XL Hybrids converted commercial vehicles log 1M miles in six months
29 April 2014
XL Hybrids, Inc., a developer of hybrid electric powertrain conversion technology for commercial and municipal fleets, announced that fleet customers employing the XL3 hybrid electric system (earlier post) in their service, delivery and cargo fleets have driven a combined total of one million miles within the first six months of commercial production. XL Hybrids’ customer fleets are now logging more than 200,000 miles per month.
The XL Hybrids technology reduces fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by 20% in urban and suburban driving for corporate fleets.
The fact that one million miles was reached so quickly indicates our customers are taking full advantage of the reduction in fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions they can achieve with our innovative hybrid electric powertrain. The nation’s largest corporate fleets are accelerating deployment of our technology, including The Coca-Cola Company and FedEx. In addition, more global brands are ordering new XL Hybrid powertrains for their fleets, so we expect to rev up even more industry milestones in 2014.
—Tod Hynes, president and founder of XL Hybrids
The XL3 system features an inline traction motor system design. The new 40 kW peak inline (post-transmission) motor works with a 1.8 kWh Li-ion battery pack. The inline motor system allows for faster installation by XL Hybrids’ certified ship-thru upfitters.
20% is a good step change. I wonder if it could be improved by e.g. opportunity charging of the hybrid battery during stops. Since little petroleum is used in electric generation in the USA, and most of the generation is well outside of urban areas, this would inject a bit of energy flexibility as well as cutting human exposure to engine emissions.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 29 April 2014 at 08:40 AM