UPS is First in Delivery Industry to Test Hydraulic Hybrid Vehicles: 50% Better Fuel Economy and 40% Lower Emissions
In partnership with the US Environmental Protection Agency, UPS will begin testing a small fleet of hydraulic hybrid delivery trucks in the United States. The new vehicles can achieve 50-70% better fuel economy, a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and pay for their extra expense in less than 3 years.
UPS will field two hydraulic hybrids in Minneapolis, MN, in early 2009 and an additional five hydraulic hybrid trucks will be deployed later in 2009 and early 2010. Although this sounds like a tiny fleet, keep in mind that this is the largest scale commercial test of hydraulic hybrids ever conducted.
The UPS hybrid hydraulic truck is a standard-looking 24,000 pound package car, with an EPA-patented diesel series hydraulic hybrid drive attached to the rear axle.
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In a series hydraulic hybrid, the conventional drivetrain is replaced with a hydraulic system that stores energy by compressing gas in a chamber using hydraulic fluid. It works in much the same way that a hybrid electric car does — a small, efficient motor generates power which gets stored for later use — only, the way energy is stored in a hydraulic hybrid is in a pressurized chamber rather than in a battery.
The hydraulic hybrid drivetrain eliminates the need for a conventional transmission and increases fuel economy in three ways:
- A large amount of the energy that is otherwise wasted in braking can be recovered to pressurize the hydraulic fluid.
- The engine operates much more efficiently — similar to a hybrid electric car, only without the bulky batteries
- The engine can easily be shut off and instantaneously restarted during regular driving — such as when the vehicle is slowing down or stopped at a light.
UPS has been developing what it calls its “green fleet” over the last several years and currently has more than 1,600 low carbon emissions vehicles including electric, hybrid-electric, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and propane trucks.
Although this is a small step, I applaud UPS for testing the waters. Hopefully others will join in quickly.
Source: UPS press release
Image Credit: UPS
Tim,
Thanks man. I am feeling a bit better, my muscle soreness is going away, but now I’m getting some joint pain in my shoulder… and where my head hit the side window I get occasional stabbing pains. But, considering the circumstances, I’m pretty stoked that that’s all I have.
Hip Hip Hooray! I think this is great. I like to see companies becoming more socially responsible in reducing emissions. You bet they will get my packages in their continued effort to make the world a better place.
Carbon Buildup: Eaton Corporation builds these hydraulic hybrids systems.
Several other fleets have already tested this technology. This article exaggerates the benefits but it’s still worthwhile. Check out http://www.calstart.org or http://www.westart.org or “Hybrid Truck User Forum”.
Wait, so is it a series hybrid or a parallel hybrid? You mention it being series, but then you say that the engine shuts off at stoplights.
I’m guessing that it operates like a series hybrid, just one with a *really small reservoir*. Am I right?
Nate,
Don’t know about the “really small reservoir.” They don’t mention details like that in any of their literature that I could find. They do say that it is “full-series” hybrid though.
These systems are also used aboard ships to store energy to start an emergency diesel. The nitrogen “bubble” is stored at the top of the cylinder and as the hydraulic fluid is pumped in it pressurizes the nitrogen. This is called the accumulator. Once the diesel recieves a start signal the hydraulic oil dumps due to the built up pressure of the nitrogen(around 2,000 psi) and cranks over the engine. In this scenario, the accumulator would be attached to the drive shaft. I read an article about a year ago that was saying ford was designing this for a f-150 platform, but i never heard anything else about it.
I wonder if it would be cost effective to heat the compressed nitrogen to increase its pressure and work it can do, maybe using the exhaust gas from the ic engine?
I have read of wind farms that compress air into underground caverns, and use the compressed air to drive turbines for having a constant output. These setups often burn natural gas (as it goes into the turbine) in the air to increase the pressure/output.
Great post! I read an article about this in the summer called “Hybrid Hummer Hums” found at http://economicefficiency.blogspot.com/2008/07/hybrid-hummer-hums.html
I also saw one of these trucks in Sterling, VA about 6 months ago!
Thanks for the info Nick but disappointed the testing of these new vehicle technologies is moving at such a glacial pace. The article you linked to in the comments about Artemis was likewise interesting but, again, no move by Artemis from testing to production is discussed. Here is hoping this technology makes it to the market.