of heavy-duty hybrid propulsion systems.

For more information, visit www.weststart.org.