HYBRID HEAVY TRANSPORT

Hybrid Trucks and Buses; Medium and Heavy Duty Commercial Truck Markets for Hybrid, Plug-in Hybrid, and Battery Electric Drives
Dave Hurst and Clint Wheelock, 2Q 2010 (Pike Research)

"Trucks are classified based on the gross vehicle weight (GVW) of their chassis. In the United States, these weights are separated into classes 1 through 8, from light duty to heavy duty. Medium-duty (MD) trucks fall into classes 2b to 6 (8,501 to 26,000 pounds GVW)…Heavy-duty (HD) trucks are classes 7 and 8 (26,000 pounds or more)…Within each class, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) build trucks of several different formats…Once OEMs manufacture the chassis, other companies fit van bodies or additional equipment on the structure, thereby creating step vans, refuse trucks, shuttle buses, ambulances, or specialized power take-off (PTO) equipment trucks…

"There are essentially five types of hybrid systems that can be implemented on board MD and HD vehicles…[1] Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) generate all their power on board…[2] Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) systems get some of their power… from an off-vehicle source…[3] Battery electric vehicle (BEV) systems get all of their power from off-vehicle sources, and they store the power on the vehicle. Therefore, these vehicles require large batteries and recharging time, but they have zero emissions…[4] Mild electric power take-off (EPTO) hybrids… do not provide any power to the wheels from electricity…[but] power all PTO equipment via battery…[5] Hydraulic hybrid… systems generate power on board the vehicle by utilizing hydraulic pressure accumulated during braking…"

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"MD delivery vehicles are currently one of the biggest markets for hybrid trucks…Within the delivery vehicle market, Federal Express and UPS both have fleets of more than 200 MD hybrid vans…Utility trucks, such as diggers or aerial lifts, equipped with EPTO hybrid technology, can save substantial fuel because they do not need to idle the engine while crews work at a jobsite…Systems like these tend to save between 1,000 and 1,500 gallons of diesel per year..

"…HD transit buses have typically been test beds for hybrid systems…As a result, Pike Research forecasts that there will be 9,052 hybrid buses operating in the U.S. in 2010…hybrid HD trucks recover the majority of their battery energy through
regenerative braking. Because over-the-road (OTR) trucks do a lot of freeway driving, they do not have the chance to recapture that energy via braking and rely on the engine to recharge the batteries. Therefore HD OTR trucks, such as semi trucks, are often considered inappropriate candidates for hybrid systems…Peterbilt is the only manufacturer in the U.S…"

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"Demand for hybrid MD and HD trucks is dependent on multiple factors…Package delivery has been a key focus for hybrid truck designs…HEV and plug-in electric transit bus builders have been focusing on the U.S. market…Overall, the demand for hybrid MD and HD trucks will be strong in Asia Pacific and North America. China and the U.S. will be the main sources of the demand; though by 2015, demand for MD hybrids in China is likely to outpace demand in the U.S. (CAGR of 107% and 37%, respectively).

"Within the HD truck market, the plug-in hybrid is not likely to see strong growth as BEV and HEV numbers grow…Pike Research anticipates that the HD plug-in hybrid truck market will grow to 2,213 vehicles globally in 2015, but this market will be dwarfed by the HEV HD truck market, which will see its numbers grow to 13,938 vehicles, and by BEV trucks, which will reach 4,354 vehicles in 2015…Worldwide, the market for hybrid and plug-in MD and HD vehicles is expected to grow to 103,940 vehicles by 2015."