Navistar Introduces Li-ion Battery Lease Program for Medium-Duty Hybrid Trucks

21 August 2008

Navistar is now offering customers of the International DuraStar Hybrid medium-duty truck (earlier post) a battery-lease program—the first of its kind in the North American commercial truck industry—that shaves $10,000 off the initial purchase price of the truck in exchange for making 60 monthly lease payments on the battery.

Navistar is offering two other incentive programs for the diesel-electric hybrid trucks as well: a $6,000 tax-match incentive and a 60-month fair market value lease that enables the customer either to turn in or purchase the truck at the end of the lease. All three programs run through the end of the year.

The DuraStar hybrid uses a parallel, pre-transmission design with Eaton’s Fuller UltraShift automated transmission. Primary components are the Hybrid Drive Unit (HDU), which combines a clutch, a 44 kW/420 Nm motor/generator and automatically controlled manual transmission; the motor inverter/controller; the DC/DC converter; and a 340V 2 kWh Li-ion battery pack.

The DuraStar Hybrid offers up to 30-60% fuel savings over traditional diesel-powered trucks. The fuel savings of the DuraStar Hybrid recently qualified the truck for federal tax credits of $3,000 to $12,000, depending on application and GVW, for most customers. The $6,000 tax-match incentive from International is an additional incentive for qualifying buyers.

These three new programs are for customers who are feeling the pinch of fuel prices and who are looking for a greener alternative. These new programs help give customers a shorter payback period to realize their return on investment.

—James L. Hebe, senior vice president, North American sales operations, Navistar

In addition to its medium-duty DuraStar hybrids, Navistar, through its wholly owned affiliate IC Bus, has begun production of hybrid school buses, also in partnership with Enova. (Earlier post.) Navistar is also partnering with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Army, UPS and Eaton Corporation to develop the a series diesel hydraulic hybrid urban delivery vehicle. (Earlier post.)