Kenworth Expands Hybrid Offerings, Introduces New T370 Class 7 Hybrid Tractor Targeted at Local Haul Applications
24 September 2008
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The T370 hybrid. |
Kenworth Truck Company has introduced a new Kenworth T370 Class 7 diesel-electric hybrid tractor for local haul applications, including beverage, general freight, and grocery distribution. Kenworth, a division of PACCAR, already offers a T270 Class 6 hybrid-electric truck. Peterbilt, also part of PACCAR, also offers its version of the T270, the Model 335.(Earlier post.)
Both the T270 and T370 share the same hybrid drive system, developed by Eaton. The Kenworth T370 tractor is powered by the PACCAR 6.7-liter PX-6 engine, which is rated at 300 hp (224 kW) at 2,600 rpm, with 620 lb-ft (840 Nm) of torque at 1,600 rpm.
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The Eaton Hybrid Drive Unit. Click to enlarge. |
The medium-duty hybrid system 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. (Earlier post.)
Kenworth’s goal for the T370 hybrid tractor is to improve fuel economy by up to 25% in local haul applications. The tractor will be available in various wheelbases, starting as short as 153 inches. The new Kenworth hybrid tractor will be a featured participant during the 16 October 16 Ride and Drive event at the upcoming Hybrid Truck Users Forum (HTUF), to be held this year in South Bend, Ind.
Advanced powertrain controls monitor driving conditions and automatically select the ideal power mode, switching among electric-only, blended diesel and electric, and diesel-only power modes. Electricity generated through regenerative braking is stored and used for acceleration, assisting the diesel engine. The hybrid system is monitored through a dash display. As the power requirements for different driving conditions change, the screen constantly updates the driver on system status.
In 2007, PACCAR and Eaton Corporation entered into an agreement to develop jointly proprietary hybrid technology for heavy-duty commercial vehicles in North America. The new products will be introduced exclusively in Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks in the North American market, targeted for initial production by the end of 2009. (Earlier post.)
Awesome stuff...10 years from now, most vehicle sales could be some type of hybrid. This is after GM spent years saying that hybrids were just a fad.
Posted by: sjc | 24 September 2008 at 12:25 PM
The big rigs may end up getting the biggest dividends from hybrid tech.... as in deisel/electric locomotives.
Posted by: danm | 24 September 2008 at 02:21 PM
@sjc,
And I suppose the former Locomotive division of General Motors hasn't been offering diesel-electric hybrids, and pure electric locomotives for sale for more than 75 years? Or is that only a figment of our erroneous histories, and a pack of anti-socialist prevarications?
I know that you think everything that America does is not very good, and the socialists from you Utopia (where did you say it was, Havana, Caracas, Beijing, Hanoi ??)have always created a pristine Earth loving environment.
Dig the American distaste out of your head and heart. It gets very tiresome.
Posted by: stas peterson | 24 September 2008 at 03:10 PM
I would guess that within several years all medium and heavy duty trucks on local routes will be hybrid. The additional cost of the system doesn't have to be that low to provide a quick payoff on a truck that is being operated (meaning in motion) for 4-6 hours per day.
Posted by: JustinVP | 24 September 2008 at 03:23 PM
stas,
You are assuming that anyone actually reads your mindless lunatic ramblings.
Posted by: sjc | 24 September 2008 at 04:03 PM
stas:
It will certainly be difficult for you (and many others) to admit that we have been had for decades. However, sooner or latter we will all have to face the music and reality.
Bigger, heavier ICE gas guzzlers have never been better and certain not the best way to go from A to Z.
A progressive level of vehicle electrification and increased efficiency will happen regardless of what you and other nay sayers have to say.
You may as well get on board while the banks are still around.
Posted by: HarveyD | 24 September 2008 at 04:17 PM
Cause when fuel was cheaper than milk? hang on it still is. And Global cooling and the coming Ice age was still a far bigger issue ? Not sure about that.
Profligate consumption was so good for the economy ? still not sure?
There were still benefits for diesel electric heavy vehicles.
Now we know there are scalable benefits trickling into light vehicles and it is ok to question the old paradigm.
Lets not waste time rewriting history while its still too warm to bury.
Posted by: arnold | 24 September 2008 at 05:18 PM
"This is after GM spent years saying that hybrids were just a fad."
That was code. They were actually saying "We don't have a hybrid we can sell you right now." Now they have several, so hybrids are great.
I suspect these will be a big seller. I can't wait to see what they have in store for the Class 8's. Those will sell as fast as they can make them.
Posted by: rob | 24 September 2008 at 08:11 PM
Is this website entertaining or what?
For instance”
“Awesome stuff...10 years from now, most vehicle sales could be some type of hybrid. This is after GM spent years saying that hybrids were just a fad.”
A very clever way of emphasizing that GM can rightfully say, “hybrids were just a fad” for the next 10 years ! (of course we already knew this, if we just recall that trucks are about 50% of the market while hybrids are about 3%. So hybrids are not even a fad, at 3%, they are irrelevant.
Then:
“The big rigs may end up getting the biggest dividends from hybrid tech.... as in Diesel/electric locomotives.”
Ha Haaa. As anybody with any technical knowledge knows, Diesel-electric locomotives have no batteries and are slightly less efficient and heavier (but arguably more reliable) than diesel- hydraulics. Germany has highly reliable Diesel-hydraulics.
My turn. Let me tell some.
“GM and the US would be way ahead if GM had continued to make that sweet EV1.”
Not funny – too silly.
Why? Because if Honda and Toyota combined cannot sell more than that microscopic 3%, AFTER almost 10 YEARS, no one can.
But wait, maybe any auto maker that makes gas hogs is so inherently inept that they are destined fail, after all did they not just RECENTLY introduce the Titan, Tundra, Armada, etc. No, still not funny.
Now I’m depressed. You guys are much funnier.
Posted by: ToppaTom | 24 September 2008 at 09:32 PM
ToppaTom, Toyota's hybrid sales are about 10% of total US sales, not 3%.
Hybrids are 3% across total US sales and it would be higher if every manufacturer had a decent one.
All the decent hybrids sell at a ratio of 10% to their non-hybrid counterpart.
With the next generation of hybrids hitting the market next year, expect this number to keep on climbing.
Back on topic - it's great to see these trucks for the local haul applications hit the streets - My daily commute covering about 5 miles of surface streets is filled with noisy, dirty trucks used for local deliveries. If these were hybrids instead, the air would be cleaner and quieter.
Posted by: Dave | 25 September 2008 at 12:32 AM
My uncle works in GE's new diesel locomotives. He said the only think keeping them from using the regenerative braking/recharging (think Ford Escape) is the high voltages required to recharge, which currently overheats, the battery back. Currently the GE hybrid-locomotives release the heat into the air. Give them time, and they'll get the engineering worked out.
Posted by: Bryan | 25 September 2008 at 07:47 AM
GM has had hybrid transmissions for sale in the urban bus market for years through the Allison division. They just decided to start in a market where fleet managers could decide if the price premium was worth the fuel savings. They were only slow to get into the consumer market, where they weren't sure they could get people to deal with the price premium. The only thing GM dragged their feet on with hybrids was trying to roll it out to the consumer market.
The 2-mode technology they're starting to sell in their trucks and SUVs is a generation ahead of Hybrid Synergy Drive (and that's coming from a Prius owner/enthusiast). That tech is being scaled DOWN from what they put into buses. They are getting close to releasing it in GM passenger cars.
Posted by: Wes | 25 September 2008 at 09:31 AM
Doesnt the Hybrid camry outsell the V6?
Posted by: Perry | 25 September 2008 at 08:40 PM
Ah, yes, those wonderfully reliable Diesel hydraulic locomotives, like the ones that Krauss-Maffei brought to the US 40 years ago. They wrecked themselves trying to negotiate the grades on US railroads.
But locomotive experience has proved to be not very relevant to on-road vehicles. Otherwise GM would indeed have had a 60 year advance on Toyota.
Posted by: richard schumacher | 26 September 2008 at 06:58 AM
The diesel hydraulic locomotives actually worked and are working well in Germany still. Mergers and differences in repair parts and proceedures caused them to be abandoned in the US. They are more fuel efficient and less costly to build than diesel electric locomotives. The advantage of the diesel electric system is that with the proper wheel motors you can get the entire full horsepower of the diesel engine at the lowest wheel speeds. This is also the advantage of the series hybrid, and it has the added advantage of regeneration with the battery. GE has found ZEBRA batteries to work successfully in their battery hybrid locomotive tests, but they were still too expensive for wide use.
What the US railroads actually could use very well and at minimum cost is a new version of the Kitson-Still steam-diesel locomotive with condensors added. When ZEBRA batteries become affordable they can be added with electric motors for regeneration. The Boiler can be fired with a small Capstone turbine operated on diesel when necessary to build up heat. Electricity from the turbine can run the wheel motors through an inverter when there is electricity and they are needed. One British railroad ran a steam turbine locomotive for more than ten years which is more than the life of many diesel electrics.
A diesel electric locomotive that used a large number of Capstone turbines instead of a large piston diesel would be very interesting and very low maintenance. The inefficiency of a single large turbine at part load is avoided. The number of and the particular units which operated could be computer managed for even use and maximum efficiency and the waste heat could run a steam turbine. The low weight of the turbines allow more ZEBRA batteries to be carried. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 27 September 2008 at 04:48 PM