A startup in tiny Deerfield has beaten out trucking industry giants to win the right to test hydraulic hybrid delivery trucks with a California-based organization.
Deerfield-based Hybra-Drive Systems LLC has been selected to negotiate with the Parcel Delivery Working Group of the Hybrid Truck Users Forum in Pasadena, Calif. for validation and testing of hybrid hydraulic power on parcel delivery vehicles.
The forum is part of Weststart-CALSTART, a nonprofit consortium founded in California in 1992 to develop greener transportation methods.
In winning the award, Hybra-Drive beat out industry giants like Eaton Corp.
Hydraulic hybrid trucks will be leased for an 18-month evaluation period and are expected to yield up to a 60 percent reduction in fuel use and emissions. Vehicle performance will be demonstrated in chassis dynamometer and field testing. The working group members to lease the hybrid parcel trucks include UPS, FedEx and Purolator.
Hybra-Drive is working with Gates Corp., Detroit Custom Chassis and Morgan Olson LLC on a hybrid vehicle based on a Ford Motor Co. chassis. In this series hybrid design, an engine -- gasoline, alternative fuel or diesel -- pressurizes hydraulic fluid that propels the vehicle. The system is designed to add no extra weight compared to a standard vehicle and includes cost-effective variable displacement gear pumps and fluid power accumulator system designs.
"Recognition by such respected organizations should accelerate this technology's role in reaching fuel independence," said Hybra-Drive founder, chairman and CTO James A. O'Brien II.
HTUF's Parcel Delivery Truck Working Group is funded by the United States Department of Energy's Office of Eenrgy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The national HTUF program is a joint program of CALSTART and the United States Army's National Automotive Center in Warren. HTUF works to speed the commercialization of hybrid systems that could be used in both military and commercial vehicles, and benefits from the participation of more than 80 fleets representing roughly a million trucks.
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