Hybrids Currently Available

Automobiles and light trucks
A number of manufacturers including Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Peugeot, Renault and Toyota currently produce hybrid automobiles and light trucks,.

Locomotives
Test runs with the NE (new energy) train began in May 2003 JR East (Japan). These tests validated the system's functionality (series hybrid with lithium ion battery) in cold regions. In 2004, RailPower Technologies tested the Green Goats in the US, which led to orders by the Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific Railways in early 2005.

Buses
In the United Kingdom, a local manufacturer has introduced a development of the London 'Double-Decker', which use a small diesel engine with an electric storage through a lithium ion battery pack. The use of a 1.9 litre diesel instead of the typical 7.0 litre engine in these buses demonstrates the possible advantages of serial hybrids in extremely traffic-dense environments.

Using a battery pack is useful because of a much smaller installed IC-power output with the smaller power unit better reflecting the average power requirement in a city environment. The battery pack and relatively high power electric motors provide the required power peaks for acceleration, and the high installed power of the motors is reflected by a high potential for brake-energy recovery.

There are several advantages for Bus services: The smaller engine helps compensate for the additional package space and weight requirements of an energy store (here the lithium ion batteries). The solely electric drive to the axles avoids the need for complex gearboxes and regulatory software & its development that parallel hybrids such as Prius and co. require. The high electric installed power allows for an equivalently high energy recovery. (Automotive hybrids that use small electric motors parallel to IC engines can only recover a small proportion of the available kinetic energy. The remainder is lost as heat in the service brakes as with a conventional non hybrid vehicle).

Based on the buses tested in London, a reduction in CO2 emissions of 31% and fuel savings in the range of 40% have been shown compared with a modern 'Euro-4' compliant bus. These savings make the use of similar hybrid concepts in urban environments more probable and attractive to users such as refuse collection, delivery & courier services. With the scale of the potential saving is such that even lead-acid energy storage is viable, depending on the target of the customer.

Trucks
In 2003 GM introduced a diesel hybrid military (light) truck, equipped with a diesel electric and a fuel cell auxiliary power unit. Hybrid light trucks were introduced 2004 by Mercedes (Hybrid Sprinter) and Micro-Vett SPA (Daily Bimodale). International Truck and Engine Corp. and Eaton Corp. have been selected to manufacture diesel-electric hybrid trucks for a US pilot program serving the utility industry in 2004. In mid 2005 Isuzu introduced the Elf Diesel Hybrid Truck on the Japanese Market. They claim that approximately 300 vehicles, mostly route buses are using Hinos HIMR (Hybrid Inverter Controlled Motor & Retarder) system.
There has also been talk of converting garbage trucks, but so far they are sight unseen. They have their own difficulties since these vehicles do stop-start driving and often stand idling.

Taxicabs
Hybrid technology could be extremely useful for the use of taxicabs. Most of their locations are used in predominantly urban environments; have dense operating schedules, maximizing fuel savings over the life of the vehicle; and may sit for long periods of time at idle, where the hybrid engine could allow the combustion engine to shut off but still retain use of the electrical accessories. Hybrid taxicabs are primarily based on production passenger vehicles, with modifications (often aftermarket) to meet specialized usage requirements and/or local regulations (security features, for example). Since vehicles in taxicab service may operate for 10-20 hours per day, the reduction in local pollution would have a larger effect on the environment than those for private use.



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