Hybrid Garbage Trucks on the Way

The Environmental Protection Agency is doing more than just serving as emissions nanny to automakers. Next year an EPA-influenced hybrid garbage truck made by Peterbilt will roll out with both a diesel engine and a hydraulic pump. Hybrids don’t all need to be gas-electric, you know.

In a very detailed Wall Street Journal article, we learn all about an EPA band of engineers that has been working on hydraulic hybrids for decades, even building an 80-mpg car that obviously never made it to production.

This garbage truck could be the first in a line of commercial vehicles using the government-funded technology. The EPA says the system is 30% more efficient than the one it will replace. UPS is looking to follow the trend and is testing two hydraulic-diesel hybrid prototypes for its delivery fleet. That could save a bit of change for UPS, which spends $2.1 billion a year on gas.

Don’t expect hydraulic-diesel hybrids to come to retail car dealerships; they’re primarily used in large trucks. Ford did, however, test a hydraulic-hybrid Expedition SUV that delivered 27 mpg in the city before joining with Toyota to build gas-electric systems instead. Oh, what could have been. 

[EPA-Influenced Vehicles Get Set to Hit Road, The Wall Street Journal via Autotopia]