Go for it! And lets hope the 25% theory holds up in testing.

Why??? PHEVs are best for short-haul urban driving cycles. Heavy trucks log most of their miles in long-haul open highway cycles.

A hybrid retrofit might get them 5-10% by using energy captured while going downhill, but would do nothing for long flat hauls or steady inclines. 25% is a pipe dream. This sounds like a waste.

[q->t to email]

Adam,

Thanks for your input, very positive, the fact that every truck manufacturer and every operator will pay for a system that has break even in less than 3 years and has the chance to reduce fuel costs by maybe an avarage of 15% in the whole lifecycle makes this worth doing.

Not sure why you are stuck in the dark ages, the only way out of where we are is innovation, and this seems like a great way to innovate cheaply

The problem with this is its too cheap, uses stock parts can be fitted by any competent operater and oh yeah I really wanted a shiny new one this xmas.

Hybrid is great for local trucking to help reduce local air pollution. PM emission is the greatest during diesel engine's acceleration, and the electric motor can help with this. Stop n' go driving and traffic congestion waste a lot of fuel, and hybrid will help this also.

Long-haul trucking can benefit from having the battery pack used to run the accessory load during truck stops, thereby saving fuel and reduce pollution, provide that the battery cost is low enough to make this practical.

Up and down hill driving can do without hybrid, due to the large number of gears (12-18 gear ratios). Down gear shift when going up hill, and higher gear for downhill to accelerate. Most truckers will try to build up speed before an uphill climb, and slow down a little going up the hill, and re-accelerate back to speed going down hill. Hybrid will help more with steeper slopes, wherein you don't want the truck to overspeed too much going downhill nor slowing down too much going uphill.

The most effective and cheapest way to significantly reduce Heavy Truck fuel consumption is to improve their ridiculous "aerodynamics" or rather lack of them. Robert Englar's excellent work on this showed the potential for 20% fuel savings or more with cheap plastic and sheet metal fairings. Add on slot blowing/ suction and 50% or more is achievable, taking into account the energy needed for the active pneumatic system. See teh SAE papers Englar has published.

As a hybrid, trucks would surely be best as a series hybrid, with an engine or APU driving a generator to power an electric drive motor. On the motorway, would this not achieve much better fuel economy than the existing direct drive by a large ICE? Otherwise, what size batteries are you going to need? 200kWh? At 70Wh/kg? Even with a truck, that is significant weight not to mention the cost of a Lion "sucker" at that size. Another reason ZnAir is the only viable possibility.

Combine the two - intelligent aerodynamics with series hybrid drive and we start to achieve something useful.

Kevin,

Come off your "dark ages" high horse, please. I'm all for innovation where it makes sense, like hybrids in delivery trucks and city buses with frequent stops where regenerative braking will make a big difference. PHEV trucks can also become temporary ZEVs and enter warehouses and other confined spaces or high-population density areas; this is similar to Arnold's point.

But long-haul hybrid trucking is a goofy idea. As Emphyrio pointed out, aerodynamics are a much bigger bang-for-buck, as those losses dominate over long haul routes. I can't see this paying off in ten years for a long haul trucker.

[q->t to email]

Interesting Just out: International Committe on Climate Change
report 7 years to sort the worst of the inevitabe catastrophic climate change effects. No time to lose and "off the shelf = We can start today.
Adam - why would you poo poo This applicable and available IDEA> get it. is just an Idea, no ones twisting your arm.
This site, to me is a think tank -creative ideas, If you can appreciate it is what its all about.
Real creative Ideas are thin on the ground Please add something possitive.

Years ago, I had thought of a retrofit for pickup trucks and SUVs, but it did not make economic sense at the time. I would think this would work for local delivery vehicles that log lots of miles though.

Those motors look like they would fit inside the wheels... so why not use wheel hub motors? It drives me crazy that people are designing vehicles like this without hub motors! You could put 10 wheel hub motors on the truck in the picture and each would be bigger then the motor they have in the picture! They ICE would only be needed as a range extender just like the GM Volt (EREV).

And to the guy that thinks solar will power a truck... it is 5 watts per square meter not 1000!

Diesel electric locomotives have been in use for along
time and saved that industry alot of fuel. A big super
capacitor bank would make more sense for the braking
since they can store and then release a large amount of
current and would help big time on the take offs. All
batteries have a certain amount of charge/discharge
cycles and using the capacitors will help the batteries
last longer(which saves$$) IF the motors were optimized
to take the current that a cap can dump without making
the wheel spin or breaking something you could have the
maxumum torque and could even put some ice cars to shame
I experimented with using caps to power toy cars and
if you don't limit the current you will burn up some
brushes/melt windings, but the performance is incredible
and the take off with good traction can't be matched by
any battery. The power to weight ratio of using caps
only on the toy cars makes for a very fast car of course
the range is limited by the amperage stored. I made
them since we were making those co2 powered dragsters
I wanted to challenge my friends with something that
was different and after trying all manner of battery
type from 1/2aaa to those crazy 12volt N batt. I said
to myself capacitor since I remembered the first time I
happened to short out one and was amazed at the amount
of current that was dumped in an instant!! If you want
to experiment those caps from disposable cameras are an
ideal, cheap or free if you ask at the store source for
quick dump capacitors. I even made a small Arc welder
using caps and guitar string and just about anything
else I got my hands on as a kid for the welding rods.
I made some weird pieces and added all kinds of things
onto my Matchbox cars. I had a bunch of Mad max looking
cars that always impressed my friends and everyone
wanted one. I know I know that was a big Non sequitor
but I had to!! Try it you will be amazed at the power
the caps can dump, Of course be careful!!!!!

Doesn't this still come down to basic laws of physics? F=MA, where the mass we want to move here is up to 129,000 lbs of freight. I'm thinking the power stored in batteries would be dwarfed by that generated by the ICE, and gear box. Decoupling the jack shaft would remove that great force from the rear axle, making the tractor less useful in some cases. I would love to see regenerative braking system that could retrofit existing lighter weight passenger cars. I believe that would save far more fuel than being used in diesel semi fleets, and probably be far more realistic with an appropriate energy to mass ratio.