Eaton Delivers to UPS - 10/31/08

UPS is one of the companies that will be testing a hydraulic hybrid vehicle (HHV) from Hybra-Drive next year and has already been testing a similar vehicle from Eaton.  The Eaton truck has been tested for the last 18 months.  It has seen an upwards of 50 percent less fuel burned and a reduction of 30 percent of the carbon emissions.  These test results was so positive UPS ordered seven of the HHVs.  The first two will be delivered early in 2009.  These first two will be monitored by Eaton.  With the addition of these two trucks the UPS green fleet of low emission vehicles is up to 2,129.

Assuming these “green trucks” were not cheap UPS believes if they were manufactured in high volume the extra cost could be regained in three years by the fuel and maintenance savings.  The HHV trucks save fuel using the hydraulic equivalent of regenerative braking.  This allows the engine to operate more efficiently and stopping the engine when slowing or stopped.  A high efficiency diesel engine powers a pump instead of a transmission and uses accumulators to hold the pressurized hydraulic fluid. 

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